Celebrities, actors and filmmakers flocked to Deansgate, Manchester for the Manchester Film Festival 2023. The star-studded week saw the UK and world premieres of documentaries, shorts and feature films like Bolan’s Shoes, directed by Ian Puleston-Davies and starring Timothy Spall, which held its premier at the festival this year. The screening brought many well-known faces to the red-carpet, from Noddy Holder (previously lead singer of Slade) to Terri Dwyer, who lit up the red-carpet dripping in lab-created diamonds from ethical jeweller Lily Arkwright.
Ethically sourced lab-grown diamonds were the flavour of the festival. Antonia Thomas – famed for the iconic role as Alisha Daneils in Misfits – also donned a super sparkly lab-grown diamond tennis bracelet and diamond hoops by the same ethical diamond company.
Lily Arkwright are a Manchester-based fine jewellers that specialise in lab-grown diamond engagement rings and fine jewellery. The company were the lead film festival’s sponsors and ran a campaign alongside the festival showing Manchester and the world the ethical and sustainable credentials of lab-grown jewellery, spreading the message that “lab-grown diamonds don’t cost the Earth”.
Karen Hassan was also spotted wearing ethically sourced diamonds on the Manchester film festival red carpet for the premier of her new film, Wait for Me, directed by Keith Farrell.
The managing director of Lily Arkwright, Lauren Shanks, said about the event: “We are thrilled to see lab-grown, ethical diamonds finally get their place in the spotlight. The ethical consumer is beginning to open their eyes to the true cost of mined alternatives and see that with lab-grown options, they can still wear diamonds ethically. It has been brilliant to see such talented actresses sparkling sustainably on the Manchester film festival red carpet this year.”
As a forward-thinking, creative team, Lily Arkwright were delighted to sponsor the film festival this year and give back to Manchester’s creative landscape – one they have benefited from immensely and are honoured to be a part of.
