Awards

We were overwhelmed by the fantastic response to Tessa Ross’s Bafta acceptance speech from supporters on Twitter, and so have decided to make the speech available in full to read online, below.

Danny Boyle, introducing Tessa Ross…

“Barcelona are arguably the greatest football team ever. But when asked who was the greatest footballer ever, their midfield generals Xavi, Iniester and Messi picked Paul Scholes of Manchester United. Stick with me! There was surprise, because Scholes is a modest man who shuns the limelight even when his car is nicked from his driveway. I’m very proud to be here tonight to thrust another shy genius into the spotlight on behalf of the British film industry. Her incredible effort, determination and belief are why our industry continues to thrive. She’s a visionary, someone who’s willing to take a chance, take a risk and back a writer, a director, a producer when others have maybe turned them away. As head of Film and Drama at Film4, she has passionately championed new talent and actively sought out challenging and controversial projects that were deemed too risky or unprofitable by the open market. What’s more, time and again her uncanny instinct has been proven right and these projects have become huge worldwide successes. Many of us here tonight, myself included, wouldn’t be where we are today if it were not for her. Wise, indefatigable and modest, and – yes – capable of the odd mis-timed tackle, I can pay her no greater compliment than to say that she really is the Paul Scholes of the British film industry.”

Tessa Ross, Film4 Head of Film and Drama

Tessa Ross, accepting her award…

“Thank you, thank you so much. If you’ve seen those clips, you’ll know jolly well that that work is by a host of other people, an army of other people and not just me, not least this wonderful man who I’ve had the most wonderful time working with. I would have loved to have listed names and do some proper thank yous, but in truth the list is so long that I thought you wouldn’t mind and you’d forgive me if I just said a huge thank you to the extraordinary writers, the visionary directors, the magical technicians and actors, the dogged producers, that I’ve had the huge privilege of being able to work with.
I’ve learned something every day and continue to do so and in truth those wild, winding, crazy journeys – I say looking at Danny – have been the very best bit of the work for me. I get to take this wonderful thing home and put it on my mantelpiece, and I’ve sat here jealously looking at teams of people who’ve come up, because of course I share this with my brilliant team at Film4, a group of people who are truly exceptional and very much like a second family. They’re incredibly committed, they’re clever, they’re passionate and patient, they’re full of ingenuity and have huge integrity. They do a huge amount with very little.
And really the reason we can work this way is because of a vision that was built 30 years go by some brilliant people – amongst them David Rose and Jeremy Isaacs – and the vision was very simple and it was this: to take the values of what was then a very new public service channel, Channel 4, and those values were of taking risks, of nurturing talent, of doing things differently, of challenging pre-conceptions – and taking those values to the community in this country, the talented people who want to make feature films. And really that’s it- it’s as simple as that – and that’s the vision we have today. And as the world changes and our business changes at a rate of knots, it seems to me that those values are worth cherishing and working with even more than ever before.
It really works like this – my team and I meet somebody, somebody we’ve never met, somebody who has a story to tell that we couldn’t possibly have imagined, a story that only that person could have told, and our job is to support that person, to protect their creativity above all else, to give them time and energy and money – and there is truly no greater privilege than supporting people that you admire.
So thank you very, very much for this – it’s wonderful to be part of building a legacy that is Film4, but in truth the thing that matters most to me is that it should continue to do bigger and braver things, and that it should be an essential part of our cultural life for very many years.”

- Tessa Ross, Film4

Tessa Ross, Channel 4’s Controller of Film and Drama, last night received the Bafta Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, presented to her by long-time collaborator Danny Boyle in front of a star-studded audience which included many industry colleagues and friends. 

Tessa Ross, Film4

Introducing Tessa to the stage, Danny, whose collaborations with Tessa include the multi Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours and forthcoming Trance, described Tessa as a “shy genius”, adding: “Her incredible effort, determination and belief are why our industry continues to thrive.  She’s a visionary, someone who’s willing to take a chance, take a risk to back a writer, director, producer, when others have maybe turned them away.  As head of Film4 she has passionately championed new talent and actively sought out challenging and controversial projects that were deemed too risky or unprofitable by the open market.  What’s more, time and time again, her uncanny instinct has been proven right, and these projects have become huge worldwide successes.  Many of us here tonight, myself included, wouldn’t be where we are today if it were it not for her.”

Accepting her award, Tessa Ross thanked her “committed, clever, passionate and patient” team at Film4 and all “the extraordinary writers, the visionary directors, the magical technicians and actors, the dogged producers I’ve had the huge privilege of being able to work with.”

Tessa also paid tribute to the team who built Channel 4 30 years ago, whose vision still forms the guiding principles of Film4 today, saying:  “The reason we can work this way is because of a vision that was built 30 years go by some brilliant people – amongst them David Rose and Jeremy Isaacs – and the vision was very simple and it was this: to take the values of what was then a very new public service channel, Channel 4, and those values were of taking risks, of nurturing talent, of doing things differently, of challenging pre-conceptions – to the community in this country, the talented people who want to make feature films…and that’s the vision that we have today.”

Thanking Bafta for her award, Tessa said: “It’s wonderful to be part of building a legacy that is Film4, but in truth the thing that matters to me most is that it should continue to do bigger and braver things, and it should be an essential part of our cultural life for very many years.”

David Abraham, Channel 4’s Chief Executive, said: “Congratulations to Tessa and Film4 for this award, it is a huge accolade for her personally and is richly deserved.  It’s also an opportunity for us to take great pride in the wonderful and unique work that Film4 continues to do as part of the overall creative effort of Channel 4.”

The Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award is presented annually in honour of Michael Balcon. Previous recipients include Mike Leigh, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jarman, Mary Selway, Ridley and Tony Scott, Working Title Films, Lewis Gilbert, and the Harry Potter series of films.  Last year’s recipient was John Hurt.

There were further celebrations for Film4, with Bart Layton and Dimitri Doganis taking the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer award for The Imposter.

Tessa’s Bafta

 The full list of winners can be found here

The British Academy Film Awards 2013  took place on Sunday 10th February, hosted by Stephen Fry at the Royal Opera House, and is available to view on iPlayer until 18th February

Film4-backed films Berberian Sound Studio, The Imposter and Sightseers were victorious at last night’s Evening Standard British Film Awards, at a celebratory ceremony at the London Film Museum.

Bart Layton and Dimitri Doganis strike a pose with their award for The Imposter

Toby Jones beat off competition from Daniel Day-Lewis and Eddie Redmayne to win Best Actor; director Bart Layton and producer Dimitri Doganis took home Best Documentary for The Imposter; and Ben Wheatley won the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy for Sightseers.

Sightseers director Ben Wheatley with his Peter Sellers Comedy award

Congrats to all the winners – click here to see full list!

Bafta announces today that Tessa Ross will receive the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the EE British Academy Film Awards ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House on Sunday 10 February

The Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award is presented annually in honour of Michael Balcon. Previous recipients include Mike Leigh, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jarman, Mary Selway, Ridley and Tony Scott, Working Title Films, Lewis Gilbert, and the Harry Potter series of films. Last year’s recipient was John Hurt.

Tessa Ross

John Willis, Chairman of BAFTA, said: “Tessa Ross has made an immense contribution to British cinema during her time at Channel 4. Tessa’s impeccable taste, and her passion for great writing and directing has shone through every film she has been involved with; she is an extremely worthy recipient of this important Award.”

Tessa Ross says: “It’s a surprise and a great honour to have been given this award by Bafta. I owe it of course to the wonderful film makers I’ve had the privilege of working with – and to my team at Film4, with whom I share it. We’re very lucky to be so supported by Channel 4 and by David Abraham who continues to champion our work. There are incredibly talented people working within our industry, as well as outside it – and 30 years ago Film4 was built to find these people, nurture them and help contribute to our British film culture. It’s a privilege to try to keep this idea alive.”

Tessa is the controller of Film and Drama at Channel 4, heading up feature film division Film4, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in November last year. Tessa and Film4 have built a reputation for developing and financing some of the most innovative and acclaimed British films which between them have amassed a large number of prestigious awards.

Tessa is a champion of the British film industry. She nurtures filmmakers in their first feature films such as Stephen Daldry’s Billy Elliot, Chris Morris’ Four Lions, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block, Sam Taylor-Wood’s Nowhere Boy and Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, amongst many others. She also has developed longstanding working relationships with established British filmmakers such as Danny Boyle, Shane Meadows, Mike Leigh, Michael Winterbottom, Roger Michell and Kevin Macdonald. Together they have worked on some of the most critically-acclaimed and award-winning films of the last decade including Slumdog Millionaire, The Last King of Scotland, This Is England and Happy-Go-Lucky.

Forthcoming releases see her working with Danny Boyle on Trance, Richard Ayoade on The Double, Michael Winterbottom on The Look of Love, Steve McQueen on Twelve Years a Slave, Kevin Macdonald on How I Live Now, Jonathan Glazer on Under the Skin, Lenny Abrahamson on Frank, Clio Barnard on The Selfish Giant, Shane Meadows on his Stone Roses documentary, and Anton Corbijn on A Most Wanted Man. Recent Film4 films Seven Psychopaths, The Imposter and The Curse are nominated this year in the Outstanding British Film, Outstanding Debut, Documentary and Short Film categories respectively.

Tessa has also cemented Channel 4 Drama’s reputation for risk and innovation. Pieces commissioned during her stewardship include Shameless, White Teeth, The Devil’s Whore, Sex Traffic, Omagh and Elizabeth I.
Tessa came to Channel 4 from the BBC’s Independent Commissioning Group where as Head of Drama her commissions included Paul Abbott’s Clocking Off, and Stephen Daldrey’s multi award-winning Billy Elliot. She was previously a governor at the BFI, a governor at the NFTS, a member of the ICA council and an external examiner for the MA in Screenwriting at the Northern Film School. She is currently a member of the National Theatre board and an honorary associate of the London Film School. Tessa was appointed CBE in the New Year 2010 Honours List for her services to broadcasting.

The ceremony will be hosted by Stephen Fry and will be broadcast exclusively on BBC One and BBC One HD, preceded by a red carpet show on BBC Three hosted by Edith Bowman. The ceremony is also broadcast in all major territories around the world.

Click here to find out more about the team at Film4

Film4 is celebrating after four wins at Sunday night’s London Critics’ Circle Awards, in the British Film of the Year, British Actor of the Year, Documentary of the Year and Breakthrough British Filmmaker categories.

Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio scooped two awards – British Film of the Year, and Best Actor for lead Toby Jones.

Bart Layton’s The Imposter took home Documentary of the Year, while Sightseers’ writers and stars Steve Oram and Alice Lowe were named this year’s Breakthrough British Filmmakers.

The awards were held at the May Fair Hotel, and are voted for by the London Film Critics’ Circle, which comprises over 120 members of UK film critics, broadcasters and writers.

Commenting on the awards, Tessa Ross, Head of Film4, says:  “We’re delighted that the work of the hugely talented filmmakers responsible for creating Berberian Sound Studio, The Imposter and Sightseers has been honoured by The London Film Critics’ Circle. These awards recognise challenging and innovative cinema, and we’re proud that Film4 could play a part in bringing them to our screens.”

The London Critics’ Circle wins come after the announcement of the Evening Standard British Film Awards nominations last week, which will see Sightseers and Berberian Sound Studio battle it out with Bond for Film of the Year.  Also nominated are Toby Jones for Best Actor, Alice Lowe for Best Actress, Martin McDonagh (for Seven Psychopaths) and Ben Wheatley (for Sightseers) for the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy and The Imposter for Best Documentary.

For the full shortlist of the awards, which take place on Monday 4^th February, click here.