Sixth Form student wins £300 prize for film about teen anxiety

Eva Jones, who is studying Films Studies at the Colchester Sixth Form College, received the award after competing with a large number of other young filmmakers from Colchester and Tendring.

The Short Film Competition, sponsored by Anglian Community Trust, whish is a local funder, invited young people between 11 and 21 from around the region to submit films about their experiences as young people.

Many of the films that were entered focused on a wide range of controversial but important subjects for young people, including loneliness, eating disorders, living a loved one who has dementia and self-harm.

Eva, 18, created a fictional film, called Mirror You, Mirror Me, that reflected the mental anguish some young people experience when they feel anxious and isolated from their peers.

Eva said she wanted to give people an insight into how young people can feel trapped in their heads sometimes.

Eva was awarded the prize during the Underdog Crew Annual Awards ceremony at the Arts Centre recently, when her film was played, alongside seven other short films from other filmmakers, including young people from the The Colchester Institute, as well as the Colchester Sixth Form College.

Other inspirational young people also received awards at the event for their achievements in filmmaking.
Michael Pollington, the Chair of ACT, was delighted to award the first prize to Eva, with his fellow Trustees, because the audience were so blown away by her film.

“She took us underneath her mask and helped us to understand how she really feels, even though others would normally think she was O.K.”

Eva was delighted to win the competition, which has given her a huge boost in confidence. She is also looking forward to spending the £300 on some new filmmaking equipment.

For future students looking to follow in the footsteps of Eva and study the Film Studies course at the Colchester Sixth Form College, you can find out more about it here:

To watch Eva’s film, and a number of other films that were shortlisted for the competition, you can see them here.