Congratulations to the team behind Fresh Short Friday Tigers (Ngā Taika o te Rāmere), which took out both the major prizes in the second annual New Zealand's Best Short Film competition.
Announced at the closing night of the New Zealand International Film Festival's Auckland programme, Friday Tigers was awarded the $5000 Madman Entertainment Jury Prize for Best New Zealand Short Film 2013, as well as the Audience Award, a prize of 25% of the net box office takings from screenings in the four main centres.
Friday Tigers, written and directed by Aidee Walker and produced by Julia Parnell, is a Fresh 10 short, funded in 2011 by the New Zealand Film Commission.
Juror Simon Wilson, editor of Metro magazine, had this to say:
“The judges looked for creative engagement with the filmmaking process, technical competence and, above all, a film that would provide us with a surprising, even thrilling, encounter.
We loved the whimsy of Friday Tigers, with its line drawings and a young mother’s delightfully fanciful creation of animal identities for herself and her small daughter. But the light mood barely hides the darker currents in play: this is a woman clinging to the few good things in her life so determinedly, she hardly has the chance to make sense of anything. The story moves crisply, the acting is beguiling, and the ending – a vote for courage and the power of the imagination – is a surprise and a delight.”
Congratulations to all the finalists, which include Fresh Short I'm Going to Mum's (written and directed by Lauren Jackson, produced by Jeremy Macey and Andrew Cochrane); Tom’s Dairy (written and directed by Oscar Kightley, produced by Elizabeth Mitchell); Blind Mice (written, directed and produced by Walter Lawry); Interim (written and directed by Dan Kircher, produced by Roimata Magregor); and Here Now (written, directed and produced by Chelsie Preston Crayford).
New Zealand's Best was won last year by Fresh Short Lambs (written and directed by Sam Kelly, produced by Tom Hern).
See the NZIFF website for a full announcement.