Left to right: First place winners Will Sellers (executive producer), Emma ‘Emzii’ Rose (eFootball esports player) and Sam Strong (creative director)
The inaugural edition of an event celebrating storytelling in esports has concluded, with the 2023 ESI Film Festival winners now announced.
The event, held by B2B esports and media company Esports Insider alongside non-profit partner ESG Gaming, took place at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly and was hosted by British esports personality Frankie Ward.
The ESI Film Festival was first announced back in June, and sits alongside the annual ESI London esports industry conference which just took place once again at Boxpark Wembley a few days ago.
ESI Film Festival received over 40 entries, with submissions ranging from global fashion brands, alongside esports organisations through to a group of passionate students. For this year, the festival’s themes revolved around digital inequality, diversity, and mental health, shining a light on the potential for gaming and esports to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
The top three ESI Film Festival winners shared a prize pool of £10,000, with first place receiving £5,000, second place receiving £3,000, and third place receiving £2,000. Alongside this, all three winners received invites to attend BAFTA’s Games Sessions Open Day in April 2024, which will celebrate the nominees of their annual Games Awards.
All submissions were considered by the ESI Film Festival panel of judges and advisory board featuring people from the likes of the British Film Institute, Ubisoft Film & Television, and Manchester Film Festival.
ESI Film Festival winners: Watch the winning entries here
1. ‘Emzii: It’s for Everyone’, a 14-minute documentary on Northern Ireland eFootball player and Team 7am EA FC player and content creator, Emma ‘Emzii’ Rose, took first place.
This follows the life of Emzii, a Commonwealth Esports Championships gold medal winner, showing her experience of being a transgender woman in the gaming and esports space, and some of the challenges that she has had to face due to this.
Will Sellers (executive producer) and Sam Strong (creative director) received the giant novelty cheque with Emzii on the night, and took it on the London Underground on the way home.
2. ‘AFK: Changing the Narrative’ took second place, delving into the life of a former pro gamer, now turned esports host, Jacob ‘Pimp’ Winneche, through his past struggles with physical and mental health.
This was put together by Chew Productions, a London-based production company founded by Tom Newman and Becky Williams.
3. Game Flow took third place, a documentary discovering how three people with mood and anxiety disorders use gaming as a powerful tool for self-care.
This was the work of digital media creator Emily Crawford.
Game Flow from Emily E. Crawford on Vimeo.
The ceremony began with the announcement of the community vote winner, which was awarded to ‘Exploring esports for recovery’.
This is a short documentary examining how esports and gaming can support the health and wellbeing of service personnel and veterans.
The power of esports for recovery from Invictus Games Foundation on Vimeo.
All ESI Film Festival winners received deserved applause on the night, and Esports Insider co-founder Sam Cooke said there are plans to grow the event for 2024.
Related content: Emzii Interview – ‘I Want to Show That People Like Me Exist’
Check out our exclusive interview with Emzii, top of the 2023 ESI Film Festival winners list, from Insomnia 69 last year here:
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
