The 2007 Flake Film Festival premiere screenings have just finished with a huge sell out finale and awards presentation night at the Jindabyne Cinema in the NSW Snowy Mountains where the 2007 winners were also announced.
This years festival was a huge success- ‘2007 was our 5th Birthday and we celebrated with our best fest yet! The final 15 films were truly amazing and showed off the high quality of filmmaking talent we have in Australia,’ says festival founder and director Anthony Trovatello (Chook).
Film Entries and Screenings
All films were under 8 minutes and somehow included the 2007 theme of ‘Water’. 15 films were selected for the finals, each with a very different and diverse interpretation of water shown across a variety of styles including; Drama, Comedy, Mockumentary, Documentary and snow/ sport films.
Screenings started in Thredbo (6th Sept) before hitting the mountain road to Cooma, Jindabyne, Perisher, and then back to Jindabyne on Sat 15th September for a huge final screening and awards night.
Voting and Award Winners
At the Flake Film Festival, the audience is given the prestigious job of voting for the winners across 3 of the major categories including Best Film Overall: a massive cash and prize pool worth $15,000 was awarded!
The winners are as follows:
* Rebel Sport Best Film Overall
131.9 Cents Per Litre
Produced/ Directed by Tony Mason of Victoria.
An extremely funny mockumentary look at life as a surfer! Tony Mason is a surfer, well sort of… he lives over 1 hour from the beach and he’s not very good! Some would even go as far as calling him a ‘kook’!
Prize: $2000 (Rebel Sport)
2nd: Equal 2nd- U-Turn, How to be Australian with Vin & Raj
* Rojo/ Avid Australia Best Youth Film – (21 yrs and Under)
Up the creek without a paddle
Produced/ Directed by Adam Callahan of the ACT.
This doccumentary confronts the current water crisis in Australia. It explores how both city & country people are affected and how they have adjusted.
Prize: $500 Cash (Rojo), AVID Xpress Pro Editing Package
2nd: Dadday’s Girl– Produced/ Directed by Gerry, Reece, Ryan O’Connell of Ireland/ WA
* Thredbo Best Snow / Sport Film
Wow
Directed/ Produced by Sean Balmer and Darren Teasdale of NSW.
An exciting, action packed snow film which shows snippets of living the snow life! WOW was filmed in Europe, North America and Australia during two of the worst winters on record- not that you could even notice.
PRIZE: $500 (Thredbo), 2 nights accomodation plus Breakfasts and a dinner at Novotel Lake Crackenback Resort for 2 people, plus 2 days lift passes for Thredbo and ski/ board hire from Rebel Sport. Also receive snow equipment from Dragon Optical, Protec, Dakine, Flow, Sherpa thermal wear.
2nd: Whitewater Dreaming, Produced/ Directed by Jeff Moule of NSW
* Novotel Lake Cracknback Best Local Film
(Snowy/ Sth East/ Capital Region)
The Snowy River- Reflections of a river lost
Produced/ Directed by Les Herstik of the ACT.
An informative doccumentary about the community concerns regarding the current status of the iconic and once mighty Snowy River and it’s future sustainability.
Prize: $500 (Novotel Lake Crackenback)
2nd: Knocked Up Produced/ Directed by Rewa Nolen of NSW
* Funniest Film Award
U-Turn
Produced/ Directed by Warwick young of NSW.
An absolutely hillarious film which had the crowds in stiches (or disgusted!). A sotry about a city bloke who moves to the country seeking a change in his life- however the change doesn’t quite work out the way he had planned!! But then again, how can you plan for a dog licking your butt!
Prize: $500 Cash
2nd: Hook, Line & Sinker– Produced/Directed by PJ Collins/ Stuart Young of NSW
* Best Doco Award
How to be Australian with Vin & Raj
Produced/ Directed by Manushka Khisty of Victoria.
A very funny docco with a very real message and helpful hints for Australian multiculteralism. An old immigrant who showing a new immigrant about living in Australia and wehat being Australian is all about- it looks at culture, people, politics, sport, food and of course beer!
Prize: $500 Cash
* Judges Choice Award for Highly Commended and Best Use of Theme
Water
Produced/ Directed by Satiago Acera/ Sally Lancaster of NSW.
Intriguiging and moving story of two men who have both lost their liveliehood because of water. One man doesn’t have enough water, whilst the other man has too much.
Prize: $500 Cash
* Avod Australia Best Editing Award
131.9 cents per litre
Produced/ Directed by Tony Mason of Victoria.
A well editied film, which takes a humurous look at the sometimes very serious world of surfing- especially when your just a beginner (kook!)
Prize: AVID Media Composer complete editing package
* Best Production Design, Presented by NIDA Open Programs
The Raid
Produced/ Directed by Muy Lang Ung of NSW.
A very well designed film which looks at our water crisis in the future. Where fresh drinking water becomes so scarce that only the powerful and corrupt can obtain it.
Proze: Intensive short course in Production Design at NIDA Open Programs.
* Blake McGrath Tribute Award and Junior Sponsorship Award - Presented by Flake Film Festival and McGrath Family
The Recipient of the 2007 Blake McGrath Tribute Award & Snow-Sports sponsorship was also announced. The award went to 15 year old Jindabyne girl, Kim Wellings. The award was passed on by last years recipient, Brent Sassall- who made a wonderful and inspirational speech when passing on the award to Kim along with Blake’s father Bill McGrath. Kim will recieve a saewson lift pass to Perisher Blue plus riding equipment from Rojo, Dragon, Protec, Dakine, FLOW, Sherpa as well as ski/ board tuning from Rebel Sport and physiotherapy from Bruce Wilson.
Festival Director Anthony Trovatello (Chook) and the Flake Team would like to especially thank all the wonderful filmmakers, audience’s,volunteers, sponsors and the people of the Snowy Mountains for their tremendous support. Flake has grown a huge amount in just 5 years. We are excited and look forward to new developments in the future. We hope you can join us…
We will be announcing the 2008 theme soon- all the info @ http://www.flakefilmfestival.com/
[release from the Flake Film Festival]