Auckland filmmaker Oran Franco has won the inaugural Cut To: Music short film competition run by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO).
18-year-old Franco was named winner at the Return of A Night at the Movies concert on Saturday, 14 June. First prize saw his six-minute film, Eden, screened at the concert with live accompaniment by the APO.
Franco also won return flights to Melbourne, courtesy of Qantas, to attend the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Cut To: Music challenged film-makers to write, direct, and edit an original work based on a film score commissioned especially by the APO, which was available for download from the orchestra’s website.
Facing a panel selected from the New Zealand film and television industry – including award-winning sound designer Carl Smith, 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking competition director Ant Timpson, producer Matt Horrocks and Outrageous Fortune actress Robyn Malcolm – entries were judged on originality, creativity, narrative and most especially synergy with the music.
The judges described the winning film – a contemporary retelling of the Garden of Eden story – as “imaginative, playful and well realised, with interesting performances and possessing a coherent realisation of a well known narrative, while using a full range of emotions.”
Dunedin filmmaker Dell McLeod was runner up in the competition, for her film Beautiful As We Are. She wins tickets to the NZ International Film Festival Gala, tickets to the live cinema showcase The Kid Brother with the APO as well as double passes to the festival.
Watch the full short film, Eden.