Richard Billingham, writer and director of Ray & Liz, has been awarded the £50,000 IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award in association with the BFI.

The UK premiere of Ray & Liz takes place at the BFI London Film Festival today.

The Bursary Award was presented by director, Edgar Wright  at a gala dinner at London’s Electric Light Station. The dinner marked the opening of the BFI London Film Festival.
 
Based in Swansea, Richard Billingham was the first recipient of the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize in 1997. The following year BBC2 broadcast his film Fishtank (47mins), produced by Artangel and filmmaker Adam Curtis. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale 2001 and was nominated for the Turner Prize the same year. His photography work is held in many collections including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum, New York, V&A and Tate Galleries, London. He has made work about his immediate family, about animals in zoos around the world and about the British landscape.
 
Ray & Liz, his first feature film, produced by Jacqui Davies and shot on location in the Midlands where he grew up. It is based on Richard’s memories, focussing on his parents Ray and Liz, their relationship, and its impact on Richard and his younger brother Jason.  
Now in its third year, the Bursary is presented in recognition of outstanding British talent at the beginning of their careers and is designed to support a writer and/or director by providing them with the financial stability and time needed to develop their creativity. Previous recipients include writer/directors, Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling) and Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy).
 
The three finalists for this year’s Bursary Award were Richard Billingham – Writer & director of RAY & LIZ – LFF First Feature Competition (UK Premiere); Nicole Taylor – Writer of WILD ROSE – LFF Festival Gala (European Premiere) and Harry Wootliff – Writer & Director of ONLY YOU – LFF First Feature Competition (World Premiere)

Staff Reporter

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