Hosted by Angela Peters and Zara Symes, Tweetfest is a great short film festival, which recently had its Gala Awards ceremony at the Hackney Picturehouse in London.  Now in its third year, the festival is organised by the UK branch of ‘Actors Tweetup’, a cross-Atlantic networking organisation, with groups in Los Angeles, New York, and London.

Angela Peters and Zara Symes (Picture by Isaac Peral)

With a VIP team of judges, who have credits with National Geographic, Discovery, BBC, BFI and more, it is a rigorously judged festival of quality entries.

The event was held in a great space in Hackney Picturehouse, and as well as the Gala itself, with the screenings and awards, gave time for networking and discussion of the films themselves in a more informal manner, which was a brilliant addition to the night; well organised and welcoming, this is a definite improvement on some events that are more staid and less-inclusive.

For the screening section of the evening, although the festival accepted a substantial number of entries from around the world, for the Gala Awards night itself, they whittled it down to six finalists, which were then shown before the awards:

Duke’s Pursuit (Directed by Joe Williams & Charlie Edwards-Moss)
 An interesting black comedy that plays like a bleak ‘Spaghetti Western’ set in Iceland, with a bitter and dour man coming back to get revenge against the man who betrayed him so many years before.  Some great shots in this film, including use of the Icelandic landscape, and a brilliant opening sequence parodying 80s adverts.

 

Howls Heard From Miles Around (Directed by Tin Žanić)
 This is a dark and twisted family drama, centring on two brothers as they come to terms with a shared traumatic past, even though their lives have taken extremely contrasting trajectories since then.  Tin Žanić’s graduation film from the National Film and Television School, is a good sign of what is to come.

 

Just Saying (Directed by Nick Reed)
 My favourite of the festival, this is a perfectly formed examination of relationships, shared pain, all wrapped up in a typically British discussion of sandwiches at a wake.  Notably, people will initially recognise one of the stars, Ewen MacIntosh, from ‘The Office’, but it is the combination and rapport between him and the great Carrie Cohen that makes this a perfect piece.

 

Pill (Directed by Fenella Greenfield)
 In this tight, intense and focused short, a clock ticks down to a terminal event, two best friends argue and their friendship is tested.  Roisin Keogh & Maia Watkins do a great job showing both tension and love in the final moments.

 

The Last One (Directed by Andrea Banjanin)
 An intriguing and entertaining film of post-apocalyptic mystery, as seemingly the last man on Earth devolves into excruciating loneliness and despair.  Some very neat concepts in here, with ‘Matthew’ (Paul Bailey) existing in a very believable and well-constructed world, all brilliantly conceived and shot.

 

Blows With the Wind (Directed by Hazhir As’adi)
 A fantastic Iranian animated entry to the competition, about a scarecrow who becomes human, and then examines his new life in comparison to other scarecrows.  This is a wonderfully drawn and developed piece, detailing compassion and self-awareness, delivered beautifully by Hazhir As’adi and his team.

 

All in all, these were a great selection of shorts and all of a high quality.  However, as these things are, there were some awards to give out!  As is the case with every award show, there can be some disagreement as to the eventual winner, but here, while I would have selected a couple of different ones myself, all of them were deserving of recognition:

Best Short Film 2017
 Duke’s Pursuit (Directed by Joe Williams & Charlie Edwards-Moss)

Best Cinematography
 The Last One (Directed by Andrea Banjanin) – DoP: György László

Best International Short Film
 Blows With the Wind (Directed by Hazhir As’adi) – IRAN

Best Actress
 Maia Watkins (Pill)

Maia Watkins and Shakyra Dowling (picture by Isaac Peral)

Best Actor
 Paul Bailey (The Last One)

Andrea Banjanin, Paul Bailey, and Andrea Farrena (picture by Isaac Peral)

Audience Award
 Just Saying (Directed by Nick Reed)

It is fantastic that there are more events like this springing up, bringing creatives across the board together, and this festival, as well as the Tweetup networking group, are great examples of what can be done.  I, for one, will be back next year!

 

 

 

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