Northern Film School sees huge success at 2021 Harrogate Film Festival

Aymeric Nicolet and Paul Williams have received awards for their films, with Nicolet’s Reading Gaol winning the award for the best drama and Paul Williams’s Frank and Mary claiming the best thriller category. 

Reading Gaol was inspired by Oscar Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" and focuses on Oscar's time in prison after being convicted for his relationship with Alfred Douglas. Paul Williams’s Frank and Mary brings a suburban twist on the classic Frankenstein tale.

The Northern Film School is the official education partner of the Harrogate Film Festival, an ongoing collaboration for the past two years.

The Harrogate Film Festival has been running in segments since 23 April, with a pop-up mini-festival which ended on 3 October. Current students and alumni of the Northern Film School have had the opportunity to enter their own films in the competition that saw over 500 entries from across the globe.

Annabelle Pangborn, Head of Subject at Leeds Beckett University and Director of the Northern Film School, said: “We are thrilled to once again work in partnership with the Harrogate Film Festival following last year’s success. 

“The partnership has already proved to be a wonderful platform for budding filmmakers. It’s also a great opportunity for us to showcase the talent here at the Northern Film School as we continue to help develop filmmakers of the future.”

The partnership, now in its second year, comes just as the university has opened its new £80 million Leeds School of Arts building, where the Northern Film School will now be based.

The Northern Film School is one of the most successful film and television schools in the UK, making award-winning films for over 25 years. Since its founding, many of the alumni of the Northern Film School have won major awards, including BAFTAs and Oscars, for their work in television and film.