Glasgow Short Film Festival 2014: Winners Announced

short film winnes

The 2014 Glasgow Short Film Festival is delighted to announce the four award winners in the 2014 international and Scottish competitions, and the winner of GSFF’s Euroshort nomination.

GSFF has enjoyed a record year, with a wide-reaching programme themed around the relationship between music and film. The Festival opened with the world premiere of PULSE, a collaboration between Grammy-winning classical composer Dobrinka Tabakova and Scottish filmmaker Ruth Paxton, a Royal Philharmonic Society commission. This was followed by a series of memorable performances from Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells), Michelle Hannah, Zoviet France and audio-visual artist Kon-Om-Pax. A public discussion on the potential impact of independence on the Scottish film & TV industry on Saturday 15 Feburary had huge attendance, packing out the theatre space at the CCA.

Award Winners, 2014

The Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film 2014
Named in honour of the great Scottish filmmaker Bill Douglas, the international short film award was created with the intention that the winning film reflect the values and qualities found in Douglas’ work: honesty, innovation and the supremacy of image and sound in cinematic storytelling. This year 35 films competed for a prize of £1000.

Jury: Sarah Adam is a programmer for the Hamburg International Short Film Festival, and a member of the collective A Wall Is A Screen. Jacob Secher Schulsinger is a previous Bill Douglas Award-winning director who recently completed work as a co-editor on Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. Antonio Toscano is a representative of Sicilian festival Magma – mostra di cinema breve, as well as working as a film editor and animator in Rome.

Winner: The Questioning by Zhu Rikun

This short documentary traces the filmmaker’s own experience of an encounter with police while visiting human rights activist friends in China. He turned on the camera when the police knocked on the door of his hotel room.
 Jury Citation: ‘In limited space we witness a dense confrontation building to an almost unbearable point. In observing a specific event, this work questions the universal power of authorities.’

Special Mention: How to Abandon Ship by Robin McKay

Jury Citation: ‘Telling the story of a relationship using an unique animation technique, the filmmaker creates a compelling and entertaining balance between absurdly funny and real-life experiences.’
International Audience Award WINNER: Yak Butter Lamp, by Hu Wei
A young photographer and his assistant photograph a group of Tibetan nomads. As families appear to the photographer, he weaves unique links with each of the villagers. Voted for by the audience attending the festival.

Euroshort Nomination Winner: Pandas by Matus Vizar

Glasgow Film Festival is delighted to be participating in the Euroshort network of film festivals. The work of a European filmmaker under 29 years old has been selected by the international jury for promotion by the international jury for promotion by the network. The five participating festivals will create a DVD compilation of selected films for circulation at international festivals and markets. www.euroshort.com

The Scottish Short Film Award 2014, sponsored by Mother India’s Café.

Jury: Lucas Leyva is a filmmaker and Minister of the Interior for the Borscht Corporation in Miami, Florida. Gaia Meucci is Short Film Programme Manager for Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, Bristol. Suzanne Reid is a feature film producer and production manager based in Glasgow.

This year Glasgow Short Film Festival received such a high volume of excellent work from Scottish filmmakers, it became necessary to expand the Scottish competition. GSFF Director Matt Lloyd said: “At a time when Scottish film producers are forecasting an extremely bleak future for indigenous production, we can at least demonstrate that there is no shortage of emerging talent. We couldn’t contain our selection within the usual four programmes – this year a mighty thirty two films screened across five programmes of new Scottish work.”

The award comes with a cash prize of £1000, sponsored by Glasgow institution Mother India’s Café another Scottish award winner having taken top prize for the Glasgow Restaurant Awards 2010.

Proprietor Monir Mohammed said “I am really thrilled to be sponsoring the Scottish Short Film Award for the third year running. Mother India’s Café is the Sponsor this year as it celebrates its  tenth anniversary. I think it’s such a great fit. Scottish Shorts of high quality and diversity that make a strong impact on the audience; and Mother India’s Café which offers a twist on tapas and puts into practice the concept of trying a little and tasting a lot. Just like the brilliant experience you get at GSFF.”

Winner, Scottish Short Film Award 2014: Getting On by Ewan Stewart

Another day unfolds in an anonymous woman’s life, as she cooks and cleans for her uncommunicative husband and sullen grown-up children.
Jury citation: ‘Getting On blends the mundane and the unexpected with humour, sensitivity and a sophisticated, minimalist visual style. The filmmaker creates a balanced piece where the real and the implausible effortlessly and convincingly come together to recount a day in the life of a woman whose routines are gently interrupted by a rather extraordinary visitor.’

SPECIAL MENTION: No Hope For Men Below by Adam Stafford

A stark, minimalist retelling of the Redding Pit Disaster which claimed the lives of 40 men near Falkirk in 1923. Filmmaker and musician Stafford collaborated with Falkirk writer Janet Paisley on the film.
Jury citation: ‘No Hope For Men Below uses extraordinary sound design, stark imagery, and poetry to create a unique cinematic experience. This lyrical, expressionist retelling of the Redding Pit disaster of 1923 not only captures the poignancy of the literal event, but explores a multitude of wounds deep within the national psyche.’

The jury also agreed that in a year when Glasgow Short Film Festival is celebrating the importance of music in film, they would like to applaud Fraya Thomsen for her sublime score to Sam Firth’s film Stay the Same.

Scottish Audience Award Winner: Exchange & Mart by Cara Connolly & Martin Clark

Starring Ewan Bremner, and fresh from its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival, Exchange & Mart follows Reg, a lonely schoolgirl at a remote Scottish boarding school, who discovers she must fight, in the local woods. Voted for by the audience attending the festival.

Glasgow Film Festival 2014: Festival Club CCA and events
Southside Film Festival Film Club Glasgow Presents: 'Good Vibrations'

This section: Cinema, Glasgow Film Festival 2014

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Avatar of PatByrne Publisher of Pat's Guide to Glasgow West End; the community guide to the West End of Glasgow. Fiction and non-fiction writer.

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