Michael Caton and 2015 Young Filmmaker of the Year winner Lauren Brunswick
Nominees have been announced for the West Australian Screen Awards (WASA) Young Filmmaker of the Year and include Briege Whitehead, Jess Black, Hayden Fortescue and Jordon Prince-Wright.
The winner will receive a cash prize of $5000 and a custom-made Geoffrey Drake-Brockman WASA trophy.
Last year’s winner, producer Lauren Brunswick (Top Knot Detective) said the value of the award lived within its ability to empower other emerging filmmakers to feel they could achieve their ambitions.
"The feat of beginning a career becomes more manageable when we feel someone has tackled it before us. A spotlight of this nature allowed me to meet more people within the film community, feel the enormous support they offer, and remember to whittle the pressures of our aspirations down to a series of steps that we must collectively be brave to undertake," she said.
About the nominees:
Briege Whitehead
Whitehead directed two episodes of the Your Call interactive series, is currently directing the interactive design for TV web series Top Knot Detective and directed Shirtfront (nominated for a 2016 WASA Award for Best Interactive Production). Whitehead is a writer/producer/director at Showrunner Productions, and has worked on reality TV series sold around the world. Whitehead is currently directing the FTI Oompf! film Crumbs and is in pre-production on a documentary A Crash of Rhinos, which is partially funded through FTI’s Philanthropy Program.
Jess Black
Black has produced over ten short films including the popular Love in a Disabled Toilet, WASA Best Short Drama-nominated Lola and Luis and Tropfest finalist Revive. Black has sourced private finance for most of her short films and worked in production and accounting roles on three feature films to expand her knowledge of the production process. Black was commissioned by the Yirra Yarkin Theatre Company to document their involvement with PIAF on the Giants project in 2015.
Hayden Fortescue
Fortescue has had many roles in the industry, from writing and directing his own shorts and web series (including 2016 WASA-nominee Council), to producing the feature Broken Contract (to be released in over 50 countries). Hayden's impressive resume has also seen him take on roles as DP and associate producer on the feature Twisted Minds, 3rd AD on The Reckoning and Hard Drive, production secretary on Kill Me Three Times and Red Dog: True Blue and in pre-production for Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Men Tell No Tales, and location manager for Looking for Grace and Bad Girl.
Jordon Price-Wright
Price-Wright is a director, writer, producer and executive producer, with his own production company, Prince-Wright Productions. His body of work include short films The Toy Maker, La Chienne Francaise, Enmity and Not Their Boots, as well as directing and producing the feature film Red Dirt. In 2014, Price-Wright was shortlisted for the Australian Young Filmmaker of the Year Award. His films have been selected in over 20 film festivals and won many awards both locally and nationally.
The WASAs are an FTI initiative held to enhance the vibrancy of the Western Australian screen sector through increasing awareness and connecting screen practitioners of all disciplines and career stages.
The 28th Annual WASAs are supported by major partners ScreenWest and Lotterywest and presented in conjunction with the Revelation Perth International Film Festival (July 7 -17).
The awards will be held at the Heath Ledger Theatre on July 4.