Filmmakers from Mexico, France and the UK shared the glory in this year's DepicT! – Watershed’s 90 second filmmaking competition - at this year’s Encounters Short Film Festival in what was our most international shortlist to date, selected from over 500 entries from 66 different countries.

The Main DepicT! Award presented by Jury member Åsa Lucander, Director for Aardman Animations went to Vudù by director Alejandra M. Perrusquía, who travelled all the way from Mexico to pick up her award - a £1,500 cash prize and a lifetime membership to our friends at Shooting People.

Åsa explained that the jury felt that this was:

"the most complete film, with its seductive colour palette and stylised mise-en-scene”.

The jury also gave a commendation to Iranian film The Fish and I by Babak Habibifar “for its controlled tension and ultimate tender message."

Lead actor Tom Hawkesworth picked up two DepicT! Awards on behalf of British film Winnow by director George Lewis; firstly, the DepicT! RPS Cinematography Award, a £1000 cash prize c/o The Royal Photographic Society and the DepicT! Random Acts Award, which offers a unique opportunity to be featured on Channel 4's Random Acts platform and a chance to pitch for a new commission.

Jury head Seamus McGarvey ASC BSC commended Winnow as:

“A wee jewel of a film. I loved the fusing of live action and animation to seamlessly evoke a magical dreamscape. The choices made from the music to the casting to the photography were all so adroitly handled. The cinematography was really beautiful with the use of charcoal dark and opalescent bright light serving to enhance this alluring tale.”

Winning filmmaker George Lewis sent the following statement:

'DepicT! is a fantastic way to exercise your creativity in a very concentrated way. With Winnow I tried to challenge myself to pack as much visual storytelling as I could into the 90 second format and I'm extremely happy the jury responded so positively to it.

BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker, writer and producer and Encounters Festival Patron Damien O’Donnell presented the DepicT! British Special Mention Award to British filmmaker Edwin Mingard for his film Walk chosen for its “ethereal quality and style.” The Jury felt that:

"the filmmaker showed a lot of promise and could get a great deal out of the mentoring and support package that makes up the award from the National Film and Television School, BAFTA and Shooting People."

A commendation was also made to America, I Think by Matthew Hermitage “for its imaginative & evocative portrait of a place in such a tight timeframe."

Last but not least the DepicT! 2017 Shooting People Audience Award selected by you (with over 1300 votes) went to Ojalà by French director Marie-Stephane Cattaneo from France, who also picks up a Lifetime Membership to Shooting People. Marie-Stephane said:

I’m extremely happy to learn that "Ojalá" has won the Audience award. It's a very important story to me and I'm glad it has touched the audience as well!

A big thank you to all the filmmakers who entered this year, to our fantastic jury members including Afolabi Kuti, BAFTA-winning producer of short Home (on behalf of BAFTA), Åsa Lucander, Director for Aardman Animations, Beth Webb, Multiplatform Editor at Channel 4’s short-form arts strand Random Acts, Chris Auty, former film critic and producer, Head of Producing at NFTS, Matt Turner, Shooting People Membership & Editorial and BAFTA winning Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey ASC BSC on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society.

We are grateful to those of you who voted and supported the competition and of course, to our sponsors and partners: The Royal Photographic Society, Channel Four, Aardman Animations , Films@59, BAFTA, NFTS, Shooting People, British Council, Independent Cinema Office and Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival.

---