Press Release
The judges of the 2013 Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film Festival's “Essence of Tasmania” Short Film Competition announced two winners and commended one short film from short-listed short films from around Australia today.$20,000 (four prizes of $5,000 each) was on offer to filmmakers worldwide who could capture the “Essence of Tasmania” in a three minute short film. Prizes were provided by Tourism Tasmania, with
films to be used to promote Tasmania to the world.
The competition brief asked the film-makers to tell a story, with a beginning, middle and end. Judges looked at the films from three perspectives: how well does this film tell a story; how well made is it: and how well does it capture the essence of Tasmania?
In all, two winning and one commended entries were felt to fulfil the brief at an outstanding level. Announcing the judges decisions BOFA Festival Director, Owen Tilbury, praised the story-telling skills of these entries.
“The films received were a wonderful mix of viewpoints on Tasmania from film-makers around the country, making judging enjoyable but hard. The different perspectives on Tasmania really do take a viewer "behind the scenery" of Tasmania to discover what makes the state so intriguing and different, " Mr Tilbury said.
2013 Winners of The Essence of Tasmania Short Film Competition were:
Above it All – David Pyefinch (Tasmania)
Tasmania- Look Closer – Phil Selmes (Queensland)
The 2013 Essence of Tasmania Short Film Competition also Commended the animated film Can we go to Tasmania? by Sheraden Robins (NSW).
Tourism Tasmania sees film as the perfect way to showcase Tasmania in a novel, non-mainstream fashion that well suits the uniqueness of the state. Tourism Tasmania will use the films to publiciseTasmania through a number of channels, including the increasingly important social media.
Winning and commended entries can be seen on Discover Tasmania's YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/discovertasmania.
The three finalists are now uploaded to YouTube and a People's Choice vote is currently underway at the Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film Festival Facebook site. The winners selected by the People's Choice and by the judges will be announced on July 15th, 2013. Five Festival Passes will be offered to voters taking part in the People's Choice.