Scholarships will help mould filmmakers with global vision

Filmmakers are being offered the chance to apply for scholarships as part of the University of Bradford’s relaunched Filmmaking MA, developed in partnership with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

There are three £5,000 scholarships for qualified full-time international applicants and five £2,000 scholarships for qualified full-time home applicants.

Students from the UK and abroad are invited to apply.

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Programme leader Mark Goodall, a senior lecturer at the University, who is himself a filmmaker, said the new scholarships would appeal to a broad spectrum of people from a range of backgrounds.

“The relaunched Filmmaking MA has been designed to appeal to students from around the world and then to bring them into Bradford to learn the skills that will make them the directors, producers and writers of the future.

"This could appeal to people from all sorts of backgrounds, whether that’s NGOs, journalists, people who have worked in local government and more, and it will train them for a wide variety of careers where film is used as a medium to tell a story.

“The link to UNESCO and its sustainable development goals cannot be understated. UNESCO has a long history of making its own films, and so we’re quite excited to see what our new students come up with.

“We are at the moment in the middle of a revolution in terms of how people consume film but sitting behind that is a more enduring human desire for storytelling. We have an immensely rich history of filmmaking here in Bradford, with some wonderful rural and urban locations, and we have the expertise to help mould filmmakers who want to have an impact on society through the medium of film.”

James Bridge, Chief Executive and Secretary General of the UK National Commission for UNESCO, said: “The revised Masters degree programme at the University of Bradford in partnership with UNESCO comes at an important time. Encouraging people to explore the wider world and the work of UNESCO visually through filmmaking can also help more people engage with important issues around sustainable development.

"The scholarships provided will give more people from around the globe an exceptional opportunity to be part of something special and to study in the world's first UNESCO City of Film."

UNESCO link

David Wilson is director of Bradford City of Film and appointed Researcher of the Global Film Industry Research Centre, Beijing Film Academy in Qingdao, China. He said the MA’s UNESCO link would foster the development of filmmakers with global vision.

“This is an opportunity to develop filmmakers with a global vision, who can respond to the work of organisations like UNESCO. It’s also about using film to have a positive impact on the world. Here in Bradford, we have the expertise, the locations, a long history of filmmaking and a desire to innovate and when you bring all that together in the context of our UNESCO City of Film status, we hope that inspires people to make films about the issues of the day.”

Professor Shirley Congdon, Vice-Chancellor of the University, added: “We are proud of the city’s long history of filmmaking and the fact it was named by UNESCO as the first City of Film. Many of UNESCO’s strategic goals - sustainable development, intercultural dialogue through education, building a culture of peace - are synonymous with our own in terms of promoting diversity, environmentalism and a global perspective. This course, through its partnership with UNESCO, further enables us to make film part of the University’s mission to achieve these sustainable goals.”

University of Bradford was named UK’s University of the Year for Social Inclusion in 2020, and topped the new Social Mobility Index university league table for England in 2021 based on its impact on improving students’ life chances.