AFU’s eleventh annual screening and first presentation of Michael Grigsby Awards

Michael Grigsby Award winners Jack Bradley, Aim Wonghirundacha and John Cheung pose with the designer of the new awards, Rebekah Tolley at the 11th annual screening

One of the new Michael Grigsby Awards, handcrafted in Wales by Hadrian Tolley

James Hughes’ fine portrait of Michael Grigsby

Another view of one of the new Michael Grigsby Awards designed by Rebekah Tolley

An enthusiastic audience gathered in the Amey Theatre at Abingdon School last night to witness the eleventh annual screening of new films by members of the Abingdon Film Unit. The programme featured eleven new films and saw a wider range of work than ever before, with live action fiction, abstract pieces and the AFU’s first music video adding to the mix of animations and documentaries that have been the core of the AFU’s repertoire in previous years.

Another new element was the presentation of the first Michael Grigsby Awards. Founded this year in memory of the AFU’s co-founder and mentor, and funded by donations from his family, friends and colleagues, the awards were presented by Michael’s brother Chris and sister-in-law Marion. The “Spirit of Grigsby Award” was presented to John Cheung and Aim Wonghirundacha for their fiction film Blindside, while the “Michael Grigsby Young Filmmaker Award” went to Jack Bradley for his documentary One Fish at a Time. A special award of a multi-coloured “Grigsby scarf” was made to Michael Bicarregui, the AFU’s most senior member whose last year in the unit this was. Michael directed five animated films in his time with us, including the award winning “Warp Cops”. His final film, Pastahouse Fiasco was a characteristic tour-de-force.

The Michael Grigsby Awards were designed by creative producer and AFU tutor Rebekah Tolley, and produced in Wales by the craftsman Hadrian Tolley. Made from English bog oak and highly polished steel, each piece was engraved with the numbers “1357”. These were important to Michael in several ways. He was born at 135 Northcourt Avenue in Reading and saw his first films there on a projector and screen set up in the front room by his father. He made his first professional films with “Unit 57” in Manchester shortly after leaving Abingdon. Finally, throughout his career, he believed in using odd numbers to structure his films – for example, focusing on 1 or 3 characters, creating sequences of 3, 5 or 7 shots, and so on.

As well as these unique items, the evening was graced by the display of a fine portrait of Michael created by the artist James Hughes.

All in all, it was a special and joyous occasion. Congratulations to all the filmmakers – Rob O’Kelly and Tanishq Sabharwal; Henrik Cox; Alex Chapman; Edmund Cornforth; Jonny Hitchens; John Cheung and Aim Wonghirundacha; Bryony Dawson and Devon Armstrong: Josh Sarphie; Blake Jones; Michael Bicarregui and Jack Bradley.