Page 4 - Fujifilm Exposure_44 Damned United_ok

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PRESENTING THE WINNERS OF FUJI FI
“WE WERE DELIGHTED TO HAVE RECEIVED SO MANY ENTRIES IN OUR VERY FIRST YEAR.” JERRY DEENEY
“I WAS VERY IMPRESSED BY THE OVERALL STANDARD.” SUE GIBSON
ize, we are often told, doesn’t Smatter. That’s certainly true on
the evidence of 12 impressive nominees in the inaugural Fuji- film Shorts Competition, the
winners of which were announced at a packed ceremony at MPC in War- dour Street late last month.
Outcasts, lit by Stuart Bentley, scooped the Best Film award, while DP Richard Stewart’s work on Leaving won the Best Cinematography prize.
“It’s really flattering that people enjoyed the film,” says Bentley, who was there to collect Best Film on behalf of director Ian Clark and producer Megan Stuart Wallace. Shot on 16mm ETERNA 250T, Out- casts is a vivid and original tale that warns against judging people purely by appearances.
“One of the things I really liked when I first read the script was that it did have a really strong visual style. There was a lot of really inter- esting set ups and a lot of challenges for me. It was a very ambitious film, and I think it’s all the better for that. There was a lot of excitement on set and I think that comes through when you see it on screen.”
Richard Penfold and Sam Hearn’s Leaving, on the other hand, has a stark realism that suits its subject of domes- tic abuse. Cinematographer Richard Stewart selected 35mm ETERNA 400T, and over five, 18 hour days captured the essence of a marriage underpinned by fear and violence.
“The 400 tungsten is my favourite stock,” says Stewart, “I just love the way it captures skin tones in low light.”
Photo above (left to right): Sue Gibson BSC - Director of Photography and President of the BSC, Winner of Fujifilm Shorts 'Best Cinematography' 2009 for Leaving (pictured left) -
Director of Photography Richard Stewart, Jerry Deeney - Marketing Manager Fujifilm Motion Picture
2 • EXPOSURE • THE MAGAZINE • FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE
Where Bentley started out shoot- ing skateboarding videos, learning his craft on the streets before at- tending the National Film & Televi- sion School, Stewart’s background is in the demanding environment of shooting wildlife films.
“The great thing about that is you really learn about the camera inside out,” he explains. “You have to know how to take it apart down to the last screw. The film camera is such a great tool for telling stories, and once you’ve got that intimate understand- ing of it you can do really subtle things with it to reflect that intensity.”
Yet the measure of overall quality in any competition comes from the standard demonstrated by an even wider group, and this quality was ev- ident in many of the 100 plus entries to the competition, the criteria for which was to have been shot on Fuji- film stock and to have been made within the last two years.
“We were delighted to have re- ceived so many entries in our very
first year of Fujifilm Shorts,” ex- plains Jerry Deeney, Marketing Man- ager, Professional Film and Motion Picture Film.
“We received films made under every genre from dramas to come- dies; experimental art films to docu- mentaries. Momentum quickly built up for the competition, to the point where filmmakers are choosing to shoot on Fujifilm Motion Picture stock to ensure that they can enter the Fuji- film Shorts competition next year”.
The panel of judges comprised Matt Adams of Technicolor, Katie Metcalfe from Future Shorts, Ian Sherborn of Panalux, Hugh Whit- taker of Panavision, BSC President Sue Gibson, Chris Seager BSC, Haris Zambarloukos BSC and publisher of British Cinematographer magazine Alan Lowne. They were all im- pressed by the standard of entries, as well as the respective qualities of the winners.
“Outcasts is a joy to watch,” says Seager, “a true comedy that’s enter-
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