Short Film Winners To Watch

The sixth annual Show Me Shorts Film Festival kicked off in Auckland last night with a glamorous awards evening where the winners of eight prizes for excellence in short filmmaking were announced.

Jack Woon took home the coveted Kodak Best Film Award for his dreamy drama about awkward teenage love, The Great Barrier. Woon also took out the SDGNZ Best Director prize. A pre-recorded acceptance speech was sent up from Dunedin where he is currently working on a new project.

Australian film The Kiss by Ashlee Page took home both the Panavision Best Cinematographer prize and the StarNow Best Actor award for an outstanding performance by Nicole Gulasekharam.

Tammy Davis collected the Script to Screen Best Screen Play for his crowd pleasing directorial debut film about two thieves, Ebony Society, which he also wrote.

The judges, James Brookman, Catherine Fitzgerald and Paul Grinder, paid tribute to the bright futures of all the filmmakers. “What a privilege to watch these films,” said film producer Catherine Fitzgerald, whose Samoan language feature film The Orator is currently in cinemas. “The diversity of stories, storytelling and talent made selecting nominees and winners a real challenge, but equally fills me with excitement in anticipation for what the future will bring from these filmmakers.”

With a total prize pool valued at over $10,000, the winners received a range of tools that will help them continue to make more films, such as film stock from Kodak, camera gear hire from Panavision, writing workshops and subscriptions to industry publications.

The full list of winners can be found below. Show Me Shorts Film Festival is now showing at five locations around Auckland, and opens next week in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, before it moves on to smaller regional centres. The official festival website can be found at www.showmeshorts.co.nz.

2011 AWARD WINNERS

Kodak Best Film – Jack Woon for The Great Barrier

Special Jury Prize – Peter Neville for Cockroach

SDGNZ Best Director – Jack Woon for The Great Barrier

Script to Screen Best Screen Play – Tammy Davis for Ebony Society

SDGNZ Best Editor – Lewis Albrow for 3 Hours

Best Student Film – Jonah Musitano for Maurice

Panavision Best Cinematographer – Nick Matthews for The Kiss

StarNow Best Actor – Nicole Gulasekharam for The Kiss

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