03/28/2024
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By Charlotte Smith

Robert Kinlaw, producer of the UNC-TV documentary, White Lake – Remembering the Nation’s Safest Beach, has received more awards for his filmmaking skills. The Bladen County native received first place awards last week for his professional work.

At the North Carolina Press Association’s awards ceremony held in Raleigh,  Kinlaw took home first place awards for his short documentary, We Drive It, and for a profile about NC’s principal of the year.

Kinlaw was humble in his acceptance of the awards. He gave kudos to the middle school he attended in Bladen County. When Kinlaw was asked how he became interested in filmmaking, he said, “I went to an awesome magnet middle school with a fantastic technology lab!”

He explained, “It started in middle school at Clarkton School of Discovery. There was an awesome teacher, Mrs. Norris, and a technology lab. It was there that I first learned how to edit video.”

He added another teacher who helped him along the way was Ms. Meredith Horne at Harrell’s Christian Academy. He said, “Her video art class was a great experience.”

Kinlaw then gave credit to a Director at UNC-TV, Shannon Vickery. She supported his high school and college projects and encouraged him to continue his passion. Vickery happened to be one of the presenters at the NCPA awards’ ceremony.

“It was cool,” Kinlaw said, “I got to talk with her after the awards ceremony and tell her thanks because she had given me the chance.”

Mrs. Stephanie Norris, Kinlaw’s middle teacher at Clarkton School of Discovery said, “Robert Kinlaw was an amazing talent here. He was very creative, compassionate and dedicated to his studies.”

Now the principal at CSD, Mrs. Norris reminisced about the videos Kinlaw made while at the local school. She laughed as she recalled how realistic his digital effects could be during his time under her wings.

Kinlaw and his classmates had made a campaign against smoking. In the video it appeared students were smoking behind the building at school, but it was all digital effects.

“It looked so realistic, I thought I was going to get in trouble,” Mrs. Norris said with a chuckle.

She added, “What he could do on his own and combine that with the technology we had at the time, it was probably real commercial grade quality.”

Robert Kinlaw with his Excellence in Filmmaking Award for the Best Short Film at the Carrboro Film Festival in 2017

Robert Kinlaw is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Tim Kinlaw of White Lake. His parents were present with him at the ceremony.

His mother Cathy said, “He has always loved filmmaking and he may have never known he liked filmmaking without the opportunities he received at Clarkton School of Discovery.”

She added, “It was very exciting!”

The newest award winning short film by Kinlaw was about a student-led school redesign in Leggett, North Carolina, according to ednc.org. View the video now:

Kinlaw was awarded the Excellence in Filmmaking Award for the Best Short Film at the Carrboro Film Festival in 2017 for his film titled, Princess Warrior.

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