Five Australian production companies score awards at fifth annual Ciclope Festival in Berlin

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459954645_640.jpgCiclope Festival, the only international conference and award show fully dedicated to the “craft” in moving image, has announced its 2014 winners, including several from Australia.

In an exclusive ceremony held at the unique Babylon cinema, in the heart of Berlin, the winning works were showcased to a lively crowd that had been enjoying the festival for two days.

Australian production companies scored six awards: Exit Films won two, one for Treasury Wine Estates ‘Everybody loves Sunshine’ (Ryley Brown for Cinematography), the other for Samsung ‘Every day is day one’ (Greg Fraser for Cinematography), Finch for NZTA ‘Mistakes’ (Derin Seale for Direction), Photoplay Films for Dorito’s ‘Finger Cleaner’ (Tom Noakes for Direction), Revolver/Will O’Rourke for H&R Block ‘Combo’ (Irayuth Prachumrat for Production Design) and Goodoil Films for Spark ‘Never Start Starting’ (Colin Renshaw from alt.vfx for Special Effects).

fingertomnoakes.jpg“For five years now, we have been honoring the art of execution because we believe that nowadays craft is more relevant than ever. The industry has changed a lot in the last decades, and the brands, agencies and production companies understood that it is essential to deliver well-crafted works. The quality of the entries we’ve seen this week confirms it”, says Francisco Condorelli, founder and executive director of the festival.

Starting this year, Ciclope Festival will not give away bronze, silver and gold medals, but it will curate a collection of the very best of the year in each category. In this edition, the festival received 804 entries in more than 20 categories divided into five sections: Live Action, Animation, Sound, Digital and Special Section.

The jury panel, chaired by Marisa Clifford (Pulse Films), Australia’s Michael Ritchie (Revolver and Will O’Rourke), Michael Di Girolamo (Station Film) and Johannes Ahlund (B-Reel) awarded more than 50 entries. There were also four Grand Prix winners: “Adventure Awaits” (Live Action), “The Bear and the Hare” (Animation), “Happy” (Digital) and “Iron Sky” (Special Section).