Geraldine Heaney made a First Light film called Mothering Nature when she was 18-years-old, which won the Best Film category at this year’s First Light Awards. Originally from Aberdeen, Geraldine has recently moved to Edinburgh to pursue a career in filmmaking.

Now aged 20, Geraldine is involved with a Channel 4 documentary project called Raw Cuts. First Light caught up with Geraldine to see what advice she can give our budding young filmmakers.

FL: Do you think working on a First Light funded film has inspired you to pursue a career in film and TV production?

GH: For the last few years I had been really interested in film and I think that making Mothering Nature made it seem much more realistic to be thinking about a career in film and TV production. It gave me the confidence and a lot more skills that I will hopefully be able to transfer into work I make in the future as I intent to pursue filmmaking as more than just a hobby.

FL: Did winning the Best Film by 13s and Over category give you an ego boost and help decide your future career path?

GH: It was a real surprise to win! But definitely a bit of an ego boost too. It gave me the confidence to apply for things that I might not have applied for feeling that I had bit of clout behind me. It’s great to be able to show that the work I’m doing has been recognized by others and that it’s not just me that thinks it’s a bit good.

FLM: What other films/ production projects have you been involved with since making your First Light film?

GH: I was asked by a local Arts Café to make some short artist profiles to be screen at the launch of the new exhibitions that they were running.

I made a Documentary for AUMSA – the Aberdeen University Muslim Student Association for the launch of Islamic Awareness Week.

I was commissioned by the Aberdeen section on the Six Cities Design Festival to make a Short Documentary about Aberdeen in terms of industry.

I was also a very active volunteer for 3sixty TV an online channel run from Peacock Visual Arts an art space in Aberdeen. With them I worked on various different projects in a number of different roles. This included a lot of camera operating with a bit of vision mixing and editing too.

We worked with lots of different shows varying from live music streams to a piece for the launch of the new National Theatre for Scotland. We made documentaries and actually they did a programme on me and screened Mothering Nature on the channel too.

FLM: What in particular has been great about working with Channel 4 on their Raw Cuts documentary project?

GH: It was great getting to spend a week working in the Channel 4 buildings in London. I was given the opportunity to work with several different directors with very varied styles. It was really nice getting to know the young people in the project too; they all had such interesting stories. Out of the eight winners, four of them and their directors have now been commissioned to make three minute shorts for the three minute wonders slot on Channel 4 after the news. I’ll be helping with the production with them too. So far I feel as though I’ve learnt a lot and had a lot of fun.

FL: What would your ideal job be?

GH: That’s a really difficult question. There’s loads of stuff I would love to do. At the moment I’m toying with the idea of learning Gaelic and becoming a storyteller. I guess ideally I’d love to be an independent filmmaker working with lots of different artists to make lots of different films. As a child I wanted to be a part time painter, part time ballerina but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

FLM: Can you tell us anything else about making a First Light funded film, or do you have any advice to young people starting out in film?

GB: For me it was completely invaluable. I learnt so much working with the folks at Station House Media Unit and got the chance to create something I was really proud of. In all of the new things that I have been doing the skills I learnt from the First Light Movies project has definitely helped.

As for advice, I would say just grab every opportunity that you can and go out and find opportunities. No job is too small if you show your enthusiasm in the little jobs people will ask you back for the bigger ones (I say jobs this does not mean that there is any money involved!!).

First Light caught up with a very busy Geraldine again more recently in June 2008 to see what she’s been up to, this is what she had to say:

Stuff is going ok, bit slow really, but I am doing odds and ends here and there film wise. I’ve done some running on short films. Rawcuts was screened on Channel 4 at the beginning of the year. I worked as a Production Manager on a short that we made in Fife with a group of young Polish teenagers too. It was really hard work but I learnt loads from it.

I’m trying to fill in a funding application as we speak as a friend and I are trying to start up a Practical Film Club for elderly people. We’ve found a group we want to work with and are trying to see if they want to work with us. It’s quite tough though, I’ve never done a funding application on my own. I just want to meet them and show them how excited I am about it, it never seems to come across right on paper. We’ll see hopefully they’ll give us a few thousand pounds and we can hire decent equipment, teach these people basic skills and create new memories with them – the project is called ‘Making Memories’.

There isn’t a Last Light fund for the aged?…. Nope i didn’t think so!