Press release from Limelight PR
Coinciding with the 60th Anniversary of MIFF, the annual MIFF Short Awards celebrated its 50th birthday in style at the Greater Union Cinema last night, where the best shorts of the Festival were announced and screened.
With over 1200 entries from countries around the world, 115 short films had their Victorian premiere in official competition in the MIFF shorts program. The MIFF Shorts Awards are the most highly regarded short film competition in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the few in which the winners will be eligible to submit their films for Academy Award consideration. The competition offers filmmakers from around the world the opportunity to compete for 7 awards and a total cash and prize pool of $42,000.
This year’s winners demonstrate that the future of the industry is in good hands and over half of all awards on offer were awarded to MIFF Accelerator program participants:
The Transmission Films Award for Emerging Australian Filmmaker went to Victorian Andrew Kavanagh for At the Formal. Kavanagh was in the audience to receive the $5000 cash prize. A special mention was also made to 2011 Accelerator participant Nathan Lewis for his film Attach Boat to Motor.
Also present on the night was South Australian director/producer Anthony Maras who was awarded the Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film to the value of $7000 for his film The Palace.
From Germany and the Ukraine, documentary Leonids Story picked up the Swinburne Award for Best Documentary Short Film. Director Rainer Luwigs and producer Tetyana Chernyavska received $5000 in prize money.
The The Holmesglen Award for Best Animation Short Film was awarded to Victorian directors Alister Lockhart and Patrick Sarell and producers Katrina Mathers, Daryl Munton and Merrin Jensen for their film Nullabor. Lockhart and Sarell were in the audience to accept the honor and $5000 cash prize.
Canadian film Green Crayons took out the Cinema Nova Award for Best Fiction Short Film. Director Kazik Radwanski and producer Daniel Montgomery received $5000 courtesy of Cinema Nova.
The Melbourne International Film Festival Award for Best Experimental Short Film ($5000 prize) went to Portuguese directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt and producer Nataxo Checa for A History of Mutual Respect.
Announced last, but certainly not least, was the City Of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film. With an impressive cash prize of $10,000, the Canadian short and MIFF Accelerator participant Kevan Funk picked up the award for A Fine Young Man. Directed by Funk and produced by Onno Blasé, Wesley Salter, Paul McGillion and Benjamin Loeb – A Fine Young Man follows the story of Pete, an upstanding man living in Cold War era America.
Winners Andrew Kavanagh (The Formal), Anthony Maras (The Palace), Alister Lockhart & Patrick Sarell (Nallabor) and Kevan Funk (A Fine Young Man) are all 2011 MIFF Accelerator participants.
Many thanks go to the MIFF short film jury which included Tait Brady (Consultant, lecturer and ex Melbourne International Film Festival Director), Robert Connolly (AFI winning writer and director) and Julie Ebbinghaus (MUBI).