BAFTA grant for Shrewsbury editor
A freelance assistant editor who has worked on documentaries and feature films has just been awarded a prestigious scholarship.
Jonathan Crook, 32, from Shrewsbury was one of nine UK scholars to be awarded £10,000 by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to support his MA in Editing at the National Film and Television School.
This year, BAFTA is awarding over £180,000 to scholars studying in the UK and US. In addition to financial aid towards their annual course fees, the BAFTA Scholars will gain free access to BAFTA events and receive one-to-one mentoring from BAFTA members, award-winners and nominees.
Since studying Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London, Jonathan has pursued a career in film. He currently works in London as a Freelance Assistant Editor on documentaries and feature films such as Alice Lowe's Prevenge and Amazon Prime's Pistorius. Jon has also edited independent documentary short films including Life in Miniature, which screened internationally at Sundance and SXSW among other festivals.
Jonathan said: “I feel extremely grateful and truly honoured to have been awarded such a prestigious scholarship. Not only will the financial support enable me to study at the NFTS, but receiving recognition from an organisation such as BAFTA is a huge vote of confidence. I am particularly looking forward to BAFTA's mentorship programme and having access to some of the most talented people in the industry. It fills me with a great sense of pride to be a BAFTA Scholar, and I now feel like my ambitions are no longer out of reach."
Jonathan met his fellow UK Scholars and Apprentices on Sunday morning for a welcome breakfast before attending BAFTA’s flagship new talent festival, Guru Live.
Previous BAFTA Scholars from the Midlands include Robert Gittings who studied Digital Effects at NFTS, and Jason Harris who studied Acting at East 15.
The scholarships are part of BAFTA’s charitable activity to support talented people at all stages of their career, regardless of their background or circumstances.
Each BAFTA Scholar receives financial support towards their annual tuition fees, alongside personal mentoring from a BAFTA member and access to BAFTA events. In return, the scholarship recipients share their learning experiences on BAFTA Guru (www.bafta.org/guru), BAFTA’s online learning resource, and participate in BAFTA’s outreach to young people.
