Well this was a lovely surprise and a great way to end what has been my favourite CFF to date (and after the warm reception for 'Skynt' last year that's really saying something!). Severed Dreams was awarded 'Best Cornish Short' at the closing ceremony on Sunday night. To be considered for an honour like this, let alone to win it, in my home county surrounded by friends and fellow filmmakers was a total head-rush and unexpected delight and I couldn't think of a better way to round out the year. My very talented cast and crew are to be commended for their efforts. My thanks go to the Festival, University College Falmouth, Ruarri Joseph and Mondo Management, the jury as well as to my peers who entered the same category - in particular (of the shorts I caught) I thought 'Watching Millie' and 'My Truro' were brilliant entries and it makes the award that much more gratifying knowing the competition was so strong. In a nice example of me coming full circle since 'Skynt' the award was presented by the awesome Elizabeth Stewart of Maga (one of the people who gave me my Skynt job), who ratcheted up the tension in her own inimitable style (at least for those who remembered being nominated) by announcing the award-winner line-by-line in Kernewek then translating into English. I was also massively chuffed for my pal Brett Harvey; his feature 'Weekend Retreat'(I served as 1st AD) not only rocked the crowds on Saturday night, it also won the coveted Delabole Slate Golden Chough Award, an honour not normally bestowed on features, it is awarded to the film that best represents the spirit of the festival - in this case richly deserved given the amount of time, effort and labour that went into creating such a kick-ass film.
The festival programme was of a very high caliber and I was very grateful to be able to check out screenings of features such as 'Kill List', 'We need to talk about Kevin', 'Bell Flower', 'Tomboy' and 'Happy Christmas' the new offering from local filmmaker Mark Jenkin. Congrats to Will Coleman and team for the new GK film 'Tamara' as well as o-region, who said farewell to the beloved 'Big Pitcher' and introduced a new film challenge that looks set to ensure the survival of Cornish language filmmaking for the foreseeable future. Well done also to Emily Dobson for her excellent dance film, 'Breathe' and Dean Nolan for appearing in what seemed like every film in the fest! The Lighthouse cinema proved an excellent venue and there was a buzzing atmosphere throughout. Congrats to Matt Humby, Lerryn Rowe, Tiff Holmes and Donna Anton and all the team who put together such a slick festival.
