'The Great Escape' wins Best Animation 2018: 12 and Under

Congratulations to Braunston Primary School and Willowmann Producations from Northamptonshire, whose World War I stop-motion film The Great Escape has won Best Animation: 12 and Under at the Into Film Awards 2018.

Principally made by 28 young people from Braunston Primary School, The Great Escape shares its name with another classic war film, and is a more than worthy companion piece to the Steve McQueen-starring classic. An impressively animated tale, the film reimagines the journey of a group of soldiers escaping from a P.O.W camp. While that premise may sound dark and dramatic, the young filmmakers have made a warm, funny and very different sort of World War I film.

The film was part of a series of artworks to commemorate the centenary of WWI, and was inspired by those who escaped the Germans and fought bravely in the Battle of the Somme. It was made by 28 Year 5 students, in collaboration with Willowmann Productions.

"It is an incredible privilege and such a wonderful opportunity to find that our animation The Great Escape has won an Into Film Award." said Christopher Bradley, the supporting filmmaker at Willowmann Productions. "The young people involved in the production of the film have very much been looking forward to travelling from rural Northamptonshire to the red carpet Award ceremony in London. It is exciting to know that our short animated film will be seen by many more people and it is with thanks to Into Film for making such an incredible opportunity possible."