And the Winner Is....................

Sue Bourne's film about an Acton street wins documentary award

A film screened last year about a street in Acton has been awarded a major documentary prize.

My Street was screened as part of a series of Cutting Edge documentaries and won best Documentary in the "Broadcast" 2009 Awards. Sue Bourne, the talented documentary-maker who lives on 'My Street', told us she was "absolutely thrilled to bits" to receive the award.

The shortlist for Best Documentary Programme (Sponsored by Envy) was:

A Boy Called Alex
America Unchained
Pedigree Dogs Exposed
Sex Change Soldier
Undercover in Tibet

Earlier this week, preparing to go to the awards ceremony, Sue found herself sitting on the edge of her bed practising her acceptance speech. "I was all ready for my Kate Winslet moment and I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I even brought tears to my own eyes thinking about what I was going to say."

But this awards ceremony is one which happens without speeches. However, Sue was delighted to allow her short, eloquent and emphatically un-Paltrow/Winslet-esque speech to be broadcast by ActonW3.com:

"I just wanted to thank all my neighbours for being so tolerant and I dedicate this award to Adam."

The story of Adam, an articulate 25-year-old with Tourette’s Syndrome, was one of what the Broadcast judges called the film’s "diverse strands". Three weeks after Sue had filmed him, he was found dead in slightly uncertain circumstances. As the judges said: "a death that would have gone unremarked on and unknown without a film that proved how little modern Britain knows about its neighbours."

Sue says since My Street was screened she has been making films back-to-back.

This is the second accolade in less than a year for Sue. She was awarded the prize for 'Making a Difference' in the Mental Health Media Awards last year for 'Mum and Me', a poignantly honest portrait of Sue's mother's mental decline due to Alzheimer's disease.

The other main awards which My Street could be eligible for are the RTS (Royal Television Society) awards and the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television) awards - which are announced on April 26th. Only members of the Academy can vote for a film to be shortlisted for a BAFTA.

Films have to be nominated by the company who broadcast them for an RTS award but for reasons best known to themselves, Channel 4 did not put My Street forward.

Sue deserves congratulations for her poignant and revealing film which, as the Broadcast judges put it, was “A simple premise that created an extraordinary film.” We will continue to bring news of her powerful, thought-provoking films via the website.