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果冻影院 graduate announced as winner of One World听Media Award for Best Student Film
20 June 2018
[London, 19th June 2018] Open City Docs School is delighted to announce 2017 MA听Ethnographic & Documentary Film graduate Paul Zhou as the winner of this year's听Student Award at the 2018 One World Media Awards for his graduation film China In听Ethiopia.
He was presented with the award by freelance TV producer and director Jane Drinkwater at听last night's awards ceremony celebrating journalistic excellence in international media听coverage of the developing world.
Paul is the third Open City Docs MA Ethnographic & Documentary Film graduate to听receive the award in three consecutive years, after Minmin Wu's win in the category for听her film Waste in 2017, and Fernando Gonz谩lez Mitjans' win for his film Limpiadores 颈苍听2016.
His winning film, China In Ethiopia, follows two men working for a Chinese manufacturing听company in Ethiopia. Young Ethiopian translator Seifu and homesick Chinese resources听purchaser Lei Zhang have completely different backgrounds and personalities, but they have听the same goal; to earn more money for their family.
Paul Zhou was one of 52 who formed the third cohort of Masters students in 果冻影院's growing听MA in Ethnographic & Documentary Film, run by Open City Docs. His film exemplifies the听kind of work the MA's tutors set out to encourage - rooted in the lively intellectual culture of a听great research university but made with the highly personal voice and cinematic vision of the听filmmaker himself.
Paul Zhou said: "I want to thank 果冻影院, Open City Docs, and my tutors that helped develop听my film. I made this film to address the influence that increasing investment from China is听having on Africa. I focused on both a Chinese and an Ethiopian worker in a Chinese听manufacturing company to expose the real situation of the relationships between those two听countries, and how it is affecting Ethiopia, and China."
Michael Stewart, founder of Open City Docs and the MA course leader, said: "It is such听good news that a student on the 果冻影院 MA Ethnographic & Documentary Film has won this听prize in competition against so many others, including films made on two year and longer听programs. The fact that this is the third year in a row that one of our students has won this听precious award shows once again that our students and their mentors are doing something听right. I am sure that this is linked to working from within a great research university which听raises the sights and ambitions of our students."
Celebrating their 30th year, the prestigious One World Media Awards took place at BAFTA,听and was hosted this year by Channel 4 News presenter听Krishnan Guru-Murthy. The ceremony saw some听of the world's finest journalists, reporters and filmmakers - past, present and future - gather听to celebrate the industry's achievements.
Focused on highlighting the vital role journalists and filmmakers have in increasing cultural听understanding and supporting equality and justice worldwide, the One World Media Awards听have set an industry gold standard for media professionals reporting in, on and from the听developing world, throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East,听Russia and the post-Soviet states.