A single short film took both the major prizes in the second annual NZIFF New Zealand’s Best Short Film competition announced at Auckland’s Civic Theatre before the festival’s Closing Night film Only Lovers Left Alive.
The Madman Entertainment Jury Prize, a cash prize of $5000 for the Best New Zealand Short Film at the 2013 New Zealand International Film Festival, was awarded to Friday Tigers, directed and written by Aidee Walker and produced Julia Parnell. The film also won the Audience Award.
Juror Simon Wilson, editor of Metro Magazine provided the jury’s citation:
“The judges looked for creative engagement with the film-making process, technical competence and, above all, a film that would provide us with a surprising, even thrilling, encounter.
We loved the whimsy of Friday Tigers, with its line drawings and a young mother’s delightfully fanciful creation of animal identities for herself and her small daughter. But the light mood barely hides the darker currents in play: this is a woman clinging to the few good things in her life so determinedly, she hardly has the chance to make sense of anything. The story moves crisply, the acting is beguiling, and the ending – a vote for courage and the power of the imagination – is a surprise and a delight.”
The jury was unable to agree on a recipient for The Friends of the Civic Short Film Award for distinctive creative achievement to any one film in the 2013 Best of New Zealand Short Film programme. The $3000 prize money will be held over and added to the Friends of the Civic award in 2014.
The Audience Award, 25% of the net box office takings from the screenings in the four main centres was also awarded Friday Tigers. The votes were collated from four screenings held in Auckland and Wellington as part of the 2013 NZIFF. The cash value of this prize derived from ticket sales is likely to be around $5000.
The three judges were Metro Magazine editor Simon Wilson, Michael Eldred for Madman Entertainment and veteran film producer Bridget Ikin (An Angel at My Table, My Year Without Sex, The Rocket, William Yang: My Generation).
Guest selector and international filmmaker Alison Maclean selected the six finalists from a shortlist of 12. Festival programmers Bill Gosden and Michael McDonnell viewed 91 entries to prepare the shortlist.
Flicks writer and co-editor Liam Maguren foolishly missed Aidee Walker’s short during the screening he attended, but here are his thoughts on the other outstanding finalists:
I’m Going to Mum’s
NZ 2013. Director/Screenplay: Lauren Jackson Producers: Jeremy Macey, Andrew Cochrane
Festivals: Berlin, San Francisco 2013. 13 mins
With its original approach, rock-solid performance from the young lead and a family-friendly quality that Kiwi Flyer should have aimed for, Lauren Jackson’s short is a witty winner.
Interim
NZ 2013. Director/Screenplay: Dan Kircher Producer: Roimata Magregor. 15 mins
Though I wasn’t totally sold on the conclusion, I couldn’t take my eyes off this sombre mood piece. Superbly shot and instantly engrossing.
Tom’s Dairy
NZ 2013. Director/Screenplay: Oscar Kightley Producer: Elizabeth Mitchell. 13 mins
Oscar Kightley must’ve punched a wall when Shopping emerged early this year – the similarities between that film and his short are uncanny. It has its rough patches, but Tom’s Dairy is an effective slice-of-life.
Here Now
NZ 2013. Director/Producer/Screenplay: Chelsie Preston Crayford. 14 mins
I don’t give a lot of leeway to shorts that attempt to make a message out of the mundane, but Chelsie Preston Crayford impressed me greatly with hers. I only wish the film didn’t ask its message so overtly – I felt Crayford said it all with her sly narrative and finely tuned performance.
Blind Mice
NZ 2013. Director/Producer/Screenplay: Walter Lawry. 15 mins
Walter Lawry’s short is constructed with such confidence that you’d never recognise it as the student film that it technically is. A superbly dense character piece that only wobbles slightly with some awkward line deliveries.
NZIFF in Auckland screens until 4 August, in Wellington until 11 August, in Christchurch from 1 to 18 August, and in Dunedin from 8 August to 25 August before continuing around the country. The NZ’s Best Shorts programme will screen in every NZIFF regional programme.
