AUDIENCE AWARDS
'JUDAS COLLAR' WINS THREE IN A ROW
Oscar-eligible ‘Judas Collar’ won the 2019 Runner Up Award in Paris, following its three Audience Awards in St Tropez, Berlin and Los Angeles.
In the film, set in outback Australia, a feral camel is fitted with a tracking device known as a Judas collar that brings with it betrayal of the rest of the herd with which it travels. 'Judas Collar' won Jury Award for Best Narrative Short Film at the Austin Film Festival in 2018 and Best Film and Best Director at the St Kilda Film Festival in 2019. Each of these wins makes 'Judas Collar' eligible to enter the Academy Awards in 2020.
'Judas Collar' was written and directed by Alison James of Perth, Western Australia and produced by Brooke Tia Silcox, also from Perth. After ten years in documentary filmmaking for television, Alison has transitioned to narrative filmmaking. This is her third narrative film.
'A QUICK LOVE STORY' WINS IN PARIS
The 2019 Australian Short Film Today Audience Award for Paris went to ‘A Quick Love Story’, a comedy written and directed by Brenden Dannaher of Sydney. Dominique Fusy of Paris was the film editor. This win follows the film’s Runner Up Awards in Los Angeles and New York, where the film had its global premiere.
Dannaher is from Sydney where he works at SBS (the public Special Broadcasting Service) and has a background in educational films. It is clear from the subject matter of his comedy that he has experienced one online survey too many. This short seems to be his revenge.
In the cleverly written film, a young man, who has been rejected by the woman to whom he has proposed, finally meets a woman who is fascinated by him and wants to know his opinions. The only problem? She is an online survey.
From left: Alison James (writer/director) and Brooke Tia Silcox (producer) from JUDAS COLLAR, Chris Beale (Australian Short Film Today) and Brenden Dannaher (writer/director) and Nicole Shostak (lead actress) from A QUICK LOVE STORY at the Los Angeles screening hosted by AUSTRALIANS IN FILM
'FIRE IN CARDBOARD CITY' WINS 2019 NEW YORK AUDIENCE AWARD
The animated comedy/drama Fire in Cardboard City, by New Zealander Phil Brough, won the Australian Short Film Today audience Award at the Asia Society in New York on May 14, 2019. We focus on Australian films and don't often screen films from other countries, but after we saw Fire in Cardboard City we liked it so much we felt we had to screen it.
The city in the animated film looks an awful lot like New York. This "free-wheeling disaster movie ... feels like a joy ride," said The New Yorker magazine after the film had its U.S. debut at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Brough confirmed to us that the city portrayed in the short is based on New York City, and says it also includes some iconic New Zealand buildings.
'NURSERY RHYMES' CHARMS ST TROPEZ
The 2019 Runner Up Award in Saint Tropez went to 'Nursery Rhymes', directed by Tom Noakes, a graduate of AFTRS, who is based in Sydney. It opens with a continuous 4 minute shot with a metalhead standing in a field singing a nursery rhyme, with a 10 second shot to finish.
The film "disorientates its audience initially via a surreal, contextless opening. Confusion gives way to a slowly unfolding puzzle however, serving up revelations all the way through to its emotional close, when it delivers." - Celine Roustan, Short of the Week.
THEY LOVED 'HIGH SCHOOL LOVER' IN BERLIN
The 2019 Runner Up Audience Award in Berlin went to 'High School Lover', a drama about a young man reaching out to his high school girlfriend. The film is directed by Cielo Croci from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.
Cielo is studying for his masters of film and television at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. It is remarkable that a film by a young filmmaker, himself only recently at high school, could touch so many audience members, some of whom are long removed from their high school love.
'THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK' SWEEPS THE AUDIENCE AWARDS FOR THE 2018 TRAVELING PROGRAM
The Academy Award nominated film swept the AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM TODAY Audience Awards in each of the 8 cities globally at which we screened the 2018 traveling program.
AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM TODAY AUDIENCE AWARDS HAVE GONE TO ...
PARIS A Quick Love Story directed by Brenden Dannaher
(Nov 2019) Runner up: Judas Collar directed by Brenden Dannaher
LOS ANGELES Judas Collar directed by Alison James
(Oct 2019) Runner up: A Quick Love Story directed by Brenden Dannaher
ST TROPEZ Judas Collar directed by Alison James
(Oct 2019) Runner up: Nursery Rhymes directed by Tom Noakes
BERLIN Judas Collar directed by Alison James
(Sep 2019) Runner up: High School Lover directed by Cielo Croci
NEW YORK Fire in Cardboard City directed by Phil Brough
(May 2019) Runner up: A Quick Love Story directed by Brendan Dannaher
LONDON The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(Jan 2019) Runner up: Adele directed by Mirene Igwabi
AUSTIN The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(Oct 2018) Runner up: a tie between Kill Off directed by Genevieve Clay-Smith and Lost Property Office directed by Daniel Agdad
HOUSTON The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(Oct 2018) Runner up: Adele directed by Mirene Igwabi
Clockwise from top left: LOST PROPERTY OFFICE, ADELE, KILL OFF and LIBRARY OF LOVE
ST TROPEZ The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(Oct 2018) Runner up: a tie between Kill Off directed by Genevieve Clay-Smith and Lost Property Office directed by Daniel Agdad
BOSTON The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(Oct 2018) Runner up: a tie between Adele directed by Mirene Igwabi and Lost Property Office directed by Daniel Agdad
ST TROPEZ The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(Oct 2018) Runner up: Adele directed by Mirene Igwabi
BERLIN The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(Sept 2018) Runner up: Adele directed by Mirene Igwabi
PARIS The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(June 2018) Runner up: Kill Off directed by Genevieve Clay-Smith
NEW YORK The Eleven O'clock directed by Derin Seale
(May 2018) Runner up: Library of Love directed by Khrob and Miranda Edmonds
THE DAM
AUSTIN Bluey directed by Darlene Johnson
(Apr 2018)
LONDON The Dam directed by Brendon McDonall
(Jan 2018)
HOUSTON Deighties directed by Mason Fleming
(Nov 2017)
ST TROPEZ Meat and Potatoes directed by Ellenor Argyropoulous and Arielle Thomas
(Oct 2017)
BOSTON Bluey directed by Darlene Johnson
(Sept 2017)
PARIS The Mother Situation directed by Matt Day
(June 2017)
NEW YORK Deighties directed by Mason Fleming
(May 2017)
Clockwise from top left: MEAT AND POTATOES, BLUEY, THE MOTHER SITUATION and DEIGHTIES