“Today’s award ceremony has been absolutely amazing. It’s always so inspiring! I believe the biggest challenge facing young people today is getting over their own limits and beliefs about being filmmakers. What we’ve taken away from today is that actually, the industry is an amazing place. There is enough work for everyone; you just have to find your voice and believe in yourself. You have to believe that people really want to hear what you have to say and produce. Go for it!”

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Chief Film Critic from the Metro

Last month, Hanna, who completed her Media Studies course at Loreto College last summer, was shortlisted for the Moving Image Awards after the department entered her coursework, a music video into the national competition. The event, which celebrated its 10th year, was held at the prestigious BFI Southbank. The occasion included a ‘Movie Masterclass’ held by a panel of industry experts: the Metro’s chief film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Katie Leyes and filmmaker Lorna Tucker, who shared great wisdom about their careers and advice to the attending students.

After the panel’s Q&A, the awards ceremony began with the Best Music Video category, which was presented by Christine Bell, author of the A-Level textbook, who commented on the shortlist being of a phenomenally high standard, including Hanna’s music video, The Night We Met. Although Hanna (pictured) narrowly missed out on the top prize, the judges highly commended her out of all the national entries. “This was a fantastic experience,” said one of Hanna’s Media teachers. “For myself, as well as Hanna, she said ‘I had the best day and I’m so grateful for this opportunity! I’ve had some great conversations and made some great connections…'” Hanna left Loreto with fantastic A Level results in Media Studies, Music and Sociology. She is currently studying Musical Theatre at the world-renowned Italia Conti Performing Arts School.