Into Film Clubs
Find out everything you need to know about starting an Into Film Club.
Congratulations to filmmaker Adam Grant, from London, whose film The Heart of the City has won Best Live Action: 13 and Over (sponsored by Cineworld Cinemas) at the Into Film Awards 2018.
The Heart of the City is a striking and classy black-and-white ode to the capital, and it's a film that also triumphed in our My Local Culture competition recently. Adam also won our Film of the Month competition back in August 2017 with his thoughtful film Confirm Humanity. This latest success makes it two prestigious filmmaking awards for Adam and The Heart of the City in the space of a month. Having been personally presented with the My Local Culture prize by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan himself, Adam had his Into Film Award presented to him by Martin Freeman!
We spoke to Adam about the making of The Heart of the City, and just what it is about London that so inspired him.
"It's hard to say when or where I really became interested in filmmaking, having been raised on cinema. A childhood built upon the early mornings my older brother and I would spend feasting on our grandparents' Sky box, watching all the films for a decade or so. I've always loved to create, so I'm pretty sure it was only a matter of time before I picked up a camera and had a go myself.
Having been born in a Barbican flat and grown up in central London, the city has always been a part of me; the landscape's such a breeding ground for curious characters, and the curves and cross hatchings of a sun-ray through all the city's many slits and intersections fascinates me. I'm sure - like many others who've mused over it - it simply seemed a waste not to put it on film.
In my opinion, one of the modern world's greatest pleasures is the privilege to pair a tailored soundtrack with the world around you; a set of earphones and a beat to march along with the vibrancy of one's surroundings. Besides inspiration from a whimsical promotional video for the Barbican around 1969, I think my film was probably born on a playlist somewhere along the streets of EC2. Everyone's got their own unique keyhole to look at their home through; I'd like to think that this little film is mine."
I'm proud to have won, but moreso I am grateful that kids like me can grow up in a world with opportunities as nurturing as these. I was born and raised in London and the BFI and Into Film have taken a wonderfully influential role in my upbringing. I thank all the amazing people in initiatives like this for encouraging me and others alike to go out and do what they love.
Adam Grant, aged 18, Into Film Award winning filmmaker
