South Australia strikes gold at the 2012 Shorts Film Festival Awards

For the first time in its nine year history, a South Australian film has won the Adelaide based Shorts Film Festival’s Gold Shorts Award with Anthony Maras's film The Palace taking the top prize of a trip to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

The award was announced last night (May 5) at the closing screening of the 2012 Festival.
 
Anthony’s Gold Shorts Award comes on top of wins for The Palace at the Sydney Film Festival, Flickerfest, Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards and Best Short Fiction Film and Best Director at the 2012 Beverly Hills Film Festival.
 
The Palace tells the story of a Cypriot family fleeing advancing Turkish forces and taking refuge in an abandoned Ottoman-era palace.
 
However, Anthony isn’t the only South Australian celebrating with five of the seven Shorts 2012 Awards going to South Australian filmmakers.
 
The Silver Shorts Award went to young South Australian filmmakers Madeleine Parry and Daniel Joyce for their film Murder Mouth, a documentary that follows meat-eater Madeleine as she attempts to find out if she could actually kill what she eats.
 
Shorts Film Festival Chair Paul Jorgensen said the quality of South Australian films entered for this year’s Festival was outstanding.
 
“The Award winners along with all the South Australian finalists demonstrate the depth of filmmaking talent that resides in the state,” said Mr Jorgensen.
 
“The judging was very close this year with the Gold and Silver Award winners separated by just half a point. It was the closest ever result in Shorts history.”
 
“This year’s Festival has been a great success with more than 1800 people attending screenings across the week - an attendance record for the event.”
 
Other South Australian winners included Alexandra Blue (Best Young Film-maker Award) for her film Unfinished Thoughts and Merit Awards for Storm Ashwood for Paper Planes and Troy Bellchambers for The Moment.
 
New South Wales filmmakers also did well with Alex Edmonson taking out the $10,000 Beach Energy Black Shorts Award for her film, The Burnt Cork, and Damien Power winning Best Emerging Screenwriter for his film, Peekaboo.
 
The Best Asia Pacific Film Award went to Craig Rosenthal for the Chinese film Shanghai Love Market.
 
The judging process is completely independent involving a total of 48 judges. Each film entered is judged by a panel of five judges, consisting of arts and media professionals. This year, judging sessions were held in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
 
Established in 2003, the SHORTS Film Festival is the only national dedicated short film festival to be held in South Australia and continues to grow its reputation among filmmakers and audiences alike.
 
For more information, visit the SHORTS Film Festival website located at www.shortsfilmfestival.com
 
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Please contact Simon Hatcher on 08 8412 4100.

Interviews: David Ngo, Board Director, 2012 SHORTS Film Festival and Winning Filmmakers.
 
Media Note: Screen grabs and vision from the winning films are available upon request.