Sydney filmmaker Naomi Sequeira’s Who I Was Before I Forgot won Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best First Time Filmmaker at the 8th SmartFone Flick Fest on Sunday.
The festival, which this year had a record number of entries from around the world, included screenings, two award ceremonies, and more presented more than $50,000 in prizes at red-carpet gala across 40 categories.
Other Australian wins include Best Documentary with Rob Layton’s Beneath the Lonesome Skye and shared Best Actor Tristan McKinnon in One Yarn.
Canada’s Big Dumb Animal by Schuyler Willson and Megan Sipos won best film. Big Dumb Animal also received Best Screenplay Award, Best Editing Award, and Best Actor Award.
The festival is open to anyone with a smartphone or tablet and a great idea for a short film. The judges for 2022 included Louis Nowra, Sandra Alexander and Megan Riakos.
Angela Blake, festival co-founder and director, said that this year’s success was “a tribute to the creativity and tenacity of filmmakers across Australia and around the world.”
The full list of winners:
THE SF3 GALA AWARDS
SF3 Best Film Award – Big Dumb Animal by Schuyler Willson and Megan Sipos (Canada)
SF3 Best Director Award – After Songs by Paco Wen, Chris Lee & Hardy Hu (China)
SF3 Best Cinematography Award – Paul Beattie for Who I Was Before I Forgot (Lillyfield I think)
SF3 & ACS Best Cinematography Runner-Up Award – Megan Sipos for Big Dumb Animal (Canada)
SF3 Best Screenplay Award – Big Dumb Animal by Schuyler Willson
SF3 Best Documentary Award – Beneath the Lonesome Skye by Rob Layton (Tallebudgera Valley, QLD)
SF3 Best Editing Award – Big Dumb Animal by Schuyler Willson (Canada)
SF3 Best Original Score Award – WAKE by Alexander Ellerington
SF3 Best Actress Award – Naomi Sequeira for Who I Was Before I Forgot (Sutherland, NSW)
SF3 Best Actor Award – Schuyler Willson for Big Dumb Animal
SF3 Best Actor Award – Tristan McKinnon for One Yarn (Sydney)
SF3 & Luma Touch Finished on Mobile Award (for films both shot and edited on a mobile device) – The Unseen by Tom Major (London, UK)
SF3 & WIFT NSW Best Female Creative Award – Kara Rose for Songlines of Change
SF3 First Nations Award supported by Dolby – Roots by Harlisha Newie-Joe
SF3 Founders ’Flick Pick – WAKE by Dimitri Ellerington (Bondi, NSW) & Karl Heinz by Andrew Robb (Sunhine, VIC)
#FILMBREAKER Award – Naomi Sequeira for Who I Was Before I Forgot (Sutherland, NSW)
SF3 and Chicken & Chips Casting Award – V by Tallulah Remond-Stephen
SF3 KIDS
The NIDA SF3 Kids Best Film Award High School – Deadly Dining by Asia Dunstone (Newtown School of the Performing Arts)
SF3 Kids Best Film Award Primary School – Masters of Persuasion by Mila Kazantzidis and Lula Kazantzidis (Bilgola Heights, NSW)
SF3 Kids Best Director Award – Asia Dunstone for Deadly Dining
SF3 Kids Best Cinematography Award – Elodie Kliendienst for Thief vs Thief (Newtown School of the Performing Arts)
SF3 Kids Best Screenplay Award – The Rose Scam by Sophia Budd (castle Hill, NSW) – from Hills Drama
SF3 Kids Best Editing Award – Thief vs Thief by Elodie Kliendienst (Newtown School of the Performing Arts)
SF3 Kids Best Documentary Award – The Magic in Liberia by Oliver Hamm & Lucas Hamm (Melbourne, VIC)
SF3 Kids Best Actor Award – Noah Kennedy for Birthday Fail (Beaumont Hills, NSW) – Hills Drama Student
SF3 Kids Best Actress Award – Aurora Iler for Victim Impact (Coomera, QLD used to live Campbelltown)
SF3 MINI
SF3 Mini Best International Film – Mild Symptoms by Darshan K (India)
SF3 Mini Best Australian Film – How Hard is it to Upload a Video to Youtube On the Queen Mary 2? by Robert Braiden (Beenleigh, QLD)
SF3 Mini International Runner-Up Award – Out of Thin Air by Alexandra Guillossou (USA)
SF3 Mini International Runner-Up Award – CROSSED by Jean-Charles Fritz (France)
SF3 Mini Australian Runner-Up Award – Ode to Wild Horses by Billie Dean (Braidwood, NSW)
SF3 Mini Australian Runner-Up Award – Move Me by Joshua Belinfante (Eastern Suburbs, Sydney)
SF3 & Spineless Wonders Best Adaptation Mini Award – NONNO by Rev Howley (Balwyn, VIC)
SF3 & Spineless Wonders Best Micro-Fiction Award – Gayelene Carbis
SF3 Community & Diversity Award – The Monstering: Sister GlitterNullius the Monster Speaks by Juundaal Strang-Yettica (Corrimal, NSW)
SF3 FEATURE FILM
SF3 Best Feature Film Award – Unknowns by Luis Fernandez (LA,USA)
SF3 Feature Film Runner-Up Award – Sunday Sunday Sunday by Anthony Natoli (NY, USA)
SF3 Feature Film Runner-Up Award – iWant by Oladipo O’Fresh (Nigeria)
SF360
SF360 Best Film – The Virtual Circle by ReVerse Butcher (Melbourne, VIC)