Show Me Shorts Finalists Announced

New Zealand’s only Academy Awards®-accredited film festival, Show Me Shorts, has announced the finalists for its awards. The nominees for the coveted Best Film Award are: Matthew Saville and Julia Parnell for Dive; Abigail Greenwood and Kate Prior for Eleven; and Greg Wood, Levi Slavin and Declan Cahill for Helmut Makes a Quilt.

Saville’s dark identity-crisis fantasy Dive, and the girls’ coming-of-age film Eleven directed by Abigail Greenwood, are each finalists in four award categories. Helmut Makes a Quilt and Killing Phillip, both films made by Exit Films collaborators, have five nominations between them.

Hamish Bennett has been acknowledged as a finalist for DEGNZ Best Director for his crowd-pleasing country tale Ross & Beth, alongside Matthew Saville for Dive and Abigail Greenwood for Eleven.

Young actress Astrid Lewis has been highlighted for her performance in Eleven, alongside well-known local actors Cameron Rhodes (Killing Phillip) and Jackie van Beek (Uphill).

It’s vive la France in the Best International Film category with the mind-bending French sci-fi tale Jiminy nominated alongside the quaint Swiss/French animation Vigia (Lookout), where a grandfather narrates a story that tells why bees are so important. Israeli animation משא (Load) is the third finalist in this category, adding a strong plug for the quality of the animated films in the programme.

The judges for the Show Me Shorts awards are writer/actress Sophie Henderson; award-winning journalist and film critic David Larsen; star of stage and screen Robyn Malcolm; and director/musician Joe Lonie, who was awarded last year’s Best Film Award. Henderson commented, “We were so impressed with the high standard of New Zealand films in this year’s Show Me Shorts programme, making it a tough decision for every category. There were some arguments. Good on you Show Me Shorts, you made it really difficult for us with your ridiculously strong line-up.”

Festival director Gina Dellabarca says, “The judges agree that this year has produced a bumper crop of outstanding New Zealand films, and Show Me Shorts is delighted to present some of these to audiences across New Zealand.”

“The team and I are especially excited to see the result of our inaugural Best Music Video Award category,” she goes on to say. The nominees for this award are Alix Whittaker and THUNDERLIPS for Glare by Sheep, Dog & Wolf; Samuel Galloway for Return of the Worm by T54; and Paul Innes for Robotronic by Dead Beat Boys.

The winners of the Show Me Shorts awards will be announced at the Rialto Channel Opening Night & Awards Ceremony on Thursday 6 November at Auckland’s majestic picture palace, The Civic. Tickets are now on sale via Ticketmaster.

The winner of the Show Me Shorts Best Film Award becomes eligible to submit their film for the 2016 Oscars®. They will also receive $2,000 cash, $5,000 worth of gear rental from Rubber Monkey, a membership to StarNow and a copy of Final Draft screenwriting software as part of their prize package. A total of $5,000 will be given out in prize money for award winners, as part of a total prize pool worth more than $25,000.

Show Me Shorts plays in 20 cinemas across New Zealand from November 6-23. During the festival, audiences can vote for their favourite film to win the Wendy’s People’s Choice Award by filling out the festival survey in cinemas or on the website. Audience members who vote also go in the draw to win a prize pack valued at more than $600, courtesy of Wendy’s and Mediaworks.

Pick up a brochure with the full Show Me Shorts 2014 programme from cinemas, cafes and libraries, or visit www.showmeshorts.co.nz.

Full List of Award Finalists

Best Film Award

Julia Parnell and Matthew Saville, Dive

Kate Prior and Abigail Greenwood, Eleven

Greg Wood, Levi Slavin and Declan Cahill Helmut Makes a Quilt

Best International Film Award

Arthur Molard, Jiminy

Niv Shpigel and Robert Moreno, Load

Marcel Barelli, Vigia (Lookout)

DEGNZ Best Director Award

Matthew Saville, Dive