Two teams of local film-making enthusiasts have won awards at New Zealand’s largest and longest running film festival.
The Vista Foundation 48Hours competition saw over 500 teams take part this year, with Taup’ōs Great Lake Film Society proudly taking home a collection of the Bay of Plenty Regional Awards including Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Script and Best Performer for their movie “Loose End”. Another Taupō team of first timers, Whack Crizard, won the best animation gong for their film “The Cheesening”.
Taupō-Nui-a-Tia teacher Cameron Walton, who won Best Performer for his role in “Loose End”, reflected on the creative experience. “It’s a celebration of all those who have passion and love for film. Being able to come together with all of the teams, seeing their films on the big screen and celebrating what we’ve all come up with together is a privilege.”
Emiel Van Wilsem Vos from Whack Crizard was very proud of their team's six nominations and Best Animation award win. “We are looking forward to entering again next year and bringing more "A Game". Now that we know how the competition runs, we will get better every year.”
Teams are given a genre as well as various elements to incorporate into their five minute movies which must be filmed, edited and submitted within two days. There are seven regional finals with the very best films being chosen for the Grand Final Event at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington.
The Great Lake Film Society’s “Loose End” film tells the story of a world in which each person’s life is bound to their own single red string. One unfortunate office worker finds himself untethered from his lifeline, hopping between multiple diverging and crisscrossing strings. A team of 16 locals contributed to the script design, acting and production of Loose End to create a touching and hilarious film with just two lines of spoken dialogue and plenty of visual humour.
Whack Crizard’s “The Cheesening” follows two friends as they seek the help of a wizard skilled in cheese magic in order to save their fromage-possessed mate. With a striking visual style and deadpan Kiwi humour, The Cheesening provided an eye-catching and whimsical point of difference among the films submitted.
Despite winning the Best Film award, there is no guarantee that the Great Lake Film Society's “Loose End” movie will make the Grand Final Event. However, as film director Joel Corbett notes, winning is a nice-to-have but isn’t the aim. “This year the calibre of films is almost beyond comprehension. We never, never make our films to win awards. We make them out of the love for creating and the incredible fun we have during the process.
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