UNIVERSITY graduate Michael L. Knight won an award for Best Actor at the New York film festival, Urban Action Showcase.

The film is a self-funded thriller which tells the story of an ex-intelligence agent who is forced back to into his former lifestyle of violence, when a criminal mastermind sends a vicious gang on the hunt for revenge.

Corruption II is the sequel to Corruption I which involved Michael and his friends Chris Gainsbury and Shaun Cooper.

The project was part of a university assignment project; they were pleased with the result so decided to make something bigger out of it.

Michael the 24-year-old actor explains who was involved in the production:

“There were lot of people who were involved in the making of the film. Obviously, Chris, Paul and Shaun were the brains behind the film, but overall we had a lot of people from professional backgrounds and also we had a lot of volunteers helping out. In filmmaking a huge team is required, there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes.”

Various parts of the film were shot in, and around Manchester, as well as Chorley and Wigan. The film took just over five months and involved long days of shooting travelling and rehearsing, nevertheless, Michael assures that he had lots of fun during the process.

“The character I play is called Michael, who is an ex- intelligence agent who is trying to live and move on from his past life. He is trying to live a normal life with his Fiancée Kiera. Unfortunate events make him have to go back to that past life in order to do what’s right.

“I really enjoyed playing this character and some of the scenes were really challenging for me. I had never done some of the things I had to do such as drive a sports car at a high speed! But I really enjoyed it.”

He graduated from the BA (Hons) Television and Radio course at the University of Salford. Knight had some experience with acting prior to his success with Corruption II, he had taken part in a lot of feature films, commercials and recently finished filming a crime documentary. However, Corruption was his first ever lead role.

When Michael found out about winning the ‘Best Actor’ award he described his reaction as ‘gobsmacked’:

“It was an amazing feeling not only for myself but for the rest of the team. I was absolutely gobsmacked! To watch a university project, grow into something to win an award is such an accomplishment. Everyone put in such a great effort and worked hard so it is pleasing.”

The film premiered at Salford’s MediaCityUK campus but a screening was also shown in Times Square, New York. It will be available to watch online very soon, to keep up-to-date with all things Corruption II, you can find information on the official website.

By Katura Barrows – Robotham

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