[press release from Short Sited]
Friday the 13th was a big night for Illawarra filmmakers who took out top honours across a jam-packed selection of fine films. An enthusiastic audience of 400 convened at Wollongong Uni Hall to witness the latest in short film production and were treated to a night of thrills, spills…. and zombies!
Keean Murrell Snape made Short Sited history by becoming the first filmmaker to win Best Overall Film for a second time. His entry for the horror category, The Knock -about a woman who is awoken by a mysterious knock at the door proved to create the right tone of creepy tension for festival judges. Previously, Murrell Snape had won Short Sited 7 back in 2003, with an entry entitled Pale Blue Life.
Other winners included;
Best Horror: The Crone Directed by Richard Jones and Sharon Lewis
Best Local: Not To Be Taken With Alcohol Directed by Ben Kumanovski
Best National: Sleep Tight Jack Directed by John Mavety
Audience Favourite: Up and Up Directed by Elliot Clifford
The Audience favourite film can be viewed on the Short Sited Youtube Channel from Monday.
The economic ‘crisis’ impacted prize sponsorship support this year, however, videogame giant Atari stayed committed to reward all category winners with a few top notch prize giveaways with much anticipated Xbox 360 titles Batman: Arkham Asylum and Ghostbusters: The Videogame. All the 2009 filmmakers will be rewarded with their films gaining a wider audience, having already secured their position on the upcoming Short Sited the 13th Special Edition DVD. The current 2008 Finalist DVD is available to rent from all Video Ezy’s across the Illawarra and South Coast.
Festival director Tom Subjak says “Congratulations to all our winners and many thanks to all our finalists helping put on a fantastic night of entertainment for the Illawarra region. It’s important for the Illawarra business and community to continue to support all local events. It’s frightening that even local sporting teams are suffering from a lack of support. Every single event staged here in the Illawarra is trying to achieve in bringing an exciting cultural dynamic to the region.”
Next year, Short Sited will be the hot ticket in town, as it will tackle head on the ‘Action’ genre! Entitled Short Sited With A Vengeance, Subjak invites all filmmakers to load up their cameras and ideas to create some truly memorable original action set pieces… on a budget. Now!