Warminster couple's film nominated for BAFTA award

A Warminster couple heard last week that a film they directed has been nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television  (BAFTA) award.

The film, Mugabe and the White African, is the work of Lucy Bailey (37) and Andrew Thompson  (38) who live in the village of Brixton Deverill, south of Warminster, with their 1 yr old son Orrin. It has already won the British Independent Film Award for best documentary, and is currently Oscar shortlisted for the 2010 Academy Awards.  

The nomination, one of five in this year's  BAFTA "Outstanding Debut by a Director, Writer or Producer" category means they are listed alongside top names from Hollywood.  James Cameron is one of this year's nominees in the Director category for Avatar and George Clooney has been nominated in the Leading Actor category for his role in "Up in the Air".

Both Andrew and Lucy have had ten years' experience of filming in Africa for charities,including Comic Relief.  Lucy explains how their latest film came to be made, "We were in South Africa and saw all these refugees coming over the border from Zimbabwe.  We were hearing dreadful stories about what was happening and decided this would make a great film." 

"Mugabe and the White African" is described as "an intimate and moving feature-length documentary, charting one family's extraordinary courage in the face of a relentless campaign of state-sanctioned  terror."

It tells the story of a white farmer who challenges President Mugabe's Land Reform programme by taking him to court. Filmed over 12 months, often covertly as to be discovered filming would have meant imprisonment, it is directed by Lucy and Andrew and produced by David Pearson and Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock. 

"The nomination has taken us by surprise," says Lucy who claims she had forgotten that the announcements were due. " We are hoping the film will put the situation in Zimbabwe on the world stage and drum up some publicity for the situation." says Lucy, whose life has taken on a hectic pace as they travel the country to cinemas where the film is showing.

"Mugabe and the White African" is currently showing in London and will be at the Watershed Media Centre in Bristol on 5th Feb and in Bath at the Picture House Little Theatre Cinema on 16th Feb.