For Canberra teenager Mike Ridley, his love of filmmaking all began when his father taught him how to make stop motion animation using clay figures.
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"It was amazing and I made lots of them and then I realised, I could do it a bit more easily by just filming things and I found making films was really satisfying," the 18-year-old said.
Mr Ridley made his first film when he was about 12 years old.
"I made them in my free time and whenever I could for school assignments," he said.
The teenager from Forrest has persevered with his passion and it starting to pay off.
Two of his films have been nominated as finalists in the 19th Bond University Film and Television Awards, which will be announced on Saturday.
The Canberra Grammar School student was nominated for best comedy with his film Alternate and for best drama with his short film A Moment's Grace.
Alternate tells the story of a boy who lives two alternate lives – one is a nerd, the other a social party goer. One day their worlds collide and they meet.
"They have to learn from each other in order to get back into their alternating lifestyle," Mr Ridley said.
A Moment's Grace explores the story of a teenager who kills his best friend through drink driving.
"It's a short film that I used to explore the emotional effect that a film could have on an audience," he said.
Mr Ridley was honoured two of his films were nominated in this year's awards.
"I hope people will leave feeling impacted by the messages that each one carries – one is a commentary about student life between academic life and social life and the other is about promoting awareness of the consequences of drink driving," he said.
The awards will be hosted by Oscar-winning Australia "clayographer" Adam Elliot, best known for his animation film Harvie Krumpet.
More than 170 entries were received for this year's awards, with judges praising the quality of submissions.
Bond University director of Film and Television Dr Michael Sergi said the BUFTAs were a great way of identifying up-and-coming talent and support the next generation of filmmakers in building their careers.
"There is a lot of great young talent here in Australia and we want to do all we can to inspire and motivate students to purse a career in film and television," he said.
The winner of best overall filmmaker will receive a full scholarship to study a Bachelor of Film and Television at Bond University on the Gold Coast.
Mr Ridley hopes to pursue a career in film but is considering taking a gap year next year after graduating from Canberra Grammar School this year.
"I think my ultimate goal would be to make films that can have an impact on people in one way or another and something that I can be proud of," he said.
