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Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS)

 

Gamble and Hill Film Prize 

THIS PRIZE IS NOW CLOSED

  

Gamble and Hill Prize Winner 2017

Thanks to everyone who submitted entries for the Gamble & Hill Prize.

The overall winner was Milo Rees Roberts - you can view his film below. 

The judging panel were looking for originality, personality and personal engagement with the topic. 

Comments from Milo- 

The Grenfell Tower tragedy has become one of the iconic moments of 2017. The haunting images of the fire will be, almost literally, burnt into the nation’s conscience for many years to come. It will be  symbol for all the social and economic disparities in Britain today. The voice-over speaks of luxury and gated communities and of the highest quality building materials; it celebrates the affluence of an area of London less than half a mile from the poverty of  Grenfell Tower. In his Margaret Thatcher Lecture, Boris Johnson extols the virtues of economic inequality in terms of a Cornflakes packet.

 

Comments from the Judges- 

This film builds its narrative around one of the defining moments of 2017 – the Grenfell Tower fire that claimed so many lives. This unspeakable tragedy – epitomised by the frame of the smoking building which dominates the skyline in the film – is juxtaposed powerfully against descriptions of the supposedly idyllic style of apartment living once imagined for such places. The film provides a provocative and emotionally searing critique of inequality in modern Britain. A deserved winner in a strong field of entries. Roberts film was technically good, sharply satirical and through its use of B&W carried a more powerful emotional punch.

 

Launched in July 2015 and named after the first two heads of the Department of Politics and International Studies (Prof Andrew Gamble and Prof Christopher Hill), the Gamble and Hill prize is our prize for sixth form students of Politics and International Relations.

 

Winner of the Gamble and Hill Prize 2016

The overall winner was Rosie Kat - you can view her film below. 

Comments from the judges - 

Rosie Kat is a worthy winner of the Gamble & Hill prize. The film looks in a provocative way at the hollowness of much of contemporary political debate. Rather than take on a preachy tone, though, it engages subtly with how spectacle has come to dominate over substance. The film was imaginatively and cleverly designed, and brought out well how short films can be effective in illustrating a political standpoint.

 

Winners of the 2015 Gamble and Hill Prize

The judging panel were looking for originality, personality and personal engagement with the topic. The quality of the film was less important than the content, but both of the top entries were also of a very high quality. 

There were two films that were ranked top by the judges - 

Livvy McComb, King Edward VI Five Ways School

Guste Rekstyte, King Edward VI Grammar School Sixth Form

The judges felt that Guste Rekstyte's entry on the war in Syria was notable for its "emotional power, technique and lack of point scoring". Livvy McComb's entry offered "a pointed critique of the first-past-the-post system...the case is very effectively made, not just on behalf of young people but of everyone.".

We asked both winners for their reasons for choosing their respective subjects  -

Livvy McComb - "I instinctively decided to explore the first-past-the-post electoral system due to the recent general election. I remember feeling cheated as I watched news broadcasts on the 7th and 8th of May and wanted to express my frustration at the system’s poor representation of public opinion."

Guste Rekstyte - "The reason behind choosing Syria as our topic was simply because of its current relevance in news, however, instead of exploring the political machinations of the conflict itself, we chose to instead focus on a much more human side of it. In terms of a personal connection, it was my way of using my own resources and privilege to give someone my own age, namely Marah, a better chance to be heard. Particularly because currently, it has become easy to see Syria, and indeed Syrian refugees, as a statistic, and in doing so it can easily be forgotten that these are in fact individuals going through indescribable tragedies.Therefore, in making the film, we hoped to make the conflict seem less distant, and more personal."

The other entries in the top five were -

Kitya Mark, South Hampstead High School

Max Burt, College of Richard Collyer

Alexandra Gallacher, College of Richard Collyer

You can view both of the winning entries below.