Director Joe Hill-Gibbins wins £25,000 Genesis Foundation Prize
Theatre and opera director Joe Hill-Gibbins has been named the winner of a £25,000 award that will support the creation of his short film about a backstage crisis as well as a mentorship scheme.
The former deputy artistic director at the Young Vic receives the Genesis Foundation Prize 2025, to go towards the 15-minute comedy-drama This Is Your Five Minute Call, starring Simon Russell Beale and Gemma Arterton.
Half of the film was shot last year at English National Opera, during the run of Hill-Gibbins’ production of The Marriage of Figaro – but the prize money will enable the director to complete the project.
Hill-Gibbins also plans to use his prize to fund a mentorship programme for directors Crispin Lord, Jenny Ogilvie and Lucy Wray; stage designer Rosanna Vize; and actor and writer Leo Bill.
The scheme is intended to foster the five individuals’ professional development and provide hands-on experience in their field.
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John Studzinski, founder and chair of the Genesis Foundation, said: "Joe was our very first Genesis Fellow at the Young Vic theatre in 2010, and we are delighted now to award him the Genesis Foundation Prize.
"The Genesis Foundation believes in backing and nurturing talent in the long run, and it is a privilege to support an artist’s work first as an emerging and then as a more established, confident voice. It is important that the five talented individuals Joe has chosen to work with him on his projects will benefit from his mentoring."
Hill-Gibbins added: "Alongside the Young Vic, no one has done more to support my development as an artist than the Genesis Foundation.
"The opportunity, made possible by the Genesis Foundation, to integrate the artistic development of other practitioners into my own process of making work has always been precious to me. I’m delighted to be continuing my relationship with Genesis and to be exploring the creative process, across multiple disciplines, alongside Crispin, Jenny, Leo, Lucy and Rosanna – five artists I greatly admire."
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