University of Wolverhampton students win film award
Two students from the University of Wolverhampton have claimed an award at a film festival held in London.
Samuel Ash and William Horsefield, known as Wolfpack, entered the Business Disability Forum’s Film Festival Challenge 2019 with their film Same Difference – based on their experience of deafness.
The festival, now in its third year, recognises and celebrates the talent of young filmmakers.
Filmmakers were asked to produce and submit a short film in 10 days in answer to the question "Identity through the lens of disability, what does this mean to you?"
Samuel, who is studying a Film and Television Production degree which William graduated from in 2018, said: "I am a filmmaker coming from a big deaf family and involved in deaf community.
"I have a passion for filmmaking and photography.
"I found out about this festival through William Horsefield in 2017 who worked with me, this will be the third time in a row we have entered.
"The competition gives us an opportunity to share our experience and to raise awareness through our best skills –video.
"We decided to make a documentary to show our experience, who we are and our identity.
"We want to show it positively and that we can do anything.
"When we were thinking of ideas, we realised that we have achieved a lot in our life so we want to show that.
"It was great to reflect from my experience related to my deafness, culture, and community and what I have achieved in my life so far, so we want to convey in the film positively and show that Deaf people are able to achieve anything they desire."
The event, hosted by KPMG, saw work from five finalists premiered.
Phil Nichols, course leader at the university, said: “I’m delighted that Samuel and William have once again shown themselves to be among the best student film makers in the UK.
“They have shown amazing creativity during their Film and Television Production coursework and I’m sure they will both go on to achieve great things in the field of film and television.”
Anyone wanting to study in the School of Media at the University can register for an open day on August 17 on the university's website.
