Budding Steven Spielbergs were given the red carpet treatment at a cinema in Wrexham.
Creative media students from Coleg Cambria held a glittering awards ceremony at the Odeon at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre – but instead of getting Oscars the winners received Camels.
Among them was second year BTEC student Adam Williams, 18, from Wrexham, who is also in the running for a gong at the Cut Films UK Awards for his hard-hitting anti-smoking advert.
At the Camels, Adam was presented with a special award for a Film Most Likely to Win a BAFTA which was one of eight categories.
Adam said: “It’s amazing and I was thrilled seeing it on the big screen. It was unbelievable actually. I made an anti-smoking advert and was very pleased it all came together as well as it did.
“To be nominated for a Cut Films UK national award is mind-blowing. I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Course tutor Laura Kearsley explained: “As a department we were so pleased with our students’ production work and felt they needed to have their videos shown on the big silver screen.
“The award ceremony event was enjoyed thoroughly by students and staff and was intended as a forum to recognise their achievements and to inspire future film-making.
“We would like to thank the Odeon at Eagles Meadow for their help in making the event such a success.”
Students Harry Bharat, 19, Sam Rowlands and Lewis Edwards, both 19, and all from Wrexham, jointly took the award for Best Comedy Performance.
Harry said: “We made a music video for the Blink 182 song First Date. The film was two minutes 30 seconds long and tells the story of a blind first date which ends up with two members of the band not knowing their date is another band member.”
Sam Rowlands added: “We had a lot of laughs making the film and really enjoyed it. The award ceremony at the Odeon was amazing and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit weird seeing our film on the big screen.”
Lewis said: “I suppose we can now rightly claim we’re now big screen award-winning filmmakers!”
Mature student Pete Rogers, 24, of Wrexham, picked up the special Fundraising Legend gong after raising more than £700 for Macmillan Cancer Care through a music event at the Cross Lanes Hotel.
He said: “I also helped Owen Jones and Catrin Roberts with their Welsh language video and was nominated for Best Narrative after working on Dark Signal, a Welsh horror story, made by tutor Ed Evers-Swindel.
“We had a fantastic awards event at the Odeon in Eagles Meadow it was really special and our films looked brilliant on the big screen.”
Owen Jones, 18, of Wrexham, was also delighted with his award for Contribution to the Welsh Language.
He said: “I wanted to make a film promoting the Welsh language and went to various schools in the area recording children preparing for different eisteddfods.
“It was something we did outside of our college course but it was definitely something we enjoyed doing.”
Odeon cinema manager Andy Elvis was pleased to host the awards ceremony.
He said: “Their films were amazing and looked superb on the big screen. We like to work closely with Wrexham educational institutions and were delighted to host the Coleg Cambria media awards.
“I think the awards are a wonderful idea and can only encourage more students to become film-makers. You never know the next Steven Spielberg could be studying right here in Wrexham!”
Eagles Meadow manager Kevin Critchley added: “The awards are a great idea and I know the students had a wonderful time. It must be an amazing experience making a film and then seeing it screened on a cinema’s big screen.
“I look forward to seeing the work of students and the films they make when they return to the Odeon for next year’s awards. We may have just seen the work of the next Steven Spielberg.”
To watch the anti-smoking film go to https://drive.google.com/a/cambria.ac.uk/file/d/0B0RMWheMRd14bG0wNVM2VVZMSzA/view?pref=2&pli=1 an to learn more about Eagles Meadow including opening times please visit www.eagles-meadow.co.uk
