Last night was the official awards night for the 48 Hour Film Project International Competition – strangely named Filmapalooza – in which our film, Fallout was competing. Although we didn’t exactly have the most enjoyable experience on the night, as both our film and ironically the Sydney team’s film experienced several technical hiccups and false starts (which was slightly nerve-racking as you can imagine!) – both films eventually screened perfectly in front of a very excited and packed audience at the final awards screening. It was great to be amongst so many talented like-minded film-makers! There were so many amazing films on display, from cities all over the world.
Unfortunately we didn’t pick up any International awards at the competition – but it was definitely worth the long trip, as we had such a fantastic time at the Miami International Film Festival. A massive thank you to Danette Wolpert, Carol Coombes and the rest of the festival team for making our stay so enjoyable! We have seen so many fantastic films over the last few weeks (as documented on this blog), and have met with so many talented film-makers and industry supporters. If you ever get a chance to come along to the festival – we HIGHLY recommend it. Miami is a great city, and we have made a lot of friends here, which is really what it’s all about. We even had the pleasure of talking at the Miami Dade College, about independent film-making in Australia which was a lot of fun. Thank you to Student Government President, Jennifer Sotolongo for organising the talk.
We would also like to offer a massive congratulations to our friends, Tim, Joseph and the rest of the London team for their incredible film, “The Girl Is Mime”. Staring the amazing UK screen legend, Martin Freeman – the film both looked beautiful and was hilariously funny. It also couldn’t have been won by a nicer bunch of guys! We highly recommend that you check out their behind the scenes video and photo gallery. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more “Far From Home Films” in the future, after they showcase their film at Cannes later in the year. Make sure you support their film if you come across it!
Also, well done to the runners up from the LA team for their film “Casting Call” and the Denver team for their film “46 Miles”.
The best films of the 2010 competition included:
| City | Team | Film |
|---|---|---|
| London | Far From Home | The Girl Is Mime |
| Denver | Cinema Geeks | 46 Miles |
| Los Angeles | Evolve Productions | Casting Call |
| Rome | Gadoev | Gesti |
| Israel | Bad Monkey | You Shall Know No Grief |
| Columbus | Hands Off Productions | Stones |
| Minneapolis | Collision Pictures | Per Bianca |
| Johannesburg | Get It Together | Valentown |
| Portland, Oregon | Dream a New Reality | Unwanted |
| Washington, DC | The Big Honkin’ | Shovel Ready |
| Mongolia | i CITY Films | Dream |
| Dallas | Sons of Thunder | Sanctuary |
| San Diego | Amalgamated Grommets | The Fatal Heir |
| Vietman | Young Media | A Good Day to Die |
| Amsterdam | Team Johnston | The Revenge for ’99 |
| Buffalo | Idle Entertainment | 48 Hours to Live |
We would also like to single out some great films that didn’t make the official top list – we were massive fans of the Albuquerque film “Camber Number 6”, the Granada entry Granagedon (which was hilarious!), the Miami film Palindrome, the Utrecht entry Onder Water and the Pittsburgh film Ali_N vs Predator. Well done to all the members of their teams, and also to everyone else who made the effort to travel to Miami for the competition!
Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last few months – and helped us raise enough money to get over to Miami to support our film. Although we’re not coming back with any big awards in our suitcases (apart from the Melbourne trophy), we now have a really good idea of what the competition is like on an International level, and will continue to push the boundaries when we compete again later this year in the 2011 competition. Onwards and upwards, as they say!