2021 Winners
The Arts and Humanities Research Council is delighted to announce the winners of the Research in Film Awards 2021, which remains the only film awards dedicated to celebrating and recognising arts and humanities research through film.
We received a record number of entries this year, and our prestigious judging panel whittled them down to a shortlist of 25 films. The winning films below represent the best films made during the course of, as result of, or that are inspired by arts and humanities research. Many of them are available to watch in full online right now, including short clips and trailers, we hope you enjoy them.
Best Research Film of the Year
This award is for the very best film made as an output or by-product of cutting-edge arts and humanities research. It brings new research to wider attention and highlights the value and importance of arts and humanities research.
The Art of Peace, Medellín
‘The Art of Peace, Medellín’, submitted by Birte Vogel (University of Manchester) shows how marginalised youth in the city of Medellín, Colombia, have responded to ongoing conflict through arts to create alternatives to violence.
In recent years, arts-based approaches to peacebuilding have gained traction as an emerging area of research and practice, demonstrating that community-led arts projects, which give agency to local people to change their society, have an important impact upon peace formation in various stages of conflict.
‘The Art of Peace, Medellín’ is based on fieldwork carried out in Colombia, including participatory workshops involving local artists from Medellín that enabled them to tell their stories to a global audience and to challenge the stereotypes of the city as depicted in Netflix series such as ‘Narcos’.
The team behind ‘The Art of Peace, Medellín’:
a film by: Si Mitchell and Charlie Miller
production company: The Mono Grande
production: Ruth Daniel (In Place of War), Teresa Ó Brádaigh Bean (University of Manchester), Roberta McCaughan (In Place of War)
translation: Camilla Robinson, Miguel Barreto De Sousa Henriques, Nicolas Palacio, Oriana Garzon, Pamela Ospina
project research conducted for the Colombian case study: Teresa Ó Brádaigh Bean (University of Manchester), Miguel Barreto De Sousa Henriques (Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogota, Colombia), Birte Vogel (University of Manchester).
The judges said:
“This is an excellent film. The cinematography is superb, the research clear and the messages powerful. It testifies to the important work being done by the research team and yet is a standalone piece of compelling viewing, telling important stories.”