Father Robert Picks a Winner

26 November 2009

Our priest they call the ‘Cultural Cleric’ because of his lively weekly radio reviews has been a judge for an innovative film festival.

Father Robert King was a member of the judging panel for the Signis Award which was presented at the Insight Film Festival in Manchester last week.

Members of the Signis jury were looking for the film that best portrays human values on screen.  The winner was ‘What the Gods Want’.

‘What the Gods Want’ is a short film made in 2007.  It follows the Brahman who had arrived in Preston from a small village in India. With passion he goes through a journey to fulfil his duties and bring back his parishioners to the temple. The film documents the exhilarating fires of Western Hinduism. Wonderful imagery completes the Brahman’s unforgettable faith journey.  It was produced and edited by Nital Mistry.  His prize was a sliver trophy.

Father Robert said ‘What the Gods Want’ is: “An honest cross generation reflection on religion and culture through Hinduism. The film raises questions that are pertinent to people of faith in contemporary Britain, reflecting the complex nature of the human condition in relation to belief and membership of a community.”

He added: “I was delighted to be asked to judge, with others, the submissions for the recent Insight Film Festival.  A festival that celebrates the contribution made to film by people of faith.  At the heart of all drama is the narrative of human questioning, and I was impressed by the high standard of emerging religious short film makers.”

Signis is the World Catholic Association for Communication. It works across all media platforms and has a particularly strong global presence at some of the world’s highest profile film festivals.

The organisation’s work covers all fields of audiovisual creation from TV, video and radio production to the development of radio, video and TV studios. Signis also works to supply specialised media equipment - for example satellite internet technology to African countries. It has a hand in the distribution and promotion of films and television programmes.

The Insight Film Festival begun in Manchester in 2007 by a group of professionals in the film and media industry who wanted to make a serious contribution to community cohesion through film and moving image.

The awards have attracted global interest and entries and enquiries have been made from throughout the UK.  Like Bristol, Manchester is a key city for media of all types and is at the forefront in the drive towards global digital communication.

Councillor Mike Amesbury, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure at Manchester City Council said:  “Manchester is a city of many faiths and none. The city that gave the world its first industrial revolution is now driving the creative revolution. The rich diversity of our communities gives Manchester an edge, we may have differences but we are all Mancunian. Insight will help celebrate this.”

You can tune into Father Robert’s cultural reviews every week on the award-winning Face to Faith on Bristol radio station BCfm.  Father Robert’s tried his hand at film-making.  He covered the visit of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux earlier this year.  He’s also a frequent contributor to BBC Radio Bristol’s Thought for the Day and earlier this year won a radio Oscar having been part of our gold winning podcast ‘The Budgerigar and the Prisoner’.

You can watch the ‘What the Gods Want’ in the cliftondiocese.com cliplayer below.