Academic and filmmaker Gideon Koppel’s acclaimed film ‘sleep furiously’, which chronicles the changing life and landscape of a small Welsh farming community and was part-funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), has won further praise, being listed by several critics as one of their films of the year.

‘sleep furiously’ has already attracted praise from a wide range of critics and filmmakers, and has now received yet more critical acclaim, with Time Out calling it “The year’s best British film”, the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw lauding its “richness and... unshowy compassion” and the Financial Times its “muted, cryptic beauty”. Critics in the Financial Times, The Guardian and New Statesman have all named ‘sleep furiously’ in their top ten film lists of 2009, while The Guardian has also shortlisted it for its 2009 First Film award.

Set in a small farming community in mid Wales, the film centers on the monthly visits of the mobile library van which travels from farm to farm, collecting and delivering books. Looking through the prism of this unassuming van, Koppel tells a number of different stories about the community and its inhabitants as their world changes, and as tradition and certainty ebbs from their lives with the passage of time.

‘sleep furiously’ premiered in the UK at the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival and had its European premiere at The Locarno International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the coveted Golden Leopard and won a special Youth Jury Prize. Gideon Koppel is a lecturer in the department of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the film is part of his current research into post-humanist themes and new narrative forms. In 2006 he received an AHRC Research Leave Award to pursue a project then titled ‘The Library Van’. The primary output of that research project was ‘sleep furiously’.

For more information about Gideon Koppel and his work, visit Royal Holloway College's website.

Read reviews of ‘sleep furiously’ in Time Out, New Statesman, the Financial Times and The Guardian.

The DVD of ‘sleep furiously’ is now available, with special features including “A Sketchbook for The Library Van” - a 50 minute pilot for the film - and the theatrical trailer.

Notes to editors

Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC):  Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.

AHRC Support for Individual Researchers is now through the Fellowships scheme. Applications for the new scheme have been accepted since 1 September 2009 and the scheme has an annual budget of £8m. The Fellowships scheme offers the same support for individual researchers as the Research Leave scheme but in a much more flexible way. This increased flexibility includes: the duration and time commitment to the Fellowship; the range of research approaches and activities that can be included and of outputs that may be produced; the nature of the institutional support provided; and the funds that can be requested to support research activities and communication and impact plans. In addition, there is more explicit provision and expectation of institutional support for early career researchers. The introduction of the new scheme confirms the AHRC’s commitment to individual scholars.

An important improvement in this support has been an increase in the potential value of an award up to a maximum of £120K under the Fellowships scheme. For more information see http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/Fellowships.aspx