Wb Nicola Schafer 1408

A FILMMAKER from Watlington has won
multiple awards for films she directed along the River Evenlode and in the Chilterns.

Nicola Schafer, 51, of St Leonard’s Close, won an Award of Merit in the Best Shorts Film Competition for her documentary A River Sings, commissioned by the Evenlode Catchment Partnership.

She also achieved an Audience Award in the Monthly Film Festival awards and an Award of Merit in The IndieFEST Film Awards for her film Walking with Dadima’s Community.

A River Sings showcases the work of the Evenlode Catchment Partnership (ECP), a group of organisations, conservationists and citizen scientists who aim to preserve and enhance the water quality and ecological health of the River Evenlode.

Ms Schafer won the award last year for her environmental film Beneath the Surface commissioned by Wild Oxfordshire.

Filmed across last winter and early spring, A River Sings was commissioned to increase awareness of natural flood management and river restoration projects.

Ms Schafer said: “It is quite incredible what the ECP has been able to achieve and it has been an absolute privilege to see it first hand and help bring this to the attention of a wider audience.

“We hope it can encourage more landowners to implement these techniques on their land.”

Walking With Dadima’s Community was commissioned by the Chilterns National Landscape in partnership with the walking group Dadima’s Countryside Walks and Talks.

Filmed over 18 months in the Chilterns, the film traces one of the routes followed by the walking group, which was set up to encourage people of all cultural backgrounds and ages to feel welcome in the countryside.

“The Chiltern Hills is where I was born and bred,” said Ms Schafer, who grew up in Tring, Hertfordshire.

“It’s not got the drama of the Scottish mountains, but it’s lovely to come home to the rolling countryside and hills. It’s a very underrated and accessible area. We are very lucky to live here.”