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Bondi Short Film Festival Winners Announced
The winners of the 9th annual Bondi Short Film Festival are a great reflection of the diversity in short filmmaking in this country.
While Bondi Beach is normally crowded with tourists and surfers hoping to catch good waves, this year's Bondi Short Film Festival had film buffs flocking to Bondi Pavilion to catch 14 exciting short films, chosen as finalists from over 250 submitted.
While the screening of these films was highly anticipated by the audience (with the festival sold out before the night), it was the announcement of the festival's winners for overall Best Film, Best Music, Best Actor, Best Design, Best Cinematography and Best Script, that had the audience and filmmakers anxious.
Winning awards for both Best Film and Best Cinematography was Julius Avery's Jerrycan - a Cannes Jury Prize winning film that explores the nature of childhood bullying and relationships through the story of a young boy living in a sleepy country town who kicks about with mates and enemies alike. The prize for Best Film, presented by Showtime and acclaimed director David Caesar (Prime Mover, Idiot Box, Mullet), included a return flight to North America where the filmmakers are able to attend any short film festival of their choice, free editing time at Spectrum Films valued at $3000 and a Firestick Filmmakers Getaway with 2 nights free accommodation at Crown Plaza, lunch for 2 at Rock Restaurant, a private Firestick wine tasting and a complimentary mixed dozen of Firestick Wines valued at $1,500.
The Jerrycan filmmakers also walked away with the prize for Best Cinematography (Adam Arkapaw) which included a Getty Images Visa Card with $3,000 credit, a 30% discount off all Getty Images products for the entire year of 2010, and a framed A2 Getty Image of choice selected from the Getty Images collections.
Best Music, presented by MySpace, was awarded to Platon Theodoris' Sunrise, which was a touching drama that originated when Theodoris was invited by Australian Geraldine Cox, who runs two orphanages in Cambodia, to facilitate filmmaking workshops with the orphans, who in turn starred in and helped make this beautiful film. Anecdotally, Theodoris told us that he wasn't even going to go with the indigenous score for the film, only to be convinced otherwise by his editor. Smart move!
Duncan Fellows, who played the lead character, Jim, in Post This! took the Best Actor award, which was presented by Firestick and actor Damon Gameau (Balibo). This comedic short about the close relationship of a couple of flatmates, which is interrupted when one of them has a girlfriend move in, had the audience in stitches. Made as part of a 48 Hour Film contest, the film's grunginess and over-the-top supporting performances were more than made up for by Fellows' charming guy who wants his best mate back.
Best Design, presented by Spectrum Films, was awarded to Fokker's Mountain Path by Lushun Tan. The film used complex animation and photo montages to portray the story of a Prisoner of War, whilst Genevieve Clay's Frances and Annie was awarded Best Script, for its original and honest approach to stereotypes associated with disabled people. The film also starred Tracie Sammut, an actress with Down Syndrome, who has featured in various TV shows and films in the past. This is Clay's second big win this year after she took out top prize at Tropfest with Be My Brother.
The overall quality of the 14 finalists is to be commended, with the judges admitting that it was difficult to decide the winners, and it's a shame that more awards couldn't be given on the night because many of the films that went unheralded deserved accolades. That said, My Girlfriend Jim, about a young man who cross-dresses to avoid housework, was voted Audience favourite on the night, offering another award for the deserving filmmakers..
Picture Caption: The judges and winners of the 9th annual Bondi Short Film Festival