Ten students, chosen by an expert panel including renowned film maker and Chancellor of The Open University Lord Puttnam, have turned their ideas into short films which can be viewed on The Open University’s YouTube channel and on OpenLearn.
More than 80 ideas for films were pitched as part of the competition. The 10 winners were given £500 each towards making their film.
The films are also being shown to an audience at BBC TV Centre, and at film and other cultural events.
The competition is part of The Open University’s Creative Climate project, which involves experts and the public recording their evolving attitudes and actions in relation to environmental issues.
Competition organiser and judge Joe Smith, a senior lecturer in environment issues at the OU, said:
“We wanted to see what film students could do to lift these major environmental issues off the desk of academics and put them out there for the public to debate.”
Fellow judge Jon Plowman, former head of BBC comedy and now an executive producer there, said:
“The winners really have risen to the challenge and shown that they are talented and offer a different view on the world and the issues behind environmental change and how the public perceive them. I couldn’t be happier with the films that the winners have made.
"These guys will be the film makers of tomorrow.”
Photo: Still image from The end of an era by Yousif Al-Khalifa, National Film and Television School
