A young West Cumbrian couple are celebrating after one of their short films has been nominated for an award in America.

Jack Berry, a horror filmmaker from Blindcrake who went to Cockermouth School and his girlfriend, Gwyneth Rhianwen, who is an actress from Pardshaw (also an ex-Cockermouth School student), have collaborated on several short films, typically ones in the horror and fantasy genres.

Recently their horror short film ‘Fated’, a 3-minute psychological thriller which was shot in Cumbria, has had some success in the film festival circuits. It was screened at the City Screen in York as part of ‘Dead Northern’, a British film festival sponsored by FANGORIA; one of the largest Horror and Cult Film Magazines in the world.

The film also had a recent screening in New York, as part of the ‘Upstate New York Horror Film Festival’ and has been nominated for best super-short horror film at the 'Horror Movie Freaks Awards' in North Carolina, where it’s due to be screened later this month.

The awards, now in its third year, was organised to help get more focus on the indie and short film side of horror.

The couple have shared their excitement about the news as it’s the first time they have received any kind of traction in America. Jack said: “It’s nice that our little, no-budget Cumbrian short film has been playing in cinemas around the world. Especially since our productions are so small and so far, we’ve been working solely as a team of two!”

The duo have made more projects, mostly created during lockdown, that range from short but sweet ‘The Settling House’, a Victorian ghost story shot entirely by candlelight, to ‘Key to the Unknown’, a modern Cumbrian fairytale. One of their films was recently praised by director David Lowery (‘A Ghost Story’ and ‘The Green Knight’), which Jack has said has left them feeling over the moon with and has inspired the two of them to continue their filmmaking journey.

If you’re interested in checking out some of Jack and Gwyneth’s short films, the channel can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZQIejM1s24meB_lcHFCR6A.