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Leeds Beckett filmmakers scoop prestigious television awards
Documentary series, India’s Frontier Railways, which features the work of several Leeds Beckett graduates and staff, brought home the awards for Professional Excellence: Post-Production, and for Director-Factual for the programme, The Last Train in Nepal.
India’s Frontier Railways was produced by Gerry Troyna, who studied Film at Leeds Beckett’s predecessor institution, Leeds College of Art and then Leeds Polytechnic, graduating in 1971. Associate Producer, Jenny Troyna, was a Leeds Polytechnic Illustration student also graduating in 1971. The series was recently broadcast as part of the BBC India season.
Gerry Troyna is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making films and documentaries for over 30 years for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and broadcasters around the world. These include two award-winning investigations for Panorama – Secrets of Seroxat and The Corruption of Racing.
Speaking about the awards, Gerry said: “I was surprised and delighted that India's Frontier Railways won two of the three awards we were nominated for. Tarun Bhartiya - who flew in from India for the ceremony - was the winner of the Best Director award; and we also won the Best Post-production award - so it was a very enjoyable evening. I am very proud that all of the hard work by the team has been recognised by the RTS; so a big thank you to all of them and to the RTS.”
The list of Leeds Beckett graduates working on the series is extensive: two of the three films in the series were edited by Martin John Harris, Head of Documentary at the Northern Film School; and Director and Cameraman, Rajesh Shinde, is a 2012 MA Filmmaking graduate. The editor of the Pakistan film, Stephen Shone, graduated in 1987 with a degree in Film; and both the Producer of the Pakistan film, Shamraiz Younis, and Post-Production Supervisor, Ian Pinder, graduated with a BA (Hons) Film and Moving Image Production in 2004 and 2010 respectively. Two current students at the time, who graduated last year, Ben Perez (BA (Hons) Filmmaking) and Ben Sayers (MA Filmmaking), also worked as Assistant Editors on the series.
Gerry explained: “I’ve known Martin since we worked at the BBC together many years ago and I’ve edited several documentaries with Martin and with Stephen Shone. Rajesh has worked with me for over a decade on my films in India and I was delighted when he came to Leeds Becket University to do his MA.
“Ian came recommended by Martin and we subsequently travelled across the USA in a Winnebago for the award-winning documentary, American Nomads. On India’s Frontier Railways, Ian was in charge of post-production. Ben Perez and Ben Sayers were both looking for work experience and were also recruited through Martin. Working on a documentary series such as this involves a lot of editing time: with crews in four countries, there were a thousand hours of rushes! Ben and Ben were initially taking shifts to work through the night – but getting some great experience of what it’s like to work in this industry. It took over three months to edit each programme.”
Celebrating the awards, Martin Harris said: “Personally I was really happy for the whole production team: everyone in India and the UK worked really hard to make these special films. Tarun was a great Director to work with on the Nepal film and so was Rajesh Shinde. Their hard work and dedication to the project meant that they brought brilliant footage to the edit team, without which there would be no chance of an award. I’d like a special mention for Ian Pinder, who has been supporting me and Gerry as Post-production Supervisor. Ian’s eye and knowledge for detail sets the standard when it comes to the term 'award-winning’. I’d also like to personally thank Professor Mohammad Dastbaz, Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Arts, Environment & Technology, Andrew Fryer, Head of the School of Film, Music & Performing Arts, and Larra Anderson, Director of the Northern Film School, for their support and encouragement in making it possible for my involvement in the project. This amazing experience has had a big influence on my work developing the new MA Documentary Filmmaking course that I’ll be running from September this year.”
Speaking about his time working on India’s Frontier Railways, Gerry said: “It was a very difficult series because borders, such as the India/Pakistan border, are very sensitive areas. We had to deal with various departments, including the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Border Security Force, and many more, to gain permissions in all countries. We had to persuade them that our intentions were honourable and, with all the rules and regulations – such as not being able to film on bridges in India – it was touch-and-go; but finally everything came together. There is a large investment in making a series like this in terms of time and money – we had 100 people working in teams in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, but if you can’t get the permissions you need it’s a major problem. So…..when I could say ‘It’s a wrap’ …….that was a real highlight - and a relief!”
Martin added: “Ben Perez and Ben Sayers have now finished their courses and both got full-time editing jobs straight away. Working on Gerry’s series helped this as we used the Avid editing system favoured by industry. In fact, when Ben Sayers got his first job at Envy, a large post-production company in Soho, he was told that he was chosen out of 200 applicants because of his knowledge of Avid software. Similarly, Ben Perez impressed the company he now works for, Love Productions (who make The Great British Bake-Off), with his knowledge of Avid.”
Former student and part-time Lecturer in Screenwriting, Sue Everett, was also shortlisted in the RTS awards Writer category for BBC detective drama series, Hinterland. Sue, a graduate from Leeds Beckett University with a BA (Hons) Illustration degree from 1987 and an MA in Screenwriting from 1991, wrote a 90-minute episode of the BBC One series, which stars Richard Harrington as tortured DCI Tom Mathias.
Sue explained: “I was really excited to be working on Hinterland, as it gave me the chance to write a 90-minute film for television, and see it shooting within the same year. That was also the biggest challenge - coming up with the crime idea and making that work within the structure of a TV series, with a production deadline looming before the script was written. It was an intense process, and I lived with Welsh accents in my head for over a year!
“The highlights for me were all my trips to Wales - particularly when we were location scouting, as that then fed into the work, by writing scenes set in real places that I had seen. Actually being at my desk writing was the work part - going on mini-adventures, and then to the shoot, was the fun of it.”
The RTS Yorkshire Awards celebrate excellence in production across all platforms. From traditional television output, such as documentary and drama, through to news and current affairs, and the latest cutting edge formats, animation and multi-platform. The awards took place at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Friday 24 June.
Andrew Fryer, Head of the School of Film, Music & Performing Arts at Leeds Beckett University, said: “I am delighted that the achievements and, in particular, the professional expertise of our students and staff at the Northern Film School has been recognised and celebrated by the industry through winning these awards. As the wonderful Gerry Troyna pointed out in his acceptance speech, over half of the production team for India's Frontier Railways was from Leeds Beckett - a real success story for the University and our employability agenda.”
Top image by Paul Harness Photography, l-r: Tarun Bhartiya, Steven Shone, Gerry Troyna, Ian Pinder and Martin John Harris