University News Last updated 21 February 2014
A Birmingham City University tutor is celebrating after a short film he produced has been nominated for an award at The Oscars.
'The Voorman Problem', produced by Lee Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Film Distribution and Marketing at Birmingham City University, is nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
Produced by Lee in collaboration with emerging talent Mark Gill and Baldwin Li, the short film tells the story of Doctor Williams, played by Martin Freeman, who is called to examine the enigmatic Mr Voorman, a prisoner with a peculiar affliction who believes he is a god. Doctor Williams is left to question the sanity of Mr Voorman, played by Tom Hollander, and decide whether he is a faker or a lunatic.
Lee said: "It's great to be involved with a short film that has been nominated for an Oscar. It still doesn't seem quite real."
The short is based on an extract from the novel 'Number9Dream' by David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) which Lee is also developing into a feature film with director Asif Kapadia (Senna) and Film4 (12 Years A Slave).
In 2005 Lee Thomas moved to the Midlands to kick-start the development and production funds at Screen West Midlands (SWM) and to support local film makers, including initiating core funding support for The Producers Forum.
"After leaving Screen West Midlands I returned to producing, so I am thrilled that Voorman has done so well. Producing is a tough and challenging game and it's moments like this that give us a real lift and remind us why we slog away looking for stories that will ignite an audience's imagination and who knows, maybe attract some occasional recognition to help us along."
While at SWM, Lee backed and executive-produced feature films such as the popular Christmas hit 'Nativity' and the award winning 'The Road to Guantanamo'. He also negotiated the move of the TV show 'Hustle' to Birmingham in 2009 which led to further TV dramas following suit including 'Dancing on the Edge', 'Toast', 'By Any Means', and some of 'Peaky Blinders'.
Birmingham City University's MA course in Film Distribution and Marketing is the first of its kind in Europe, and is led and taught by established industry practitioners.
This year's Oscars ceremony takes place on Sunday 2 March. Find out more.