HOME has received a generous grant from the Relief Fund in memory of Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio and her young son Julian Pracz-Bandres, whose lives were sadly lost in the Germanwings Flight 4U9525 crash in March 2015. The relief fund was set up by Lufthansa in order to support relatives and to promote projects to commemorate the victims.
The grant will support the next two years of our engagement programme with young people, through which we work with over 3,500 young people each year.
In recognition of the significance of this donation, we will be re-naming our Cinema 3 as Marina’s Cinema, in loving memory of Marina and Julian.
Originally from Jaca, a small town in the Spanish Pyrenees in the Aragon province – a very popular tourist skiing destination close to the French border -, Marina studied art history at the University of Zaragoza, and also did a one-year Erasmus programme at Paris-Sorbonne where she loved to visit small movie theatres. During these years she also took courses on Cinema History.
Marina moved to Manchester in 2007, at first only to practice her English, but she soon fell in love with the city and decided to stay. She met her future husband Pawel on the first year of a TV & Film Production course at Futureworks and got married three years later. Their son Julian was born in St. Mary’s Hospital the following year.
After finishing her diploma course, Marina set up her own business, and was working as an editor and colourist for different production companies in Manchester. She also worked on many Northern short films, taking on various roles with an amazing eye for detail and many ideas for making her own films in the future. Marina was also in the process of setting up a second business, a kids clothing shop.
Marina’s husband Pawel said: “Marina and I spent many years in Manchester struggling whilst trying to start our careers in the creative sector within film and television. After a number of years, we both began to establish our careers, but it took a long time and a lot of hard work. Starting a career in the creative sector is even more difficult now, and it is even harder if the young people have cultural, economic or physical barriers to achieving their dreams. It is therefore a fitting memory to Marina, who loved the arts so much, to fund a programme of work at HOME to make it easier for young people from across Manchester to start their careers in the creative sector.”
If you would like to know more about supporting HOME, or making a gift in your will, please visit our supporters page.