A single short film took three of the four major prizes in the third annual NZIFF New Zealand’s Best Short Film competition announced at Auckland’s Civic Theatre tonight.
The Madman Entertainment Jury Prize, a cash prize of $5000 for the Best New Zealand Short Film at NZIFF 2014, is awarded to Ross & Beth, directed and written by Hamish Bennett and produced by Orlando Stewart.
The jury selected Abigail Greenwood, director of the film Eleven, for The Friends of the Civic Short Film Award for distinctive creative achievement. The filmmaker receives a prize of $3000 cash.
A special jury of cinematographers selected Grant McKinnon, cinematographer for Ross & Beth as the winner of the inaugural Allen Guilford Cinematography Award from the New Zealand Cinematographers Society (NZCS), a prize that includes a cash prize of $2,000.
The 2014 Audience Award, 25% of the box office takings from the screenings in the four main centres was awarded to Ross & Beth. In 2013 the prize was valued at $4,500.
Ross & Beth was also assistant editor Liam Maguren’s favourite short of the competition, calling it “a sweet and sound story about the goodness of affection, the pain of loss, and the transference of affection from the company we keep – if we choose to keep them.”
The three judges were Eleanor Catton MNZM, 2013 Man Booker prize winner and author of The Luminaries, visiting filmmaker Rolf de Heer (Charlie’s Country) and Michael Eldred, representative for Madman Entertainment. The jury statement reads as follows:
“The jurors were united in their admiration for the shorts presented, their variety and the standard of film making contained within them. Each of the shorts, in giving us something to admire, was a worthy finalist.
“For fluid, effective story-telling with both camera and performance, the Friends of the Civic Award goes to Abigail Greenwood for Eleven.
“For its completeness as a short film, its mastery of the different aspects of the medium, both technical and artistic, and its ability to so fully engage its audience, the Madman Entertainment Jury Prize for the Best Short Film goes to Ross & Beth.”
Guest selector and international filmmaker Andrew Adamson selected the six finalists from a shortlist of 12. Festival programmers Bill Gosden and Michael McDonnell viewed 115 entries to prepare the shortlist.
