Two Short Nights 2016 Awards Announced
Published December 6, 2016
Our annual short film festival, Two Short Nights, brought flocks of filmmakers, viewers and industry specialists to the city last week in a celebration of short film and the people who make them.
Now in its fifteenth year, last week’s festival was the biggest to date and attracted record numbers of film lovers to the city. Featuring the best of local and international short film, events ranged from screenings covering an extraordinary variety of animation, documentary and fantastic storytelling and unmissable opportunities for emerging filmmakers in the South West.
The festival’s opening night on Thu 1 Dec included the 48 Hour Film Screening, a collection of films written, shot and edited in just 48 hours. The second day of the festival featured a sell-out screening premiering our 2016 film commissions – 7 films made by emerging local talent with support from the city-centre arts hub.
Jonas Hawkins, Digital Media Manager said: ‘The festival is all about offering a platform for new and emerging film talent and connecting filmmakers with a cinema audience’.
Other festival highlights included four curated selections of inspiring short film from directors across the globe, panel discussions, filmmaker advice sessions and a Live Pitch from teams of filmmakers competing to win the £750 South West Animation Short Film Commission for 2017. The commission was awarded to Exeter-based animator Stephen Whittingham, for his project idea Totem, a modern telling of a shamanistic coming of age tale through animation and live action, which will be made over the next 12 months and premiered at next year’s Two Short Nights Festival. An award ceremony and after party brought the festival to a close.
Award Winners
Best Short Film Award
Bulgarian filmmaker Toma Waszarow for his film Red Light (Na Červeno)
Audience Choice Award
Exeter University Students Timiakindelle-Ajani & Hana Elias for their film The Search Party
Best 48 Hour Film Award
First place: Team Candyland’s film Little Billy Matches
Second place: Team Klassisk’s film Dölja Dem Väl
Third place: Team Exeter Indie’s film Hide Your Fears
Alongside their award, each winner received subscriptions to industry-standard software packages, a week’s worth of kit hire from Exeter Phoenix, a subscription to Little White Lies magazine and free cinema tickets.
2017 Commissions
At the end of the festival we officially opened their 2017 commissions, a collection of filmmaker opportunities for the coming year offering over £10,000 worth of support to filmmakers across the South West.
Applicants are invited to submit ideas for films across four categories, and selected applications will be supported in the creation of their films through 2017.
Find out more about our 2017 commissions schemes and apply here >>