Presented by the Media Resource Centre – in partnership for the first time this year with the Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts – the winners of the SASSAs represent the best of South Australian short filmmaking practice across a broad spectrum of 18 genre and craft categories.
The coveted Best Film award went to You Better Watch Out – a work by the South Australian husband and wife team – Steve Callen (director) and Jules Callen (producer). You Better Watch Out is a wickedly dark comedy about two disgruntled brothers who kidnap a department store Santa – starring actor/comedian Stephen Curry (The King and The Castle), Dan Wyllie (Love My Way) and veteran performer, Chris Haywood. Steve Callen picked up a second award for the same film in the category – Best Screenplay.
Among the nights other winners were: Caught in a Loop (produced & directed by Sarah Crowest) for Best Experimental Film, Maxx Corkindale for Best Emerging Filmmaker, William Allert for Best Performance in the comedy Nightingale – which also took out Best Comedy – and Anthony Maras for Best Direction for his film Spike Up – which was also judged Best Drama.
Opened by the Premier, the Hon. Mike Rann the awards’ guests included the Adelaide Film Festival Artistic Director, Katrina Sedgwick and South Australian Film Corporation CEO, Richard Harris.
Media Resource Centre director, Gail Kovatseff said the night was a wonderful celebration of a vibrant local film industry.
‘This has been the most outstanding year ever for short film practice in South Australia,’ Ms Kovatseff said.’The quality of the films and the standard of practice across all crafts, augers well for the future of screen making in SA.’
[release from Foster Hill PR & Marketing]