Films from UK, Spain and Brazil shared the glory in this year’s Depict – Watershed’s 90 second filmmaking competition – at the recent Encounters Short Film Festival from a shortlist selected from over 1200 entries from 61 different countries.

Following the packed big screen premiere of the shortlist last Thursday at Watershed as part Encounters Festival, the Awards Ceremony kicked off hosted by BFI NETWORK Talent Executive for the South West Alice Cabanas.

The Main Depict Award – which comes with £1,500 cash prize and a lifetime membership to Shooting People was presented by BAFTA nominated Producer, Try Hard Films founder and Depict Jury member Sorcha Bacon to the British film LIT by Emma Miranda Moore.

Sorcha remarked that the jury felt that it was:

“Simple, brilliantly directed and economical, pinging a small arpeggio of emotional effects despite (or because of) its basic economy of means with some impressive performances from its young cast from a promising director that shows great potential.”

The jury also gave a special mention for After the Reign by director Jennifer Tarrazi-Scully highlighting:

"The interplay between performer and place, allusion to unfreedom suggested by the freedom of the dance which gives the film an unexpected depth and poignancy.”

The Depict British Special Mention Award, which comes with a package of career development opportunities for a UK-based filmmaker from NFTS, BAFTA, Shooting people and BFI NETWORK was presented by Head of BFI NETWORK and jury member Jess Loveland. The award went to ABSENCE by director Alex Goddard, with Jess describing the film as

“a poetically playful animation that showed great originality and imagination.”

Next up was the The Royal Photographic Society Award, which carries a £1000 cash prize. Andy Golding FRPS, Principal Lecturer in Photography & Film presented the Award to Six Mothers by Spain based Canadian director Candice Vallantin. Cinematographer Rachel Morrison A.S.C. (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther) who sat on the Depict Jury on behalf of RPS sent this statement about the winner:

“This film explores a range of flesh tones, experimental imaging, and unique and exciting compositions to highlight the vast range of emotion associated with Motherhood. From a figure short sided and minimized in the frame, to an exploding balloon turned inside out, to an image reversed, duplicated and mirrored, the cinematography in this short film supports the idea that motherhood means different things to every mother, but is always intense and profound in meaning.”

The Depict Random Acts Special Mention Award was presented by Channel 4 Random Acts Commissioning Editor and Depict Jury member Catherine Bray to British film ZONE 2.0 by UK director Amitai Leopold. Catherine was delighted to be able to present this award to a filmmaker whose work she already admires and commented on the film’s

“beautifully circular structure; enticing score and an ingenious self-reflexive use of vertical film frames within the (horizontally moving) carriage”

The final award was the newly introduced IMDbPro Audience Award and was presented by Watershed Cinema Curator Mark Cosgrove, who reminded us that this is probably the most important accolade of all and thanked all of the 1500 audience members who casted their votes online. The award went to WALL by directors Leonardo Mizrahi and Michel Gomes who were present to pick up their Awards having travelled all the way from Brazil.

A huge thank you to all the filmmakers who entered this year, to our fantastic jury members including Jess Loveland Head of BFI Network; Catherine Bray, Channel 4’s Random Acts Editor; Sorcha Bacon, Producer and founder of Try Hard Films; Chris Auty, former film critic and producer, Head of Producing at NFTS; Molly Cowderoy – Communications Manager, Shooting People; David Sproxton, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Aardman Animations; and cinematographer Rachel Morrison A.S.C on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society.

Thanks also to all the filmmakers that made it to the Festival for the Showcase and congratulations to everyone for making it into the shortlist which you can watch online. Finally thank you to all our sponsors and partners for making Depict possible, our showcase host Alice Cabanas, our drinks sponsor St Austells Brewery and the Watershed and Encounters teams for their amazing support.

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