The third edition of the Public Health Film Festival recently took place in Oxford and was host to award-winning films from the International Public Health Film Competition supported by the Faculty of Public Health, Public Health England, The Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Ethics and Humanities.
The public health film competition was more popular than ever, with over 550 films from 72 countries submitted for consideration. Members of the Public Health Film Society scored the films using a list of ten criteria previously published in the Journal of Public Health and a shortlist of 15 films was put forward for consideration by a committee of experts from the world of film and public health, including Professor John Middleton from the Faculty.
The judges’ award for the best health film this year was shared jointly by Budh (Awakening) a powerful film and directorial debut of Indian Director, Prashant Ingole, that tells the story of three women from different corners of India and their struggles against barriers that bind women in this vast country; and Buddy Joe, an entertaining animation from French director, Julien David that imagines how an elderly artists suffering from Parkinson’s Disease tells his step-son about his disease.
The highly commended award was given to Sarah Holloway for her documentary film, Lucy: Breaking the Silence which movingly recalls the story Lucy Rayner who took her own life, the effect on her family and the issue of mental health among young people in the UK.
The film festival offered audiences the opportunity to see most of these films for the first time in UK, to talk with film-makers about their motivations for making them and share the journey they have taken to make and showcase their films.
In addition this year, The Public Health Film Society (PHFS) in collaboration with the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities introduced an award for the health film that was most well received by the audience at the festival. This inaugural audience award was won by Lucy: Breaking the Silence and was presented by Professor John Middleton to Sarah Holloway, the film’s director.
On behalf of the FPH Public Health Film Special Interest Group (SIG), I can say that we are delighted with the success of the International Public Health Film Competition this year. It clearly shows that there is a high level of interest in health films among the artistic community and a global pool of talent working on health films and we are honoured to provide these films-makers with a platform to showcase their award winning work and share their experience.
Written by Dr Uy Hoang, Chair of the FPH Public Health Film SIG and President of the Public Health Film Society.
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