Young British filmmaker wins award at Cannes

British filmmaker Duane Hopkins of Third Films has won the New Talent Prize in Cannes, beating 56 other young filmmakers from across Europe.
He was also awarded 50,000 euros to develop his film script.
The British win was announced by Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Culture and Audio-Visual policy, on Europe Day.
The New Talent prize, which was presented for the first time, was awarded for Hopkins' feature-length screenplay entitled ‘Better Things’. The film is set in rural England and chronicles the lives and relationships of a group of young people, grappling with boredom, drug use, mental health and the development of their sexuality. The screenplay was written following training supported by the MEDIA programme.
Duane, with the assistance of professional filmmakers, will now spend time at the Cannes Film Market to promote his project to financiers and producers.
Organised by the European Commission and the Cannes Film Festival, Europe Day brings together more than 20 of the 25 EU Culture Ministers together with film professionals including Milos Forman, Stephen Frears and Claire Denis and aims to highlight the opportunities and challenges involved in becoming a filmmaker in Europe.
Viviane Reding commented: “Cinema is one of Europe’s favourite pastimes, with almost one billion cinema tickets sold in the EU in 2003, one quarter of which were for national and European films. We must not stint in our efforts to promote the distribution of European films as a means of developing the European identity and ensuring that the film industry remains competitive. With this second Europe Day, Ministers and professionals will give a strong signal to young talent that they have every chance of having their films made and seen across national borders.”
Duane Hopkins has also had success with two other short films; the multi award-winning ‘Field’ (2001) and ‘Love Me Or Leave Me Alone’ (2003), which won the ‘Best British Short’ award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2003.
(KmcA)