Saturday 29th June saw the first ever Sykehouse Film Festival … a day of screenings and an evening of awards as celebrities gathered to celebrate the art of film and to find out who had won the covted awards!
Filmmakers, writers, actors and attendees rubbed shoulders on the red carpet with Nina Wadia OBE, Frazer Hines, Wendy Turner, Keith Mason, Danielle Broadbent, Ayshea Brough and Gary Webster. The films shown during the day were a selection of the shorts and feature films which had been submitted to the Festival and which had been commended by the judges.
The Festival was the brainchild of USA Today bestselling author and multiple-award winning screenwriter Samantha Lee Howe. ‘I wanted to create an event which celebrated the art of film, and which rewarded filmmakers by gettiung their work in front of an appreciative audience,’ she explained.
Big winner of the night was Taunya Gren from the USA, who had submitted three of her films to the Festival: two shorts and one feature. She ended up scooping seven awards in total, including the Best Director, Best Horror Feature and Best Short Film, while Seanna Ladd, Gren’s daughter, who appeared in all three films, was awarded Best Actress.
Comedy was provided by top comedians George Coppen and Alex Leam, while Linzi Gold sang three of her own songs to an appreciative audience. There was a raffle stuffed with amazing prizes donated by a large number of people, and award-winning winery Nyetimber provided Champagne for the guests as they arrived.
The whole event was an incredible success with people coming from all over the UK, and even from America, to attend.
A full list of 2024 winners can be found on the Awards Website at www.slhfilmfest.com, and tickets for the 2025 event are also available.
