This year we are delighted to host the 2024 FOCAL Awards at the Church House Westminster on June 20th, we hope you can join us. Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.
2024 shortlisted nominations
Now and Then, The Last Beatles Song
Director:
Oliver Murray
Producer(s):
Jonathan Clyde / Sophie Hilton
Footage Archive Producer:
Oliver Murray
Archival Sources:
Apple Corps Ltd / MPL Communications Ltd / British Pathé / Getty Images / Yoko Ono Lennon
Production Company:
Orofena Films / Apple Corps / Universal Music
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Now and Then's eventful journey to fruition took place over five decades and is the product of conversations and collaborations between the four Beatles that go on to this day. The long mythologised John Lennon demo was first worked on in February 1995 by Paul, George and Ringo as part of The Beatles Anthology project but it remained unfinished because of the impossible technological challenges involved in working with the vocal John had recorded on tape in the 1970s. For years it looked like the song could never be completed. But in 2022 there was a stroke of serendipity. A software system developed by Peter Jackson and his team finally opened the way for the uncoupling of John’s vocal from his piano part. As a result, the original recording could be brought to life and worked on anew with contributions from all four Beatles. This remarkable story of musical archaeology reflects The Beatles’ endless creative curiosity and shared fascination with technology. It marks the completion of the last recording that John, Paul and George and Ringo will get to make together and celebrates the legacy of the foremost and most influential band in popular music history.
Nature Matters
Director:
Andy Burns
Producer(s):
Graham Relton
Editor(s):
Andy Burns
Footage Archive Researcher:
Megan McCooley / David Parsons / Montserrat Rovira Prieto / John Casey / Martin Watts / Ruth Patman
Footage Archive Producer:
Alexandra Stockdale-Haley / Martha Cattell
Executive Producer(s):
Martin Hall / Jenny Hall
Archival Sources:
Yorkshire and North East Film Archive collections, including local news material from our archive, ITV Archive and BBC Motion Gallery
Production Company:
Yorkshire and North East Film Archives
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
A love letter to nature and a call to action, ‘Nature Matters’ speaks across generations, using over a century of archive footage to remind us of our innate relationship with the natural world.
Have our fast-paced lives separated us from our childhood fascination with flora and fauna in the everyday, from countryside and coastal adventures, and knowledge of where our food comes from? Have we evolved to live in a society detached from nature?
“An empowering call to action – inspires without preaching.”
This timely short film explores our need for balance in a changing world: from the demand for resources, drive for profits and ‘progress’, offset against our fundamental human rights to access green spaces, clean air, water, and fertile soils to grow healthy food to feed our families.
What shines through is the human spirit, as individuals and communities fight to be on the right side of history, on a quest for environmental harmony and more sustainable lifestyles.
“[The film] has inspired me to try and get involved in more local community events and projects that will help the environment.”
Commissioned by York St John University’s Cinema and Social Justice Project, York Business School and the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives ‘Nature Matters’ project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Incident
Director:
Bill Morrison
Producer(s):
Bill Morrison / Jamie Kalven
Footage Archive Researcher:
Bill Morrison
Footage Archive Producer:
Jamie Kalven
Archival Sources:
Chicago Police Department
Production Company:
Hypnotic Pictures / Invisible Institute
Country of Production:
USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
INCIDENT reconstructs a police shooting in Chicago in 2018, reassembling the event and its immediate aftermath from a variety of viewpoints, including surveillance, security, dashboard, and body-worn cameras as a continuous, synchronized split-screen montage.
The Rolling Stones Chronicles
Director:
Robin Jenkins
Producer(s):
Robin Klein / Andrew Stevens / Samira Choudhury
Footage Archive Producer:
Samira Choudhury
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery / Abkco / KinoLibrary / Radio Whistledown / AP
Production Company:
BBC Studios
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
The Rolling Stones Chronicles series, co-produced by BBC Motion Gallery and ABKCO consists of six documentary shorts, each featuring a different ‘60s-era hit song by The Rolling Stones as its soundtrack. The music combines thematically relevant interview clips from the band and contemporary historical figures, interspersed with historical documentary footage of related world events.
Episodes are based around the seismic cultural shifts between 1965 and 1969, of which The Rolling Stones themselves were emblematic.
