Hard-hitting documentary wins film award
A Southampton Solent University lecturer’s hard-hitting documentary about water contamination in Africa, has won the General In-house Production category at the British Universities Film & Video Council’s (BUFVC) Learning on Screen Awards 2014.
Associate Professor Tony Steyger, The Last Taboo’s director and Enterprise Fellow at the University, accepted the award on behalf of Southampton Solent and collaborating partner Take2-Africa on 24 April at the British Film Institute in London.
He says, "I was delighted to receive an award for a documentary production which used the media skills of students and graduates here and in Kenya to say something important.”
The Last Taboo shines a light on the public health crisis in developing countries caused by open defecation. The lack of toilets and food and water contamination from excrement kills one child worldwide every 20 seconds - more than AIDS and Malaria combined.
It documents the hard work of local communities to solve these problems and looks at the different schemes being developed.
The judges praised the film for its use of humour and sincerity to tell the stories of two remarkable Kenyan men who are helping their local communities to stop defecating in the open and start building toilets.
Chief Charro shocks his community into change through a demonstration of how open defecation can cause the contamination of food and water.
While in the slums of Nairobi, Mambo Dennis brings people together to demand more latrines from slum landlords and to start business enterprises to clean existing facilities.
Tony teamed up Solent film graduate Greg Michael to mentor Kenyan film students from the Multi Media College of Nairobi to assist on the project.
“By collaborating with film schools and universities around the developing world we can maximise the exposure of this important subject”, says Tony.
Supported by WorldView, Creative Skillset, Plan International and Adobe, the film was first screened on World Toilet Day, November 19, 2012. It has since had 90,000 views on YouTube and has been selected for the 2014 Ethnografilm Festival in Paris.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE MEDIA OFFICE ON 023 8031 9040 or email press.office@solent.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
The BUFVC Learning on Screen Awards are the only UK awards celebrating and rewarding excellence in the use of moving image and related media in learning, teaching and research.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE MEDIA OFFICE ON 023 8031 9040 or press.office@solent.ac.uk
About Southampton Solent University
Southampton Solent University offers more than 23,000 students over 200 qualifications ranging from HND to PhD, in subjects such as maritime education and training, fashion and design, media and television, music, health, sport and leisure, business, IT and technology. The university was awarded the 2013 Quality Assurance kitemark for quality and standards of teaching and learning. Solent was voted one of the most creative universities in the UK in a Which? University 2013 poll of students. It has been awarded ‘Gold approval’ by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
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