Candice Allen-Olson

“I lived in Luxembourg at the time and was looking for a university which had a stimulating course that would help me gain work in the media afterwards. I wanted to study somewhere that gave me access to London and all that it had to offer. I chose Brunel because I liked the sound and look of the film and television programme and I really enjoyed the community atmosphere on campus. I was new to London and my fellow students and the staff were friendly and approachable. 

I tried to make the most of the range of modules on offer. I took British 60's television, Psychoanalysis, European Cinema and other classes that broadened my understanding of the media and film world. Lecturer Mike Wayne used to set us a lot of reading but I loved his class. I wrote my dissertation on the impact of the film industry during WWII. It focused on women and their changing role in society – a theme addressed and reflected by the Ministry of Information propaganda films and by the Hollywood films of the time. I think that started the spark for the WWII film that I recently completed and won an award for.

Our film followed the story of the Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg as she fought in a man's world to get independence back for her country. She was a mother, a wife, a Queen but also a leader and she used her charm and wit to fight a propaganda war on both sides of the Atlantic in order to garner support for her people.

After graduating from Brunel I worked for a new football Channel that was based in Teddington studios. After ayear I managed to get some freelance shifts working at Sky News. I also decided to go back to school and studied broadcast journalism as a post-graduate student in London. I kept working at Sky News at weekends and got an internship at BBC Radio Kent as a reporter. I was helping on the foreign desk at Sky News when the Iraq War broke out. After graduating in broadcast journalism, I started working as an interview producer at Sky News. At the same time I became interested in documentary work.

My love for documentary work was largely started during my time at Brunel University. My class were asked to make a documentary about spiritual sites in England called The Dragon Line. Although it was a lot of hard work we had a great time interviewing people and editing it all together. After that I decided to supplement my journalism work with documentary making on the side.

I had always wanted to make a film about my grandmother's experiences in occupied Europe during World War II. I happened to bump into a documentary producer who had worked for the BBC and Channel 4 on a train! She is now my co-producer and together with GRACE Productions we made our WWII film Charlotte: A Royal at War which we started working on 4 years ago. Originally, it was suppose to be a short 20 minute piece to go after the news, but as we interviewed more and more people and uncovered surprising facts and documents, it turned into a feature length cinema film.

The London premiere of the film was on the 19th September 2008 at the Bafta cinema in Piccadilly. The Luxembourg Royal Family came as well as the Minister of Culture and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester who represented Her Majesty. I, along with the director and my co-producer were awarded a knighthood by the Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg for "excelling in the arts and for outstanding service to Luxembourg and the Grand Ducal House". The full title of the cross (medal) that we were given is "The Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolph of Nassau".

The BBC were also awarded a statue of the Grand Duchess as a sign of gratitude for allowing Luxembourg to use their airwaves during WWII. We are now in discussions with the BBC about broadcasting our film. The film ran in Luxembourg cinemas for four months and a DVD is being produced in time for Christmas.”

Candice now lives in Chicago.