by Dov Kornits
As if on cue, as the full house exited the closing night session of Flickerfest at the glorious Bondi Beach Pavilion, the rain started to sprinkle on the afterparty revellers. This did little to sour the mood, as the crowd of mostly filmmakers had just seen a 90 minute highlight package of the best short films from around the world. With most of the international filmmaker winners recording video acceptance speeches, only Turkish German filmmaker Cengiz Akaygün was present to accept his Special Jury Prize for The Mandarin Tree. With a very strong female presence among the winners, some of the recurring themes among the winners were war and disability, with the controversial Russian war film Phone Duty taking out the main international drama prize, and the disability themed The Unconditional winning Best International Documentary and the West Australian made Yulubidyi – Until The End taking out the Best Australian Drama.
Perhaps most telling, the winner of the Rebel8 Award for Outstanding Emerging Female Director in honour of Samantha Rebillet (a good friend of Flickerfest director Bronwyn Kidd, and an emerging filmmaker who passed away unexpectedly in late 2017), was presented to West Australian filmmaker Miley Tunnecliffe, who wrote, directed and starred in the comedy Calling. On hand to accept the award, Tunnecliffe mentioned her need to move into directing because no one else was interested in turning her screenplays into films. The times are changing for representation on the screen and behind the scenes, and Flickerfest is leading the charge.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film (Academy® Accredited)
Phone Duty (Russian Federation)
Writer/Director: Lenar Kamalov
Producer: Lenar Kamalov and Natalia Frovolova
Special Jury Prize
The Mandarin Tree (Germany)
Writers: Cengiz Akaygün, Duc-Thi Bui
Director: Cengiz Akaygün
Producer: Philipp Lutz
MANDALINA AGACI – The Mandarin Tree (Trailer) from Free Monkey on Vimeo.
Yoram Gross Award for Best International Short Animation (Academy® Accredited)
Flowing Through Wonder (France)
Writer/Director: Joana Lurie and Jean –Marc Bouzigues
Producer Christian Pfohl
SAE Creative Media Institute Award for Best Use of Digital Technology in a Short Film:
Between The Shadows (Portugal)
Writer/Director Mónica Santos and Alice Guimarães
Producers: Nuno Amorim, Vanessa Ventura, Jean-François Le Corre,
Mathieu Courtois and Pedro Medeiros
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION AWARD WINNER
Flickerfest Award for Best Short Documentary Film (Academy® Accredited)
The Unconditional (United States)
Director: Dave Adams , Writer: Matt Cascella
Producer: Dave Adams, Adam Soltis, Renee Woodruff Adams, Chris Tuss
Special Mention for Documentary
Hamama & Caluna (Switzerland)
Writer/Director: Andreas Anuuk Mugli
Producer: Edith Fluckinger
European Delegation in Australia Award for Best EU Short Film
Best Game Ever (Hungary)
Writer/director: Kristóf Deák
Producers: László Dreissiger, Anna Udvardy, Gábor Osváth
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Virgin Australia Award for Best Australian Short Film, (Academy® Accredited)
Yulubidyi – Until The End
Writer/Director: Nathan Mewett and Curtis Taylor
Producer: Glen Stasiuk
Canon Award for Best Direction in an Australian Short Film
Tangles and Knots
Writer/Director: Renée Marie Petropoulos
Producer: Janet Brown and Yingna Lu
Yoram Gross Award for Best Australian Short Animation
Della Mortika: Carousel Of Shame
Director: Marisa Martin
Writer Geraldine Martin
Producer: Marisa and Geraldine Martin
John Barry Award for Best Cinematography in an Australian Short Film
Nursery Rhymes
Cinematographer: Aaron McLisky
Avid Award for Best Editing in An Australian Short Film
All These Creatures
Editor: Dan Lee
Special mention
Birdie
Editor: Danielle Boesenberg
Rebel8 Award for Outstanding Emerging Female Director In honour of Samantha Rebillet:
Calling
Writer/Director Miley Tunnecliffe
Flickerfest now hits the road, touring around Australia until May. For more information, head to the website.
The Unconditional short documentary winner was about my daughter, my son in law and two grandchildren. Special thanks to Dave Adam’s and Matt Cascella for capturing a small segment in their lives, as well as, the love and commitment that it takes to raise special needs children.