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Oscar winner inspires pupils at former school

Craig Duggan
BBC News
Getty Images Lol Crawley, winner of the Best Cinematography for “The Brutalist”, poses in the press room during the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California. He is wearing a navy blue suit with a black bow tie and a white shirt. He is holding the Oscar in his right hand in the air. Behind him is a sign that says "OSCARS"Getty Images
Lol Crawley won an Oscar and a BAFTA for best cinematography for the film The Brutalist.

Imagine starting your school day interviewing an Oscar winner live from Los Angeles?

Pupils at Ysgol Llanfyllin, Powys, welcomed Lol Crawley - who won an Oscar for his work on the film The Brutalist - to a school assembly on Monday morning.

His Oscar success for best cinematography followed a BAFTA win in the same category.

Mr Crawley is a former pupil of the school, and said he was looking forward to speaking with the students.

Children from Year Six up to the sixth form prepared questions about Mr Crawley's career, his links with the school, and his reaction to winning the Oscar.

All said they were nervous, including 15-year-old Freyja.

She said: "I thought it was a bit nerve-wracking to be honest as I'd watched his movies over the weekend and I was anticipating what shall I say, what shall I ask? Because I had so many questions."

Freyja ended up asking him what the hardest scene he had to shoot was.

"So many of the movies I saw he was zooming out, and he said the hardest thing was actually zooming, so that was really interesting," she added.

"Once he answered the question, I was like 'oh, I can breathe now'."

Pupils sat in classroom at a table. On the projector is a man speaking with him. In the frame of him you can see an Oscar and a BAFTA. The students are in uniform, most are in blue jumpers and white shirts. One man in the right of the image is wearing a red jacket, a woman next to him has a blue ad white striped jumper on.

Nat, 14, had an unusual connection to Mr Crawley, as his uncle had played in the band "The Pepper Pots" alongside him.

"If I'm honest I was scared out of my mind," he said.

"You get to interview someone who is famous, you're obviously going to get nervous."

With the questions in full flow, Mr Crawley said: "Let me introduce you to my new friends", before bringing his Oscar and BAFTA awards from offscreen to show the school, who were watching the event in their classrooms.

Lol Crawley won the Oscar for cinematography for his work on the film The Brutalist.

Chloe, 14, said she had been inspired by the success of the Oscar winner, who got his first taste of life through a lens in Llanfyllin.

"It was really inspiring to see someone from our school who has turned into this amazing famous person who has won an Oscar, and the fact that he took photography for A-Levels and I'm thinking of doing that, he's really inspiring to me really."

A24 Lol Crawley, who has short greying hair and is wearing a brown jumper, looking through the lens of a large black camera which is pointed at something off the left side of the shot. In the background is a window with red curtains, and various film crew members dressed in black.A24
Lol Crawley's cinematography career began in the late 1990s, when he "went straight in to work and never looked back"

Mr Crawley told the students that Wales played a vital part in shaping him.

"Wales, I think as a place really informed who I am today – I still love Wales very much," he said.

"It's very hard to explain and put a finger on, but something about the essence of Wales or everything that place gave me, fed into how I respond to the world as a cinematographer."

With a mix of questions about his career, the session ended on a more personal note when 11-year-old Brayden asked Mr Crawley who the first person he called after winning his Oscar.

He said his mum.

At the end of the assembly, head teacher Dewi Owen said that later in the year, some students will be visiting Los Angeles on a school trip, and a school bell will be carried from Llanfyllin to LA and presented to Mr Crawley.

Mr Crawley said he would be "honoured" to receive the bell and would "ring it with pride" in the Hollywood hills.