Mugabe And The White African Wins Two More Awards

Mugabe and the White African has won two further major awards in the last week, the UK Screen Conch (UK Screen Association's Film, Commercial and Television Sound Awards) Award for sound, beating off competition from Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds and Wonders of the Solar System and the European Prix Italia Special Prize Signis Awards for the best television programme which best promotes Human Values, following the film's television screening on More 4.
Funded by a collaboration with the Film Agency for Wales, with key support from Pauline Burt, as Executive Producer, the film has also been nominated for a further documentary award in the prestigious Grierson Awards, for Best Documentary Feature.
This continues the film's remarkable run of international recognition, having previously been short-listed for an Oscar Nomination; Special Jury Prize at the Hampton's Film Festival and World Feature prize at the American Film Institute's Silverdoc's festival. The film's producers, David Pearson and Lizzie Morgan Hemlock and the directors lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson were also nominated for this year's BAFTA Film Awards for Outstanding Debut for Directors, Writers, Producers 2010 and won the British Independent Film Award 2009 for Best Documentary Feature.
Mugabe and The White African tells the story of how farmer Mike Campbell took Mugabe to court for racism and won the case, with five African judges finding for him on all counts, but who suffered violence and abuse as a result of his courage. The film was shot covertly.
Commenting on the award and further nominations, Pauline Burt, Chief Executive of the Film Agency for Wales, said: "The team has produced a thought-provoking, resonant and cinematic feature that is quite rightly recognised as being one of the best documentaries of the year. Our support for the Welsh producer, Lizzie Morgan Hemlock, has been critical to the viability of the project and we are naturally very proud to be involved with such a successful production. In supporting new and emerging talent in this way, we hope to facilitate other projects and improve their company sustainability, as credibility and profile within the wider creative industries is crucial for producers as they package each new production."
Mugabe and the White African has sold to a raft of countries including the USA, France, Japan, Canada, Sweden and Norway, through international sales agent Hanway. Released in the UK in January 2010, the film sold out its run at the Empire Leicester Square for nine weeks before being released across the UK, becoming the second largest grossing documentary in the past three years only being surpassed by the Oscar winning Man on Wire. The film had its theatrical release in the US in July, a rare feat for any UK indie film and will be released, theatrically, in France on November 24.
(KMcA)