Flatpack 2023 Award Winners
Drumroll please. We are delighted to announce the short film award winners for Flatpack 2023.
COLOUR BOX AUDIENCE AWARD
BOOM
(dir: Gabriel Augerai, Romain Augier, Laurie Pereira De Figueiredo, Charles Di Cicco and Yannick Jacquin, France 2022, 6mins)
COLOUR BOX AWARD
Princess Aubergine
(dir: Dina Velikovskaya, Germany 2023, 8mins)
Jury member Jenny Moore said the film won "for the style of illustration, 3D animation technique, story and placement of babies!"
SCREENDANCE AWARD
The Shimmering Extraordinary
(dir: Fx Goby, UK 2022)
The screendance jury said "We really enjoyed the celebration of everyone’s journey into dance and the power behind what movement can mean for an individual. It was extra powerful to witness these dancers express themselves visually and audibly with voice over, beautiful costume and settings."
OPTICAL SOUND SHORT FILM AWARD
Birdsong
(dir: Omi Zola Gupta, UK 2022 , 17mins)
Jury member Sarah Farmer said "I have chosen a film that immediately grabbed me with its clever complexity through simplicity from the first shot. I really wasn't sure what time, place or perspective I was being thrown into as the film began; the combination of the sound and text conveyed an immediate feeling of music as communication, but I was as prepared for a sci-fi possible future as a real world anthropological study. This relationship between the music and stories it was communicating was hauntingly visceral throughout the film. The film also educated me in the ways of another culture I had no knowledge of, as well as addressing global issues of pertinence and universal human experiences, delicately rocking between them with a light touch and leaving space for the audience. The movement between diegetic and non-diegetic sound was beautifully navigated. I finished the film changed, thinking about functions of music differently, wanting to bring ideas in the film such as playing to nature to my future work and workshops, and feeling urged to play violin to the sea."
WTF AWARD
Hardly Working
(dir: Total Refusal, Austria 2022, 20mins)
Jury members Abiba Coulibaly, Fiona Fletcher and Ben Thomas said "Who knew the ‘non-playable’ characters of a popular video game could tell us so much about the absurdity of late capitalism and the futility of work? A bleak but brilliant ethnographical parable of our times. Hardly Working took us to somewhere unknown, a digital nightmare with a powerful message for humanity delivered with a dose of deadpan. We were taken by the sheer originality and impactfulness of this work."
AUDIENCE AWARD
Outlets
(dir: Duncan Cowles, UK 2021, 19mins)
SHORT FILM AWARD
Green Space
(dir: Jamie Fraser, UK 2022, 20mins)
Abiba, Fiona and Ben said "Green Space uses the simple but highly effective economy of a fixed camera position to birds’ eye view on a number of London “parklife” scenes. An impressive cast and sharply written vignettes make Green Space compelling viewing for the curious voyeur! Each encounter weaves a new story and cross over plots take us on a journey over the course of a day in a surprising and immersive film that we thought was clever, inventive and cinematic."