Death Robots, Noir Detectives & Slapstick Samaritans

Death Robots, Noir Detectives & Slapstick Samaritans
Top 12 young filmmakers celebrated at IYSFF NZ National Awards Final 2018

A film featuring time travel, spaceships and a relentless death robot won the top award in the International Youth Silent Film Festival (IYSFF) New Zealand National 2018 competition.

Lynfield College students Joseph Hisayasu, Matthew Tribble, Kais Azimullah and Harry Ashley’s silent film ATTACK! of the DEATH ROBOT was announced as the competition’s overall winner at the IYSFF NZ National Awards Final held at Baycourt Community and Arts Centre in Tauranga on Wednesday, October 17.

The Auckland teenagers received high praise for their film from 2018 celebrity judges, actor and director David de Latour (Alibi, Westside) and Bay of Plenty Film CEO Anton Steel, and on the night they were also presented with a first place cash prize of $2000 prize, sponsored by charitable organisation Friends of Baycourt.

On top of the first place win, Joseph Hisayasu, 16, also won the award for Best Director plus a cash prize of $250 for his work on ATTACK! of the DEATH ROBOT.

Harry Ashley, 17, also had a night to remember after his and fellow Lynfield College students Raymond Feng and Shamir Sarif’s film Overexposed won awards for Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Production Design, on top of their Second Place win which came with it a cash prize of $1500 sponsored by The University of Waikato.

Rounding out this year’s Top Three was Random Act of Kindness created by Taieri College students Benaiah Dunn, Konner Lindsay, Mitchell Hay, Callum Scott, Thomas Dunn, Ben Amende, Jonah Smith, Nathan Pedrigal, Michael Wade. For their Third Place winner win the Otago teens received a cash prize of $1000 sponsored by Priority One.

At the awards ceremony Benaiah Dunn, 16, was also presented with a cheque for $2221.24 (USD $1500) for his Second Place win at the IYSFF Global Awards held in Portland, Oregon, earlier this year in June.

Benaiah was the first Kiwi filmmaker to gain higher honours in the international competition and presenting his cash prize to him on the night was IYSFF founder Jon ‘JP’ Palanuk who had travelled from Portland specially to attend this year’s ceremony.

Along with the accolades and cash prizes, the Top Three films will represent Aotearoa/New Zealand at the week-long International Youth Silent Film Festival Final and will be screened during the IYSFF Global Awards Show in Portland, Oregon, in June 2019.

The IYSFF is a competition which challenges filmmakers, aged 20 years and under from across the United States of America, Australia, The United Arab Emirates and New Zealand to create a three-minute silent film set to one of 10 musical scores composed especially for the festival.

All of this year’s Top 12 silent films were screened during the ceremony, with each featuring live musical accompaniment from IYSFF composer and award-winning organist Nathan Avakian who performed on Baycourt’s mighty Wurlitzer Organ.

Baycourt manager James Wilson wants to thank all of the young filmmakers who submitted entries into this year’s competition and to everyone who attended the awards final on Wednesday night.

“The big screen at Baycourt was lit up with the creativity, ideas and talent of our young people and I was blown away by the high standards of all the finalists this year. A huge congratulation to all of the filmmakers – I’ll be keeping an eye out for their names on the Hollywood walk of fame in a few years’ time!”

“We are so lucky in Tauranga to have an amazing Wurlitzer organ, based here at Baycourt, which gave the films an incredible live accompaniment, making it a very special night for all the filmmakers.”

For more information, submission guidelines or to download soundtracks please visit the International Youth Silent Film Festival’s official website www.makesilentfilm.com

To learn more information about the New Zealand competition visit www.facebook.com/groups/IYSFFNZ or email iysff@tauranga.govt.nz



THE 2018 IYSFF NZ NATIONAL AWARD WINNERS ARE…

FIRST PLACE - $2000
ATTACK! of the DEATH ROBOT
Matthew Tribble, Joseph Hisayasu, Kais Azimullah, Harry Ashley (Lynfield College, Auckland)
Sponsored by Friends of Baycourt


SECOND PLACE – $1500
Overexposed
Harry Ashley, Raymond Feng, Shamir Sarif (Lynfield College, Auckland)
Sponsored by The University of Waikato

THIRD PLACE – $1000
Random Act of Kindness
Benaiah Dunn, Konner Lindsay, Mitchell Hay, Callum Scott, Thomas Dunn, Ben Amende, Jonah Smith, Nathan Pedrigal, Michael Wade (Taieri College, Middlemarch)
Sponsored by Priority One

BEST DIRECTOR – $250
Joseph Hisayasu – ATTACK! of the DEATH ROBOT
(Lynfield College, Auckland)
Sponsored by Metro Marketing

BEST ACTOR – $250
Chloe Kouka – Princess Castle
Sponsored by Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – $250
Overexposed
Harry Ashley, Raymond Feng, Shamir Sarif (Lynfield College, Auckland)
Sponsored by Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – $250
Overexposed
Harry Ashley, Raymond Feng, Shamir Sarif (Lynfield College, Auckland)
Sponsored by Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School

BEST EDITING – $250
Overexposed
Harry Ashley, Raymond Feng, Shamir Sarif (Lynfield College, Auckland)
Sponsored by Campbell Squared

BEST SHOT – $250
Case Thief
Sophie Webster (Tauranga Girls’ College)
Sponsored by BOP Film

IYSFF NZ NATIONAL POSTER COMPETITION
The Main Suspect
Liam Bennet
Sponsored by Artisan Framing and Plaques


To view the IYSFF NZ Nationals Top Three films, visit https://vimeo.com/album/5175310

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