200 Seconds – Winners announced
The winners of the inaugural 200 Seconds short film competition have been announced!
Walter Ratcliffe (25, Redfern, NSW) won best film for the Open category (19+) with his film A Delivery for Mr. Droste while Mitchell Johnson-Green (18, Castle Hill, NSW), Emily Smyth-King (18, Berowra, NSW) Cassandra Floriano (18, Epping, NSW) and Jullian Batty (20, Killara, NSW) claimed the best film for the Youth category (15-18) with their film Parcel Pal.
The winners will have their film screened in front of Australia’s film industry elite at the 2009 Samsung Mobile AFI Industry Awards night on Friday, December 11 at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne.
Walter Ratcliffe’s film Delivery for Mr. Droste featured a giant Nutri-Grain in his post-modern take on the ‘Droste effect’, which is an image depicting a smaller version of itself, then depicting an even smaller version of itself and so on. It also featured a miniature model of his house and garden, built to scale.
“It took me days to build the model of the house, but I’m glad it paid off,” Ratcliffe said. “Robert Connolly is one of my favourite directors and to know that he has seen my film is great!”
First year Macquarie University students and creators of Parcel Pal created a giant box for their main character to wear, a metaphor for the character’s shy nature. The character eventually bursts free from the box as she gains confidence.
“It took us two weeks of filming and a week of editing to create our film and it was very much a collaborative effort. We’re so excited about going to the AFI’s – especially so early in our careers” Cassandra Floriano said.
The 200 Seconds short film competition called on budding filmmakers to make a film, no more than 200 seconds in length and featuring a parcel, as part of Australia Post’s bicentenary celebrations. The esteemed judging panel included noted filmmakers Robert Connolly (Balibo), Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood), Sarah Watt (My Year Without Sex), Melanie Coombs (Mary and Max) and Tahnee McGuire (Still Life),who are allpassionate about supporting aspiring filmmakers.
“We were encouraged by the quality of entries; it’s exciting to see such talent emerging. This competition is a great way for people interested in film making to experiment and see what they can achieve,” said Robert Connolly.