UK honours for Black and Asian filmmakers
The UK Film Council will this year honour some of Britain's best Black and Asian film-making talent through its programme Breakthrough Brits. Sunandan and Yugesh Walia, brothers and a Producer/Director team, are the only Asians to be honoured this year.
They have three films in active development: The Bounty Hunter, Poona Company, an autobiographical coming of story by Farrukh Dhondy set in India of the early 1960's, and Buried, a re-incarnation murder mystery set in Hyderabad in modern times. Pictured, Husband and wife, Bhabhuti and Prempatta, serving life in 'Days and Nights in an Indian Jail' - Channel 4 (2002), produced by Sunandan and Yugesh Walia.
The programme Breakthrough Brits is designed to celebrate and bring on the new wave of British film-making talent on the cusp of breakthrough international success.
The programme will culminate in a special showcase event in LA on 4th June where honourees will be presented to an audience of some of Hollywood's most influential industry figures, according to a press release issued by the UK Film Council.
Honourees will also be guests of the Hollywood Black Film Festival which attracts some of Hollywood's most prominent acquisitions and development executives, agents, producers and directors. Participants will also have access to the festival programme including its Infotainment Conference.
This year, in addition to the work in the US the honourees have had access to a series of film masterclasses, networking events and business workshops in London.
The 2008 Breakthrough Brits honourees are:
John Giwa Amu director
Kwame Kwei-Armah actor / playwright
Florence Ayisi documentary writer / director
Noel Clarke actor / director / writer
Esther Douglas producer
Osbert Parker director
Kara Miller director / writer
Rita Osei producer
Karlene Page producer
Barrington Robinson producer
Zoe Stewart producer
Sunandan and Yugesh Walia co-producer / directors
Sunandan Walia and Yugesh Walia - Co-Producers / Directors
Sunandan and Yugesh Walia are brothers and a Producer/Director team. They began their film making careers by directing short fiction films which were included in the Edinburgh and London Film Festivals. Since setting up Endboard Productions in 1985 they have produced and directed a string of highly rated and critically acclaimed observational documentaries from different parts of the world for all the British TV networks including the BBC and Channel 4.
Their subjects have had universal appeal and their work is being internationally distributed. A recent feature length documentary, Days and Nights in an Indian Jail was included in the London International Film Festival amongst others around the world.
