Cornish Documentary Wins Torc Award at Celtic Media Festival

An independently made documentary, shot partly in Cornwall, has just seen off films backed by major broadcasters to win one of the biggest awards in Celtic media.

Gentle, Angry Women, directed by Cornwall-based filmmaker Barbara Santi and produced by awen productions/Folklife Films, has won the Torc Award for Excellence in the History (Screen) section at this year’s Celtic Media Festival, held in Belfast.

What the film follows

The 63-minute, BFI-funded film follows three young campaigners as they retrace the steps of the original 1981 march to Greenham Common, where women famously camped for nineteen years.

The three travel 110 miles from Wales to Berkshire alongside their activist counterparts, in what the film captures as an intergenerational exchange about what that act of resistance means to a new generation. Archive footage, personal testimony and the unfolding journey of the march are woven together to ask questions about women, peace, nuclear disarmament and protest.

It was shot on location across Cornwall, Wales, Liverpool, the Forest of Dean, London and along the route of the march itself.

Why beating the broadcasters counts

The Celtic Media Festival celebrates excellence in film and broadcasting across the Celtic nations and regions. This year it drew entries from productions backed by major regional broadcasters, which makes a win for an independently produced film stand out.

The young women at the heart of it

Barbara said: “What moves me most about this film is the young women at its heart. They didn’t experience Greenham, they came to it fresh, walking every one of those 110 miles and feeling the weight of what those women did. Watching them connect with that history, and make it their own, is what this film is really about. This award belongs to them as much as anyone.”

Cornish hands behind the scenes

Post-production was supported by Falmouth University’s Sound/Image Cinema Lab, where two female graduates took on key technical roles.

Gentle, Angry Women is also the first film released under Folklife Films, the documentary branch of awen productions, which launched in 2025.

Where you can see it

The film is now screening across the UK. Those in Cornwall can catch it at The Poly, Falmouth on 12th August, with a further screening in the pipeline with 99p Films. More details are on the Folklife Films website.