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'Best film' nomination for 18-year-old's debut

Chloe Aslett
BBC News, Yorkshire
Rosie Holt A headshot of Rosie, smiling. She has long brown, curly hair. She wears a yellow alice-band in her hair and black glasses. Her top is pale yellow and has puffy shoulders. Rosie Holt
Rosie Holt, 18, said the nomination was a "really big surprise".

An 18-year-old's filmmaking debut has been nominated for best film at a red-carpet ceremony in London.

Grace Holt, from Sheffield, wrote and directed her genre-subverting short film 'No Dice' for her A-Level Film Studies coursework.

The film, which is shortlisted in the 16-19 age category, will be shown at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, as part of an awards ceremony organised by the film charity Into Film.

"Having my name out there already is a dream come true. It fills me with hope that if I keep making things I'm ionate about, those efforts will be noticed," said Grace.

Grace, who is currently a student at Lancaster University, said being recognised, at such a young age, was a "really big surprise" given the film industry's reputation for being notoriously difficult to get ahead in.

She added: "If I were to continue doing this, which I really want to, I feel like [being nominated] is something you'd expect to come later in your career.

"It's happening now, which is really weird."

'No Dice' follows a Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy role-play game, and shows a world within the game alongside the lives of the real-life players, who are residents in a care home.

Rosie Holt Five people stand in a line in a forest. In the centre is a camera and boom mic, with Rosie stood to the right. On either side of her are people dressed as fantasy characters. On the far left, a man wears a large white shirt and a chequered waistcoat and boots; another man on the far right wears a cape and holds a prop sword. Between them, on either side of Grace, stand a woman with short white hair wearing a velvet green cape, and another woman, in a blue dress, holding a wand and wearing a tiara.Rosie Holt
The cast was "amazing and so accommodating", Rosie said.

"In almost every fantasy thing you see, the older of the cast are always like, a sage old wizard," Grace said.

"I thought it would be interesting and fun if the older characters were able to play reckless, stupid characters that make mistakes and get involved in brawls."

The cast, whom she found on local acting websites, with the help of her teachers at Wales High School, were "amazing and so accommodating".

"At the start I was a bit too nervous to say anything, but I think, as we went on, I got into it more and was able to say what my vision was," she said.

The London awards ceremony, on 24 June, will screen the nominated films in each category.

It will be hosted by actress and Strictly winner Rose Ayling-Ellis, who said she was "honoured" to host.

"The standard is extraordinarily high and just shows how important it is to give young people a voice through filmmaking," she said.

The annual ceremony has previously been attended by film actors including Daniel Craig, Lashana Lynch, Martin Freeman and Lily James.

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