SA filmmakers win ADCAN Grand Prix award in LA

Filmmakers Ben Kaufman (Producer) and Peter Jones (Director), recently walked off with a category win and the Grand Prix award at this year's ADCAN competition held in Los Angeles for their film for the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) and their Young Health Movement charity.

Ben is originally from Zimbabwe, and Peter from Cape Town. They met in 2007 while both studying film at AFDA in Cape Town. Before this ADCAN project, they last worked together in 2010. Peter has been living and working as an editor in London for eight years, whilst continuing to work on writing and directing projects on the side. Peter was also a category winner last year at ADCAN. Ben is a creative and client facing producer possessing seven years' experience in over 100 television commercials, several of which have received awards. He was ranked as the top producer in South Africa for 2016 and 2017 by The Loerie Awards.

ADCAN is a UK/USA-based competition run annually for unsigned filmmakers around the world to create a 30-60 second film for partnered charities of the competition. Short-listed filmmakers get the chance to go to LA for mentoring and a series of workshops with some of the best talent the industry have to offer including Mark Romanek and KK Barrett, as well as the awards ceremony with various categories. The films from the competition are then used worldwide for the charities. For example, one of the winning films at ADCAN for the charity 'Springster' will be used at taxi ranks in South Africa.

"Just being involved is such a great and worthwhile experience working on a project for a good cause. For us to have won the Grand Prix this year is very special, the prize is a commissioned piece of work for AirBnb and their Open Homes project, which offers homes to those affected by disasters, conflict, illness. This will happen 2019, so another project for good," says Peter.

The Young Health Movement charity is all about disseminating information to young people about maintaining health and well-being, and this film tackles the need for youth to develop a positive relationship with social media. On top of the ADCAN exposure, the film has also been reviewed on David Reviews, a well-respected Advertising Industry page in the UK. Read the 5-Star review HERE.

"It is very humbling to have won the Grand Prix. I hope that the film makes a difference in helping and educating youth about how they use social media. The experience from the competition has been invaluable, and along with pursuing commercial opportunities in London, I am looking forward to ending 2018 strong," says Ben.

Watch the film here: https://adcan.com/gallery/films/health-jones

Find out more about Peter and Ben here:
www.impeterjones.com
www.benkaufman.co