World-renowned photographer and director Rankin and Nokia last night brought together famous faces and emerging talent from the film industry to a watch a selection of films from the first year of Collabor8te, a scheme set up to support aspiring filmmakers.
In 2011, Rankin recognised that there was a lack of support for new talent in the film industry. As a result, he invested personal funds into Rankin Film Productions and worked alongside The Bureau and Dazed & Confused to launch an initiative called Collabor8te.
Since the film council disbanded in 2010, Collabor8te has been the only initiative of its kind to uncover, develop and fund new talent in the film industry. Collabor8te offers a chance for filmmakers to have their work funded and produced alongside industry experts such as Amy Hubbard, a casting director whose credits include The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit. Out of 13,000 entrants Rankin chose eight scripts to film for Collabor8te Year One, six of which were premiered last night.
Celebrities including Pixie Lott, Matt Johnson and guest speaker Vicky McClure watched six films at The Regent Street Cinema, the birthplace of British cinema, where, in 1896, the Lumiere brothers’ new Cinematographe was used to show moving pictures to a British paying audience for the very first time. Nokia and Collabor8te chose the Regent Street Cinema as it’s significant history chimes with their desire to support the filmmakers of tomorrow.
The beautifully artistic films displayed a variety of raw talent, and as shown in The Hungry Corpse, Collabor8te also creates the opportunity for well-known actors to star in the projects, including Stephan Mangan and Bill Nighy.
After Nokia heard of the scheme, they decided that they would fund the second year of Collabor8te and celebrate the success of the first year in sponsoring the premier.
Annie Kearney from Nokia stated: “Nokia is a global leader in imaging technology and we will continue to deliver innovations that empower budding film and photography enthusiasts to deliver amazing results on the smallest of budgets on stunning devices. It is for this reason that we are so enthusiastic to support a fantastic scheme like Collabor8te that enables real talent in the film world to be uncovered”.
Rankin said: “Founded in 2011, Collabor8te creates opportunities for new talent to be discovered and helps those who may not otherwise have the chance to develop their ideas. As we saw last night the standard of films that emerged from year one shows how schemes like these help promising grassroots.Nokia’s involvement has enabled this years scheme and I hope their support encourages more people to get involved in the future.”
