The Short Film Festival which was held during New Zealand Sign Language Week had a great turnout, with Signmark and his team coming in at full blast!  Everyone stomped and danced the night away... They sang for more than an hour.  They sang their new song  “Around the Map” as well as  “The Letter” in tribute to Emma Agnew.  It was very emotional but we were glad for them to sing to bring back lovely memories about Emma.

The night ended at 1am, and everyone went home, ready for the next day because many of us needed to attend the Short Film screenings at Hoyts 6 at Westfield Mall.  Seeing the picture on the big screen was fabulous!

Over 180 people attended the Short fuilm screening, and were given an opportunity to vote for the Audience’s choice.  The audience voted for three films: SIC, Mr Wood Mower and Road Signs.

The Award Dinner was held at the Addington Raceway in the Silk Room. The first awards given out were for the NZSL Week award, and the last awards were presented to our local Interpreters - Jeremy Borland and Evelyn Pateman.  We stomped and roar for them because of their dedication to working for our equal access on TV through  the aftermath of the earthquake.  Congratulations to Jeremy and Evelyn! 

The 5th Deaf Short Film Festival Awards go to:

• Best Editing - Road Sign. Nirvana May, Pollyanna Ferguson and Josje Lelijveld
• Best Original Story - Who are you? Brent Macpherson, Oliver Ferguson and Lorriane Butler
• Best Cinematography – Who are you? Oliver Ferguson
• Best Director – Road Sign. Nirvana May, Pollyanna Ferguson and Josje Lelijveld
• Best Actor – Who are you? Ronald Masters
• Best Actress – Road Sign Josje Lelijveld
• Best Emerging Artist – SIC & Evacuo. Jared Flitcroft
• Audience Choice – Road Sign
• Best Short Film Runner Up – Who are you?
• Best Short Film 2011 – Road Sign

The host committee would like to thank the Judges (Stefan Harris, Shaun Edwards-Brown, Susie Ovens and Victoria Manning), Deaf Aotearoa NZ - Suzi Evans & Rachel Noble, Interpreters (Jeremy Borland & Evelyn Pateman), and the Funders (Pub Charity, Deaf Development Trust, Creative Community Christchurch, Community Trust NZ and NZ Relay) for their support to ensure the festival went ahead and at last thanks to the Signmark team (Marko, Brandon and Ville) for coming down and do their fabulous performance.

We had a Short Film workshop on Friday morning. The workshop was provided with supoprt from Brent Macpherson and Oliver Ferguson. They explained what the  role of a Director should be. And also which camera would be more effecitve to use to edit the film.  How to and not to make your shots.  We have written up some notes, so if you wish to have a copy of the notes - please contact Joyce Ferguson.  After the Short Film workshop we had a BGM (Biennial General Meeting) for the Deaf Short Film Festival, and we were able to identify some gaps in the structure and now we have formed an interim Deaf Short Film Festival Board.  The board’s role will be to oversee the Guidelines, Ratings, Criteria etc. The current members of the board are: Northern - Lorriane Butler, Catherine Greenwood, Daniel Harborne and Brent MacPherson.  Central - Nicola Clements, Oliver Ferguson and Jared Flitcroft.  Southern - Joyce Ferguson and Nirvana May.

We made a decision on the floor at the BGM for the next Short Film Festival Hosts and have agreed that it will be held in Auckland in 2013.  There will be no theme or Icon needed in the films so you are free to make a film without worrying about a theme or icon, but the film still must must reflect Deaf Culture & NZSL. if you wish for more information, please do not hesitate to contact any of the members of the board as above, and they will follow up with your queries or concerns.