A couple of days ago I was thrilled to hear some rather excellent news about a friend (no, an ACTUAL genuine friend) of 5D…… but before I wax lyrical about the lady and how obviously I take full credit for her award, let me lay the official press release that I was sent;
New York : Actress Tracey Birdsall has won Actress of the Year of Women in Film at the Women in Film Forum, presented by WeLink Media Groups, at the United Nations.
Birdsall, star of such films as Rogue Warrior : Robot Fighter and Who’s Jenna..?, was presented with the award at the Delegates Room Dining Hall at the UN on March 15th.
The Women In Film Forum, initiated by WIFF founder Ira Houston in cooperation with the United Nations, was first held last year during the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Now a permanent part of the CSW, the forum this year invited some of the world’s most influential women filmmakers and artists – including film and television star Birdsall – from all around the world to participate.
The Women in Film Forum at the United Nations, helmed by Zoe Chang, Multimedia Guild President, was held and televised on the United Nations channel March 14th, and remains available across the world on their website.
The WeLink International Film Festival was also held during this time, where Birdsall was invited to participate in the Filmmakers panel. Birdsall’s film Rogue Warrior : Robot Fighter, directed by Neil Johnson, was screened at the festival.
The versatile actress is currently in post-production on two up-coming television series “Age of Darkness” and “The Time War”.
Birdsall was dressed by Lavanya Coodly for the event.
To say I was thrilled to hear the news about Tracey’s award would be, to say the least, something of an understatement . I’ve been lucky enough to get to know her, just a little, after discovering her fabulous work on Neil Johnson’s Rogue Warrior: Robot Fighter a couple of years ago. After two or three online interviews and numerous Twitter conversations with Tracey it was a genuine delight to be invited by Neil onto the set of his time travelling epic, The Time War just a few weeks ago. Neil and his crew had been travelling the length and breadth of the UK filming material, much of which was replacing footage that had been destroyed only a short time earlier by the devastating California fires.
However it was far worse than losing film footage, because Tracey also lost her home in the fire along with much of her life’s belongings and thousands of dollars of Neil’s filmmaking equipment and materials. So it just so happened that Tracey et al were going to be filming only a few miles away from 5D HQ at the remarkable Slains Castle in the North East of Scotland…….would we be interested in watching them film and be briefly part of the process? Of course we darn well would!
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You are wondering if after losing priceless film footage, ones life belongings and a collection of countless memories of the house you lived in that spending time with yours truly might be the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of putting up with life’s challenges? I get what you’re saying, however my line of thinking was that if you can survive all that and still remained determined to keep working with a smile on your face then you could probably manage to deal with my bumbling questions and general fanboy attitude…….probably.
As it turns out Neil, Tracey and Aaron were the epitome of generosity and grace as they welcomed us into their world of Sci-fi creativity. We spent half a day working and talking with these remarkable people, managing to get interviews with the lady herself and with actor Aaron Jaques. You can hear the previously release audio interview with Aaron RIGHT HERE. Tracey’s interview is soon to appear in both video and audio format on all the 5D outlets where you will be able to hear her talking about the experiences of filming here in Scotland, the fires that destroyed her home and how handsome my podcast co-host is…….
You can hear the ramblings, musings and poetic words of piercing intellect about our experience of being on set with Tracey and Neil in the 5D Podcast episode below;
5D Podcast: On the set of the sci-fi epic ‘The Time War’ plus some chat about The Walking Dead season 9 Ep 9.
In the latest podcast episode Stuart & Zack chat about visiting the set of The Time War, a time travelling epic directed by Neil Johnson & starring Tracey Birdsall.
There is also chat about episode 9 of The Walking Dead season 9.
We always love to hear from the foolhardy souls who listen to the podcast so send any views, comments, criticisms, dislikes or outright proclamations of love and adoration to us via the contact section of the 5D website at www.5d-blog.com
ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/5d-sci-fi-fantasy-horror/id1345044762?mt=2
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/6kwWWAXgDYmvivgCWCpKWE?si=
YouTube https://youtu.be/4AYawSL-Nr8
Tunein http://tun.in/tiZciK
Check out some of the wonderful pictures we took that day at the end of this article.
So back to the original point of this post, namely Tracey Birdsall winning actress of the year at the United Nation’s women in film forum. Now, of course she has won because of her talent, drive and determination – that fact cannot be denied. However it seems to me that winning this award just a few weeks after meeting up with us at 5D and featuring on our ever-growing Podcast is quite frankly a little more than just coincidence. I’m not saying that appearing on the 5D website and Podcast is the sole reason that Tracey was afforded this wonderful honour, just that I’m certain that we must have had some influence on the decision making from the United Nations. The fact that the UN has not yet contacted us for any further comment is quite frankly not the point, in my mind this is how it’s happened. Now, where’s my medication?
Next week you can probably hear on the 5D Podcast how we are going to help the UN to solve world hunger, stave of climate change and generally save the rest of humanity………probably.
Many congratulations, Tracey!
