Press release from Well Above
Over 1000 wine appreciating short film enthusiasts from all over the world converged on the Elliot Rocke Estate again last weekend for Mudfest, the 6th annual Mudgee International Short Film Festival.
Of the 13 films that had been shortlisted as finalists from over 500 entries, three were from Australia, the UK and Germany, two from the USA and there was one each from Spain, Italy and France.
Under amazing stars, some of them shooting, on a beautiful clear night MC and Mudfest committee member Mike O’Malley kicked off proceedings. When all 13 films had been viewed, ‘Jerrycan’ directed by Julius Avery won the Fujifilm Best Australian Film award and $1500 of Fujifilm Recording Media products. The Judges’ Award of $3,000 was won by German entry Clint directed by Philipp Scholz and the Mudfest People’s Choice Award of $500 went to UK film The One About The Sheep directed by Toby Roberts.
“Our audience definitely likes a laugh and the People’s Choice Award winner ‘The One About the Sheep’ was a great fun little movie – albeit politically incorrect!” said Mike O’Malley. “Similarly the crowd got a great laugh out of the Judges’ Choice ‘Clint’ which was a well executed and beautifully shot take on how hard it can be to give up smoking. We had three very strong Australian finalists but the Fujifilm ‘Best Australian Entry’ Jerrycan really kept the audience spellbound. I’m sure many of the locals could relate to the larrikin country kid themes so beautifully portrayed in the film.”
Commenting on the winners Mudfest judge Sean Glasson, GM of the John Barry Group added, Clint is a very witty and clever slice of life that demonstrated all the best attributes of the short film genre. Engaging characters, tight story and a wonderful kooky outlook made this a very enjoyable 10 minutes. Jerrycan has brilliant cinematography coupled with some memorable characters that were the highlight of a delightful film which really highlighted life on the other side of the tracks for some young kids finding their way. The One About The Sheep is an oldie but a goodie as they say in the classics. A UK film that had a sheep, a pig, a bedroom, a double bed and a lot of laughs. Good fun.”
Marc Van Agten Fujifilm Australia General Manager Recording Media/Motion Picture Film added, “Fujifilm are absolutely delighted to again be the sponsor of such a great event as Mudfest. Our policy is to support the film festivals that help local filmmakers and Mudfest certainly does that. It’s also great to see a wonderful film like Jerrycan win the Fujifilm award and recording media prizes. All the Australian entries served to reaffirm the high quality and calibre of Australian directors, DOPs and producers.”
http://www.mudfest.com.au
www.FUJIFILM.com.au