9.88 Films invited filmmakers, from across the Commonwealth to submit a 10 second long film on any theme, using any form of moving image. Inspired by the current Commonwealth Games 100m record of 9.88 seconds, the challenge aimed to demonstrate how moving images can captivate audiences in the similar way. The winning films were chosen by a panel of high profile jurors, including Stuart Cosgrove, Ruth Paxton, Coky Geidroyc, Iain Smith OBE, Beeban Kidron and others. Prizes included a screening on Channel 4 and at events around the Games, as well as filmmaking equipment.
Winner: Destroyer Of Worlds – Will Anderson
The winning film was produced by Edinburgh based animator Will Anderson, who in 2013 won the BAFTA for Best Animated Short for his graduation film, The Making of Longbird. Will’s film, Destroyer of Worlds, uses the medium of elegant shadow animation to tell the story of warfare from the earliest days of mankind to the atomic bomb.
Anderson, who premiered his latest short, Monkey Love Experiments, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Sunday, said::
“I found the recording from J. Robert Oppenheimer speaking on a television programme about the ‘Atomic Age’ to be particularly moving (see video below). This father of the atomic bomb describes the horror of the first successful detonation of the atomic bomb. When giving a 10 second film a go, I felt that this quote should be my starting point, and the challenge (as well as it being incredibly short) was to try to communicate how we seem to have been killing each other since the dawn of time. It strikes me that this is pretty heavy stuff, so that’s why I decided to make it with shadow play. It feels very simple, but it hopefully says quite a lot.
“When I make an animation, I always look to match the process with the story told, in some way… and there seemed to be clarity in trying to talk about something huge in the simplest way possible, and in hardly any time.”
Juror Beeban Kidron, director of InRealLife and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, said of Will’s film:
“To tell such a big story with such elegance is impressive. It does a lot of heavy lifting, but with amazing simplicity.”
Second place: Groundsman – Dave Young / Pod Films
Dave Young was awarded second place for his film, Groundsman which captures the friendship of two groundsmen at a rugby club. Both the third place winner, MHM Mubassir and student winner Kazi Ali Tamaddun live in Bangladesh – and unusually, both are pursuing advanced degrees alongside filmmaking. MHM Mubassir’s film Dependence was awarded third place. In it, he shows the tenderness between a young boy afraid of the dark, and his mother lighting a candle for him.
Third place: Dependence – M H M Mubassir
Student award: The Last Act – Kazi Ali Tamaddun
Stuart Cosgrove, director of creative diversity at Channel 4 and chair of the jury panel for 9.88 Films said:
“Will Anderson’s winning film blew everyone away. The storytelling skill, and lightness of touch with such a huge theme was fantastic to see. And at the other end of the spectrum, MHM Mubassir’s Dependence was almost portraiture – a study in calm, sparse, confident and simply beautiful storytelling.
“Groundsman was a wonderful example of a well-rounded and warm documentary in just a few seconds, while The Last Act was incredibly complex and meaningful. As with so many of the entries, it was amazing to think that all this was conveyed in just 10 seconds.”
Comments