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31 January 2008

MMU filmmaker wins award

Short film receives global interest

Image for MMU filmmaker wins award

Up-and-coming filmmaker Kate Jessop, 27, has won the Femme Fantastique Award at the London Short Film Festival.

Kate - the only North West filmmaker to win an award at the festival – received the accolade for her film When the Telescope Came, an adaptation of Diana Syder's poem about a woman who tries to stop the stars coming into her house. She was also nominated for Best Experimental Short for On Miles Platting Station, a Simon Armitage adaptation.

An MMU Illustration and Animation graduate, Kate works as an artist-in-residence in the University's animation department, running workshops and technical demonstrations. She is also the co-founder of Girls on Film, which showcases female talent in film, art and performance in Manchester.

Raising the profile

Kate said: "I use a range of analogue and digital techniques in my work, from live action to drawn sets and animation, and publishers Comma Press in Manchester thought my style of film would suit Diana's style of writing so put us in touch with each other. Film is still very much a male dominated industry and only about 3% of filmmakers are women. This is slowly changing, as technology becomes more accessible and women become more confident in using equipment, but winning an award like this really helps raise the profile of female filmmakers in the industry."

International attention

Kate's winning film has been requested for the Mayor of London's International Women's Day celebrations on 8th March and will play to 20,000 people. In addition to this, her film Desires will be screened in 12 different cities around the globe, including New York and Toronto, on International Women's Day as part of a programme showcasing 8 international female filmmakers.

When the Telescope Came and On Miles Platting Station can be seen at The Bigger Picture, the Cornerhouse's BBC screen event in Exchange Square next month. Kate is also giving a talk on her filmmaking at the WFA Media and Cultural Centre on 17th April for Creative Industries Trafford.

See Kate's winning film at http://www.katejessop.co.uk