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.”

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The souvenirs, designed and manufactured entirely in Scotland, aim to offer a lasting material legacy of both major events.

The following artists, designers and companies have made prototypes: Atelier and Marc Camille Chaimowicz with Begg Scotland and McRostie of Glasgow, Claire Duffy with Tunnock’s, Emlyn Firth and Angharad McLaren with Johnstons of Elgin, FOUND with Chemikal Underground, Katy West with Highland Stoneware and Rogano Oyster Bar, Neil McGuire and Marianne Anderson with Carlton Die Casting and Jewellery Prototyping Services.

The souvenirs will be developed for sale as a part of the cultural programme for the Commonwealth Games. They will be available to buy in Glasgow and across Scotland in 2014.

Scotland Can Make It! is commissioned as part of Scotland’s Cultural Programme for London 2012 and Glasgow 2014.

Left to Right: Neil McGuire, Emlyn Firth, Marianne Anderson, Fiona Hyslop, Kirsty Cunningham (Johnstons of Elgin), Lucy McEachen, Stewart Henderson (Chemikal Underground), Catriona Duffy. Photo: Neil Thomas Douglas.

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