Local and international filmmakers scoop awards at Two Short Nights Film Festival

Exeter Phoenix’s annual short film festival, Two Short Nights, brought flocks of filmmakers, viewers and industry professionals to the city last week for a celebration of short film.

Now in its sixteenth year, the festival featured more unmissable opportunities for emerging filmmakers alongside an extraordinary range and diversity of screenings for film fans than ever before, with a bumper two and a half days of cinema screenings, workshops and panel discussions.

The festival’s opening day included the 48 Hour Film Screening, a collection of films written, shot and edited in just 48 hours, and a creative hub social offering the chance to try out the latest in virtual reality. The second day of the festival featured a sell-out screening premiering Exeter Phoenix’s 2017 film commissions – 4 films made by emerging local talent with support from the city-centre arts hub.

The festival’s curator, Alix Taylor said: ‘Two Short Nights is proud to offer a platform where new and emerging short film talent can thrive and grow. It was wonderful to see so many filmmakers connecting with new audiences and so many cinemagoers discover the world of short film.’

Other festival highlights included a vast number of award-winning pieces, films from local innovators, and a Live Pitch from teams of filmmakers competing to win the £1000 South West Animation Short Film Commission for 2018. The commission was awarded to Cornwall-based filmmaker Holly Summerson for her project Birdwatching which will be made over the next 12 months and premiered at next year’s Two Short Nights Festival.

The festival’s award ceremony recognised the best and contributions to short film this year.

Awards went to:

Best Short Film Award
Germany-based filmmaker Jonathan Schwenk for his film Sog.

Audience Choice Award
Exeter’s own Scott Stevens for his Exeter Phoenix commissioned short film Before I Go.

Best 48 Hour Film Award
First Place: Den Jakte (The Hunted) by The Storm
Second place: Stripped Down by @7 Studios
Third place: Robot Town by Candylad

Alongside their award, each winner received subscriptions to industry-standard software packages from Red Giant and Magic Bullet, a free subscription to the journal Short Film Studies from publishers Intellect, a week’s worth of kit hire from Exeter Phoenix or a place on a training course, and free cinema tickets.

At the end of this year’s festival, Exeter Phoenix officially opened applications for their 2018 commissions, a collection of filmmaker opportunities for the coming year offering over £10,000 worth of support to filmmakers across the South West. Applicants are invited to submit ideas for films across three categories and selected applications will be supported in the creation of their films through 2018.  

More information on this year’s award winners and the 2018 Exeter Phoenix commissions and can be found at twoshortnights.com and exeterphoenix.org.uk