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Bombay Sapphire,

Bombay Sapphire Gin & Tribeca Film Festival announce winners of the first Imagination Series Film Competition - FILMMAKING COMPETITION

The Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series Film Competition, has been one of the more interesting film making competition opportunities that we have had in the last year.

To make it easy for aspiring creatives Oscar winning Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher created a loose script and budding filmmakers were asked to use their imagination and pitch their ideas as to how they would make their film version of his script. After Geoffrey did most of the hard work - Bombay Sapphire in association with Tribeca Film Festival then flew Geoffrey Fletcher over to London so he could introduce the Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series Film Competition himself as well as give film makers face to face advice and help in taking their ideas forward.


Last week Bombay Sapphire and Tribeca Film Festival completed judging and announced that five filmmakers have won the chance to bring their Imagination to life, as they participate in producing and directing their very own short film

Bombay Sapphire in association with Tribeca Film Festival have announced the five winners of the Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series Film Competition, which offered budding filmmakers the chance to make their own short film, using their imagination to interpret a short film script created by Academy Award winner Geoffrey Fletcher.

The competition received more than 700 submissions from all over the world. Covering each and every genre, from action to adventure to romance and horror, entries fused the words in Geoffrey Fletcher’s script with their own imagination to deliver a submission worthy of winning this global competition.

The international judging panel, chaired by Geoffrey Fletcher, featured industry leaders including Independent Producer and Kodak Representative Anne Hubbell; former editor of Screen International Colin Brown; BBC producer Colin Barr and film critic Alison Bailes selected five films for their originality and imagination.



The winners are:
• James Griffiths, a full-time film maker from London, whose film ‘Room 8’ is a live action cinematic piece in which miniature people, parallel universes and a twist at the end provide a true cinematic experience for the masses.

• Shekhar Bassi, an aspiring film maker living in London, whose film ‘The Mrs’ is an entertaining black comedy crime, telling the story of a dysfunctional couple’s marriage.

• Cadi Catlow, a Welsh animation director, who created stop motion film ‘The Crab’ set in an extremely limited environment  that  uses only subtitles and relies entirely on timing and extremely accurate animation to portray the emotions, thought processes and personalities of  two crabs.

• Paul Frankl, a freelance director from London, whose film ‘Water Song’ tells the story of a deaf woman who finds refuge in the tranquility of swimming, but out of the pool struggles to make contact with a man she has feelings for.

• Alexis Barroso Gascó a writer, director and graphic designer from Spain, whose film
‘Concrete’ is set in an office block and tells the story of an executive man, a cleaner and a cookie box, which brings your deepest darkest desires to life.

The standard of the 700 worldwide entries was astounding and what is incredibly exciting from a UK perspective is that four of the five global winners are British, thus proving the UK's world-standing in imaginative filmmaking!

The four UK winners of the Imagination Series of which some are established and some are aspiring, have produced films which range from live action to stop motion animation and span genres such as black comedy and surrealism.

Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series Film Competition

Academy Awards-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher commented on his involvement within the judging process: “The entries we received to the Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series film competition were so strong that the judges faced a difficult task reducing them to just five. The interpretations that we received took place in settings that ranged from the past to the distant future, involving characters and situations that reflected remarkable imagination on behalf of the entrants from around the world.”

With imagination at the heart of both Bombay Sapphire and filmmaking, the competition celebrated endless creativity and the brand’s belief in the power of imagination and that it can take you anywhere.

Bombay Sapphire Global Marketing Manager Joanna Botwood commented: “This competition provided unique opportunities to push boundaries and ask people to explore their own imagination. Taking just two ingredients -- an Academy Awards-winning screenwriter’s script and their own imagination -- they took on a challenge and successfully shared their ideas for a film that the Bombay Sapphire team will help them to produce, direct and premier next year.”

Bombay Sapphire has long supported the world of creativity, design and innovative ways of thinking. Botwood added: “It is the mission of Bombay Sapphire to inspire people to imagine, as we do with our imaginative approach to gin-making, carefully selecting the 10 exotic botanicals that create its unique flavour.”

Jon Patricof, president of Tribeca Enterprises at Tribeca Film Festival, commented on its association with Bombay Sapphire: "Working with Bombay Sapphire gin on the Imagination Series has been a great success as we feel the competition has truly inspired the next generation of filmmakers. Working with a brand that embraces both creativity and imagination was one of the reasons we were very excited to work with Bombay Sapphire on this particular project and we now look forward to seeing how the winners' imagination is brought to life in the final films."

The winners will now participate in producing and directing their own individual films, which will be shown in early 2013. To see the five winners and hear more about their films and experiences during the production process visit www.imaginationseries.com.

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The Establishing Shot: BOMBAY SAPPHIRE GIN & TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF THE FIRST IMAGINATION SERIES FILM COMPETITION