Two filmmakers from University of the West of Scotland have been nominated in this year’s BAFTA Scotland Awards.

PhD student Theo Panagopoulos and MA Filmmaking graduate Gavin Reid are shortlisted in the Short Film and Animation category, with both films exploring themes of identity, memory and belonging.

Theo’s documentary, The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing, reclaims two silent 16mm colour films originally shot by a Scottish missionary in Palestine during the 1930s and 40s. His journey to nomination began when he discovered a collection of undigitised film reels at the National Library of Scotland which had remained unseen for decades. The footage has now been transformed through editing and storytelling, into a moving work that challenges historical erasure and reimagines forgotten histories.

 

Working closely with curators, I realised these films couldn’t simply be shown without acknowledging the colonial context in which they were made. Reframing them through Palestinian voices became an act of reclaiming – of creating a new space where history could be seen and heard differently. I’m very grateful and humbled that the film has been nominated for a BAFTA. Beyond the personal recognition, it’s a moment for Palestinian narratives to be heard more widely, and I hope it opens the door for other films that take creative risks and confront injustice head-on.

Theo Panagopolous, BAFTA nominee

 

The documentary, produced by the Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) and funded by Screen Scotland, has already picked up major international recognition, winning Best Short Documentary at Amsterdam’s IDFA and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, with its BAFTA Scotland nomination adding to an already remarkable run of success.

Gavin Reid’s My Dad and the Volcano follows his relationship with his father and the six-foot volcano sculpture he built at art school which now sits gathering dust in his dad’s shed, a symbol of failure turned into something bigger and more personal.

 

It’s about family, creativity, and finding a way through the things that block you. When I started studying at UWS, I was working shifts in a supermarket and wondering how I’d ever make it as a filmmaker. The course gave me the confidence and space to tell an honest story, not hide behind it. The film is so low-budget and grassroots that it kind of challenges what a BAFTA-winning film can look like. I hope it shows other filmmakers that you don’t need huge backing or connections to make something meaningful – that this kind of achievement isn’t unattainable. To now have that film nominated for a BAFTA feels surreal. I grew up in Milton, Glasgow – about as far from the film world as you can imagine. It just shows that stories from ordinary backgrounds have their place too.

 

Gavin Reid, BAFTA nominee

 

My Dad and the Volcano has already made its mark on the festival scene, premiering at the Edinburgh International Film Festival where it competed for the Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence, before erupting onto the international circuit with a Best Trailblazer Award win at the Healdsburg International Short Film Festival in California ahead of its BAFTA Scotland nomination.

Both nominees developed their work at UWS, with Gavin studying through the Creative Media Academy and Theo carrying out his PhD research within the university’s Performance department.

Professor Nick Higgins, Director of the Academy, said: “These nominations are a huge credit to Theo and Gavin, whose work shows both the personal courage and creative intelligence that define contemporary filmmaking.

“At UWS, we’re proud to give filmmakers the space to take risks, to make work that challenges and connects. That’s exactly what Scottish cinema needs right now.”

The 2025 BAFTA Scotland Awards take place next month in Glasgow.

This aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities, and Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.