Archie from Cheltenham is 2020's Reviewer of the Year

Congratulations to Archie, aged 16, who is home educated in Cheltenham, for being recognised as Reviewer of the Year (Sponsored by IMDb) at the Into Film Awards 2020.

Archie is an avid film reviewer, and a former Into Film Young Reporter, who has interviewed the likes of Emilia Clarke, Rowan Atkinson and Woody Harrelson, among others. He is now part of the Get Into Film Network (Alumni) scheme, having emailed Into Film to request special permission to be able to continue reviewing films on our website even after 'graduating' from his time as a reporter.

Archie's taste in film - which began when watching Wall-E at the age of just 4 - has expanded to include a broad range of classic and mainstream films. Archie reviews every film he sees. Indeed, upon losing out at last year's Into Film Awards, he promptly took home his runners-up prize - which included a DVD - and watched and reviewed the film that very night.

However, there's more to Archie's story than just being a committed and talented film reviewer. Archie has been home educated for the last three years after his mother developed a long-term health problem. Following illness in 2016 it became increasingly difficult to get Archie to school, which was over 45mins drive away, with no public transport options available.

Archie took it upon himself to research home education as an option, and how he might still take his GSCEs while not being able to attend school. Archie discovered that it would cost over £150 per exam to take his GCSEs on his own, and ended up paying for them himself, saving up birthday and Christmas money to help support his own education.

As a single parent in a low-income household, Archie's mother couldn't afford tutoring or online courses, so Archie worked independently and ultimately passed his GCSEs between the ages of 14 and 15. "Archie is an inspirational young man and I am immensely proud of him" said Archie's mother Georgina. "His knowledge on all things film is just staggering, he's like a walking Wikipedia!" 

In October 2019 Archie got a place on Gloucestershire County council's Youth Climate Panel, which gives young people a voice on climate change issues in his local area, and provides feedback and ideas on climate change strategies.

That Archie was able to arrange and fund his own education under such circumstances is testament to his ingenuity and drive, and to commit himself so thoroughly to producing an impressive body of film reviews with Into Film is a huge achievement and something he can be extremely proud of. We're sure that same drive and commitment will see Archie go on to brilliant things, whether in the film industry as a film critic or in any other field he turns his hand to.

The Into Film Awards ceremony was due to take place in March 2020, with David Walliams as host, but was sadly unable to go ahead as planned due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Walliams was still on hand to host our virtual ceremony, and you can see the moment he announced Archie as winner in the clip below.