AN AWARD-winning short film featuring staff from Royal Bournemouth Hospital is being added to the British Film Institute's national archives.

The 12-minute piece, entitled Porters, tells the story of those who work in what some deem to be one of the most unnoticed sectors of the National Health Service, supporting patients by helping them move around the hospital.

Porters was created by Max Cutting, James Dougan and Daniel Ridgeon, the son of Duncan Ridgeon, Bournemouth Hospital's chaplain, who all study at Newport Film School.

Since its completion, the film has been nominated at a number of film festivals across the country and Europe, scooping over nine accolades in total. In addition, the British Film Institute (BFI) have asked whether Porters can become part of their national archives.

Watch it below. Contains occasional swearing.

 

Daniel Ridgeon, who directed and produced the piece, said: "We felt compelled to tell the porter’s story as it gave us an opportunity to highlight the incredible work they do at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. They are an essential part of the NHS.

"We are obviously delighted with the success the film has had and we certainly weren’t expecting it. We were more focused on ensuring we told a story and portrayed the porters and their daily work in a good light as well as the NHS as a whole."

Accolades that the short film have received include Best Factual Production at the Welsh Royal Television Society Awards, the Audience Choice Award at the Plymouth Film Festival, and the Best UK Short Award at the Open City Documentary Festival. Porters also received recognition at the American University in Bulgaria‘s third International Student Film Festival alongside films from students at Stanford University based in California and George Washington University.

Further to this, the film recently scooped a £5,000 Hunger TV Doc Heads and Rankin Film grant after they entered it into one of their competitions.

The BFI collect, preserve, restore and then share films and television programs which have helped shape and record British life and times since the development of cine film.