Jed Hart's The Grobler, which picked up the Audience Award at Two Short Nights 2011
After the dust had settled after the initial excitement of 2011′s Two Short Nights premiere and Benjamin Borley had picked up his award for Best Bursary Film for Until The Dawn it was time for the already enthusiastic audience to contribute their thoughts and vote for the prestigious, Audience Award.
All of this year’s entrees were particularly good but a few stood out, like Chris King’s Poema, Tom Austin’s Dog-Collar Criminal and Andy Oxley’s documentary about toilets, Men, Loos and Number Twos. Each had their own charms (although that doesn’t include Les Dennis… well maybe!) but the audience’s favourite happened to coincide with mine, which was Jed Hart’s, The Grobler.
Hart’s short reminded me of Henry Selick’s The Nightmare before Christmas and his titular child-crunching beast (the Grobler) seemed to recall the Judderman, from the advert for a certain alcoholic drink, which shan’t be mentioned. As with all the films at this year’s screening the production values were very impressive, as were the film’s animation effects.
2011’s Two Short Nights premiere proved to be an entertaining evening but more importantly it highlighted the great work that goes on at the Phoenix, who encourage and support aspiring directors with the bursary scheme. It is safe to say that the South West’s contribution to filmmaking, is in very safe hands.
