Best Film Award for Station House Media Unit

09/03/2007

Two young Aberdeen film-makers recently walked away with the equivalent of an Oscar for a film shot in the city, as Mothering Nature, a ten-minute film produced with support from a local community media organisation, Station House Media Unit, won in the Best Film in the over 13’s category at the Odeon in London’ Leicester Square.

The film is the tale of Mitchell, a lonely man still trying to deal with life after his mother's death. The strong influence she has had in his life leaves him with an instinctive kindness and maternal feeling often misinterpreted by modern society. Perhaps he needs a change of routine....
Geraldine Heaney (director), Richard Gibb (producer) and Murray Dawson from Station House attended the awards ceremony on the 27 February. Mothering Nature, along with all the other entries were judged by industry luminaries such as Kate Winslet, Catherine Tate, Sir Alan Parker (director of films such as Mississippi Burning and Bugsy Malone) and Minnie Driver.

On the evening before the ceremony the three attended a reception at 11 Downing Street with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown where the nominated films will be screened, and they had the opportunity to and met some off the industry luminaries who judged their films, including award-winning director Sir Alan Parker and producer Lord David Puttnam.

Geraldine Heaney was thrilled with the news. She says “I was so pleased with the film itself that I never even thought about it winning any awards. The process of making ‘Mothering Nature’ was such an amazing experience, because the staff at Station House Media Unit were on hand to support us from developing the story idea right through to editing it. At the same time they were also happy for us to learn how to use the equipment on our own, and gave us the freedom to learn through our mistakes. Getting to use expensive filming equipment at no costs was brilliant too! A big thank you needs to go to Alex Craig our mentor for the project, who’s now in Canada working on a film of his own.  The awards ceremony was fantastic, It was a great opportunity to meet and share ideas with other film-makers, because this is definitely a career that I want to pursue.”

Murray Dawson hopes that this great news will lead to other people getting involved in film-making in the city: “I was delighted when I heard the news that the film had been nominated, and overwhelmed when it actually won. It’s a testament to the hard work that the whole team of young people put in. I’m especially pleased for Geraldine who dedicated at least 6 months of her life to the project. It’s great (and a first) that a short film from Aberdeen featured in the awards – let alone win Best Film - it’s our job at SHMU to make sure it’s not the last. We’re planning to apply for another Studio Award from First Light which will allow us to support another couple of groups to make films in the coming year – here’s hoping they follow in Geraldine and Richards footsteps.”

About Station House Media Unit

Station House Media Unit (SHMU) is a community-managed organisation, which supports film and radio production, and magazine and online publications by and for people living in the regeneration areas of North & Central Aberdeen (Middlefield, Tillydrone, Woodside, Cummings Park, Seaton, Northfield).

Based in Woodside, Aberdeen, SHMU stands alone as the only community based cross-platform Community Media resource operating in Scotland. More information on SHMU can be found at www.shmu.org.uk