Four films commissioned during Coventry’s City of Culture year and the creatives behind them are in the running for a series of major industry awards.
Coventry City of Culture Trust’s BBC 4 arts capture Ghosts in the Ruins has been nominated in the Specialist Factual category in the Royal Television Society Midlands Awards, with Full Fat TV’s 2tone: The Sound of Coventry and Widow’s Might – the Sky Arts Unlocked commission from Coventry writer Alexandra Johnson – also recognised across multiple categories.
Also nominated: Irish, Blacks and Dogs by Coventry filmmaker Jack Norris, another of the Sky Arts Unlocked commissions in the Short Film category.
Ghosts in the Ruins, a site-specific commission performed at Coventry Cathedral in January 2022, was created by Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement recipient Nitin Sawhney CBE alongside the people of Coventry.
The commission marked the 60th anniversary of the consecration of Coventry Cathedral, for which Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece War Requiem was created, with Coventry City of Culture Trust capturing one of the performances.
2 Tone: The Sound of Coventry, a co-production between Coventry City of Culture Trust and Full Fat Television, received a trio of nominations in Documentary, Craft – Post Production and Creative Community.
The BBC England commission used music, archive footage and a rare interview with 2 Tone founder Jerry Dammers as well as comments from The Specials’ Neville Staple, Pauline Black and Neol Davies of the Selecter, and proud Coventrian and music mogul Pete Waterman to explore the musical phenomenon that exploded out of Coventry in 1979.
Widow’s Might, which has been nominated for Short Film, tells the story of a Coventry woman who has given up everything to look after her dying husband. The film is one of 10 Coventry-based projects commissioned as part of Sky Arts Unlocked.
Alexandra Johnson, a recent graduate of the City of Culture Leadership Programme, was also recognised for her work behind the scenes with a pair of nominations in the Best Breakthrough (off screen) and Writer categories.
In recognition of Coventry’s year as the UK’s City of Culture, Sky Arts partnered with Arts Council England, Coventry City of Culture Trust, The Space and Shoot Festival, the city’s emerging artist platform, to provide creative opportunities to ten Coventry artists.
