Vauxhall Auteur Theory Award: Shortlist Announced

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6th London Short Film Festival’s Vauxhall Auteur Theory Award: Shortlist Announced

The 6th London Short Film Festival has announced the shortlist for this year’s prestigious Vauxhall Auteur Theory Award. The 13 shortlisted films were picked from over 600 entries and feature work from some of Britain’s most talented filmmakers who have the potential to become the next Scorsese, Spielberg or Tarantino.

With more entries than ever before, the calibre and quality of this year’s shortlisted films has reached an unprecedented level.

The shortlisted films will be judged by a panel of experts and the winner stands to receive a £750 prize with the second place filmmaker taking £250 prize money towards their next filmmaking venture. The shortlisted films will be showcased as part of the 6th London Short Film Festival at the Curzon Soho on the 13th January 2009 and the winning film will be announced on the 15th January 2009 at a ceremony at the Roxy Bar and Screen.

The 13 shortlisted filmmakers come from a variety of locations across the U.K. including Bristol, London and Manchester, which is indicative of the strength and depth of contemporary British filmmaking. The 13 shortlisted films are:

• Ryan (drama), by David Schofield from Greater Manchester
• Hold On Twice (pop promo), by Francois & The Atlas Mountains from Bristol
• The Reason I Collect (animation documentary), by Emma Curtis from Norwich
• Nantes (pop promo/graphic for Beirut), by Gillian Biddle from Preston
• I Do (comedy), by William Westway from Torquay
• Tasty Jam (animation), by Ricky Martin from Bristol
• Keith Reynolds Can’t Make It Tonight (animation), by Felix Massie from Bristol
• Ground Floor Right (documentary), by Marlene Schiott Rasmussen from London
• A Small Silent Film About Death (comedy), by Steve Rainbow
• Eric’s Secrets (comedy), by Lucia Ashmore from London
• Love & Haight Ashbury (docu-drama), by Abbie Brandon from Nottingham
• Car (comedy), by Richard Nockles from London
• Project One (Skate), by Yohan Forbes from London

The award’s founder Lucia Helenka commented: “Both the volume and quality of entries have been higher than ever in the Vauxhall Auteur Theory Award’s history and there has been an interesting trend for filmmakers to favour documentary and animation style film formats, We’re sure audiences at the London Short Film Festival in January will be delighted with the quality of the short films which have been produced by talented filmmakers from across the UK.”

The Vauxhall Auteur Theory Award was created by Lucia Helenka, a London based artist and filmmaker and endeavours to unearth talented filmmakers who possess a strong vision and hands on approach to filmmaking. The award, is sponsored by car company Vauxhall who continue their commitment to driving emerging talent in short film.

To qualify for the competition, filmmakers had to work on at least three areas of the filmmaking process including producing, writing, directing, camera, acting, editing and/or music composing. In addition, all films had to be under 10 minutes long.

Previous winners of the award include Pinny Grylls with her short film ‘Peter and Ben’, Simon Ellis with his film ‘A Storm and Some Snow’ and Greg Butler with his film ‘A Mouse Funeral’.

The London Short Film Festival was created to celebrate imaginative short film-making and punk attitude. This year’s festival opens on Friday 9th January 2009. For more information on the 6th London Short Film Festival, check out www.shortfilms.org.uk.