UCA graduate Grant Orchard won the Best Short Animation BAFTA for A Morning Stroll, which he made in his spare time at Studio AKA.
Press Release from the University of Creative Arts:
A graduate of the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) at Farnham won a BAFTA at Saturday’s awards ceremony in London. Grant Orchard, who studied BA (Hons) Animation, picked up the Best Short Animation BAFTA for A Morning Stroll which he made in his spare time at Studio AKA.
Grant said: “I’m completely delighted to have won. To receive a BAFTA for something I love doing can only be a good thing. We had a really wonderful time last night and it felt really good to wake up this morning and see it next to me.”
A Morning Stroll, which tells the story of one New Yorker's early morning encounter with a chicken, was produced by Sue Goffe at Studio AKA and made with zero-budget, during down-time.
“I’d like to thank everyone at Studio AKA for helping us win the BAFTA,” he added. “Everyone worked really hard on the film and it was a real collaborative effort. Hopefully this award will help us get more films like this made, which would be great."
Grant was up against fellow UCA Farnham graduate, Robert Morgan, who was also nominated for his short animated film Bobby Yeah at the Royal Opera House last night.
This is the second successive BAFTA Award for UCA. Last year, Until the River Runs Red which was produced by UCA Epsom graduate Poss Kondeatis won Best Short Film.
Grant, who graduated from UCA Farnham in 1995, is now looking forward to a trip to Hollywood as his film has also been nominated for an Oscar.
"It's absolutely amazing to be nominated for an Oscar but slightly unreal,” he said. "The Oscars are one of those events that you see on TV from when you're very little. Being nominated is one of those unrealistic childhood ambitions that rank alongside becoming a spaceman, so when it actually happens years later it feels very strange.”
An Academy Award for Grant could lead to the fifth Oscar to be won by a UCA graduate.
UCA Farnham alumni Suzie Templeton (2008), Michael Dudok de Wit (2000) and Daniel Greaves (1992) all won Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, while UCA Canterbury alumnus, Arnold Schwartzman OBE RDI, won Best Documentary Feature in 1982.
Grant, who is about to return to UCA as a visiting lecturer, added: "The Animation course at UCA Farnham was a brilliant platform. Narrative, narrative, narrative as we used to get taught, still stays with me today."
About UCA
The University for the Creative Arts has campuses in Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester and is one of Europe’s largest specialist Universities of art, design, architecture, media and communication. With around 7, 000 students studying on a wide range of well-established courses, potential graphic designers’ work alongside budding journalists and pioneering fashion designers in a highly creative environment.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
