Press release from Bec Daikin
Glenn Owen Dodds, an illuminating Australian short film starring David Wenham, has won the prestigious International Prix Canal+ award at the world’s most important short film festival, the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France.
Directed by Frazer Bailey, Glenn Owen Dodds is an uplifting comedy about a young man (Abe Forsythe) who has a chance encounter with a mug punter named Glenn Owen Dodds (Wenham) who claims to be God. What follows is a thought-provoking tale of love, faith, the universe and other trivial matters.
Over 5000 films were submitted to the Clermont-Ferrand selection judges and Glenn Owen Dodds was one of only 76 films from around the world selected to screen in the international competition. It was one of only 7 films to be awarded a major international prize.
“I am absolutely over the moon with how far this film has come,” said Bailey. “From little things big things really do grow.”
Producer Bec Dakin said the win would open up countless doors throughout the global film community. “Clermont-Ferrand is the most prestigious short film festival in the world and to be selected was something we had always hoped for Glenn Owen Dodds,” said Dakin. “To actually win the International Prix Canal+ award is nothing short of a dream come true.”
The win means the Canal+ entertainment network will purchase Glenn Owen Dodds for broadcast on its channels in France and Spain.
Funded by Screen Australia, Glenn Owen Dodds was shot throughout South-east Queensland, in the sound stages of Warner Roadshow Studios and in the city streets of Brisbane.
For two days the filmmakers managed to shut down Charlotte Street in the heart of the city. “Rain threatened to hold the shoot up on several occasions, but somehow it always held off,” Bailey says. “It’s a film in many ways about divine intervention so maybe we had some of our own.”
Actor David Wenham (300, The Lord of the Rings, Australia, The Proposition) committed to the film four years ago after reading an early draft of the script, written by Trent Dalton. “Wenham wrote us a letter essentially saying, ‘If this film gets up, I’ll be in it,” said Bailey. While Bailey and his team set about finding funds for the film, Wenham’s career went into overdrive, with starring roles in 300, Australia and Michael Mann’s gangster epic Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. With funding secured, Bailey called on Wenham and, a man of his word, he didn’t hesitate to fly to Brisbane for the shoot.
“Here’s a guy who’d just finished this huge Hollywood gangster epic with Johnny Depp and he’s suddenly on set in Queensland with us working on our little film with a budget about .01% of Michael Mann’s,” Bailey said. “It was a true honour and privilege just to have him turn up. To watch him work – a true professional in every sense – was one of the most sublime moments of my career.”
Wenham has since come on board Bailey’s debut feature film, In the Silence, a Hitchcockian thriller which, says screenwriter Trent Dalton, “will make Basic Instinct look like an episode of Murder She Wrote.”
Check out the website: www.GlennOwenDodds.com
For interviews with the director, producer and writer, phone Bec Dakin on 0438 205 234 or email bec@playtv.com.au