Ava Bounds: Budding Yorkshire filmmaker wants to win Oscar by the time she is 30

Her mother Deirdre Bounds says she is not sure what inspires her daughter but she says she will not be surprised if she hits her goal.

“Her father is an actor but other than that we are not sure where Ava gets it from,” she said.

“She is a bright student and very artistic and she loves what she is doing. She started at five-years-old making films on an iPad and we just let her get on with it.

“She is studying film-making in Wakefield. After that, she is determined to work in films but she doesn’t want to go to university.”

Of her daughter’s Oscar ambition, she said: “I know I’m her mother but I honestly wouldn’t put it past her. She knows what she is doing.”

Ava has just signed her first distribution deal with Samansa Japan.

The short film platform were so impressed with two of her films that they searched her out to Yorkshire.

Tokyo-based Samansa translates short films into six Asian languages and then charges a fee per view for each short film. This streaming service has just received major VC (venture capital) backing and is set to be the largest of its kind in Asia.

Ava says she was absolutely thrilled to go ahead with her first deal.

She said: “I’ve worked hard on my writing and filmmaking for three years – it’s a very expensive business – but this deal will help me fund my next film and the ones beyond.”

She says she was apprehensive to sign at first as she has not got an agent, but she hopes this is just the beginning of bigger and brighter things to come.

The youngest winner ever of the IMDb New Filmmaker Award 2021 and a Film student at CAPA college, Wakefield, Ava has gathered together a group of enthusiastic Yorkshire student filmmakers to create her next absurd comedy called Whatever Happened to Molly Doyle’s Cow?

This will be filmed in Batley and Sandsend in February. Based in 1986 at the height of the Mad Cow disease epidemic, this film follows the final day of Molly Doyle before she takes the next big step.

Ava says “Think Father Ted meets All That Jazz”. She is currently crowdfunding to make this film and more details can be found on https://igg.me/at/madcow/x/30920102#/ - where £25 will get you a credit and £20 will get you into the Premiere.

A multi-talented director, screenwriter and actor, she began her performance career in London's West End at aged 12, working with Sam Mendes in the Olivier Winning drama 'The Ferryman' for six months.

At 14 Ava created the anachronistic short, Players, this film went on to win the Youth Award at the Bafta qualifying Bolton Film Festival, among many others.

Working with some of the North of England's most talented filmmakers, she then wrote, directed and edited her second film, Beth.

This dramatic film has won a host of Awards globally, including at Academy Award qualifying festivals. Ava made history in 2021 when she was declared the youngest person ever to win the IMDb New Filmmaker Award for her short Beth - she was 15.

Ava's third film, Hello Frisco, a rollicking, anarchic road movie has been likened by critics to "The Marx Brothers in Edwardian England”.

This again has been recognized worldwide, winning numerous Festival Awards. 2022 has seen the launch of her short, psychological thriller, Dying to Meet You, which has already garnered a host of Festival accolades.

Ava continues to write and produce cinema in her fresh, absurdist style - capturing the bizarre and then laying it out for all to see and wonder.

CAPA College in Wakefield provides full time Arts training and education for students aged 16 to 19 and aims to inspire, train and educate the next generation of performers, creatives, designers and technicians.

CAPA College’s team of top professional teachers, directors, choreographers, musical directors, designers and technicians alongside industry standard facilities ensures that CAPA College delivers the highest quality training, education and pastoral guidance to support talented students.