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Press Release
29 September 2008

Japanese thriller steals the show at language and film talent awards

A video showing how a lack of languages skills can be fatal when under attack by Japanese dragons won the top prize at the Languages and Film Talent Awards (LAFTAs) ceremony on Thursday 25 September. Christopher Thompson, Guy Taylor and Michael Kinahan from Belfast walked away with the prestigious award for Overall Best Entry, as well as a top of the range camcorder and Eurostar tickets.

Other young winners included Alisdair Cairns from Bristol University, whose film showed an original approach to the French oral exam, and a clip by Broadland High School in Norfolk which demonstrates how languages can improve your love life when stuck in a lift full of German girls. The winner of the LAFTAs People’s Vote, which was hosted by Multilingualvacancies.com and received more than 16,000 votes, was 14-year-old James Palmer from Leicester. His video, Languages Animated, featured a star performance from a French-speaking gummy bear!

The LAFTAs competition, run by CILT, the National Centre for Languages, invited young people aged 13-21 to make two-minute videos demonstrating the importance of languages. The winning videos were chosen by a celebrity judging panel, which included comedian Eddie Izzard, broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald and Sky Sports regular Guillem Balague. 25 clips were shortlisted, and eight were awarded prizes at the ceremony, including Penketh High School in Warrington, Harrogate Grammar School, and City of London School for Girls.

Teenagers from around the country travelled to the ceremony to find out whether they would win one of the fabulous prizes provided by sponsors including Eurostar, the Spanish Tourist Office, the Goethe Institut, the French Embassy and Cactus Language. Many of the judges and sponsors, including Balague, came on stage to present the awards and to be interviewed by the hostess for the evening, CILT’s Helen Groothues.

Chris Thompson, winner of the prize for Best Overall Clip, said: ‘It was a fantastic experience, and gave us a unique opportunity to learn more about the Japanese language. The ceremony was also a lot of fun, allowing us to meet all the other filmmakers and to discuss each others' work, as well as letting us meet and thank all the judges.’

Jamie Gutch, a teacher at Harrogate Grammar School, whose video won a trip to Castilla y Leon in Spain, said: ‘This was a fantastic opportunity for our students. They enjoyed taking part in the competition itself even before hearing that they had won a major prize. This kind of competition could be the key to unlocking the creativity and fun that is always a part of successful language learning.’

Alex Blagona, Head of Language College at Northgate High School in Ipswich said: ‘Despite not winning an award, taking part in such an event made all the work that went into making the film worthwhile, and it has meant an enormous amount to our students that their work has been recognised outside of Ipswich!’

Kathryn Board, Chief Executive of CILT, the National Centre for Languages said: ‘We have all been impressed by the quality of the clips that were entered into the competition, and are encouraged by this proof that there is real enthusiasm and talent for language learning in the younger generation. At CILT we are always looking for original ways to tell people about the importance of learning another language, and we are delighted to see that these young people have done this in such creative and imaginative ways.’

LAFTAs judge Eddie Izzard was unable to attend the ceremony, but sent a message to all of the young people who entered the LAFTAs: ‘Well done to all the competitors in this competition. I feel in the future that it will always be difficult to persuade English speakers, in particular, that they should learn another language, but the truth is that as long as you learn just one other language, your mind and the world will open up to you with endless possibilities’.

To watch the winning clips, visit www.languageswork.org.uk/laftas