Australia’s longest-standing and publicly owned short film festival, St Kilda Film Festival last night awarded Best Short Film to Sotiris Dounoukos’ 19-minute drama A Single Body.
The winner gets a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of the City of Port Phillip and qualifies for consideration in the OSCARS® Short Film category.
Also now eligible for consideration in the OSCARS® Documentary Shorts category, The Eagle, produced and directed by Gus Berger took home the prize for Best Documentary. Other highlight awards included; Best Director to Erin Good for her work on The Wonderful and Best Actor to Nicholas Denton for his role in Rabbit.
Proudly produced and presented by the City of Port Phillip, award winners of the 32nd St Kilda Film Festival were presented over $50,000 in cash and in-kind prizes at an invitation-only Closing Night Awards Ceremony at St Kilda Town Hall.
City of Port Phillip Mayor, Cr Amanda Stevens said the St Kilda Film Festival is proud to present home-grown talent with awards to recognise their outstanding work in the film industry.
“We are thrilled that the St Kilda Film Festival continues to provide a platform to showcase the exceptional work of Australia’s film industry professionals and we congratulate the 2015 award winners,” said Cr Stevens.
Festival Director Paul Harris said the standard of short films being submitted year on year is impressive and each year he looks forward to judging over 600 entries.
“In my 16 years as Festival Director, the judging continues to get tougher with the production, direction and acting talent in the short film space developing at phenomenal rates,” said Mr Harris.
“This year’s Festival offered local audiences a comprehensive 10-day program, featuring Australia’s Top 100 short films, archive screenings including a remastered episode of The Go!! Show, music videos, youth programs and filmmaker development workshops, with over 12,700 attendees supporting this year’s program of events.”
For the months of June and July, St Kilda Film Festival will tour highlights from the Top 100 films across regional Victoria providing viewers around the state with access to diverse screen culture. The tour will stop at nine locations including Nhill, Yarrowehah, Queenscliff and Eaglehawk.
2015 ST KILDA FILM FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS:
Best Short Film
A Single Body (VIC)
Craft Award
Grey Bull (VIC)
Best Director
Erin Good – The Wonderful (NSW)
Best Screenplay
Julian Vincent Costanzo – Falling (VIC)
Best Editing
Agnes Baginska – Milkmaid (NSW)
Best Cinematography
Ari Wegner – Baby Baby (NSW)
Best Comedy
Bunny New Girl (NSW)
Best Actor
Nicholas Denton – Rabbit (VIC)
Best Sound Post Production
Paul Pirola – Scission (VIC)
Best Visual Effects
Evan Whiteside – The Witching Hour (NSW)
Best Youth Short Film
Off Track
Best Animation
The Story of Percival Pitts (VIC)
Best Original Score
Tiernan Cross – The Wonderful (VIC)
Best Documentary
The Eagle (VIC)
Best Indigenous Film
Karroyul (WA)
Best Young Actor
Majdi Slaibi – Pocket Money (NSW)