Winners Announced for 27th Annual WA SCREEN AWARDS

Over 500 filmmakers, celebrities, media and screen industry representatives turned out to celebrate the very best in Western Australian screen production at the 27th Annual WA Screen Awards at the Heath Ledger Theatre in Perth last night, Monday 29 June 2015, hosted by comedian Joel Creasey.

Presented by FTI, the WA Screen Awards (WASAs) is the premier celebration of West Australian screen culture, celebrating excellence and achievements in feature film, short film, web series, music videos, television production, documentary, games and interactive productions.

The red carpet featured Michael Caton (The Castle), Jeremy Sims (Chances), Nelson Woss (Red Dog), Ningali Lawford (Rabbit-Proof Fence), writer Ben Elton, writer/theatre producer Sally Burton and musician Abbe May, who enjoyed world-class service, delicious canapés and premium beverages thanks to the State Theatre Centre of WA.

The big winners of the night were Beyond West-produced documentary musical Prison Songs by Kelrick Martin and Harry Bardwell, which won three gongs including Best TV Production - Factual and Animated TV series God Squad by Troy Zafer and Nicholas Kempt which won all three gongs it was nominated for including Best Animation.

Greenfield leads Ethan Tomas and Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik took out the awards for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress, respectively.

In a surprising win, dark-horse nominee Pinch, by Jeffory Asselin, took out the night's most coveted award for Best Feature Film - Drama, winning over commercial favourites KILL ME THREE TIMES and Paper Planes.

The winner of the prestigious McKenna Hampton Young Filmmaker of the Year award and $5000 cash prize went to producer/director Lauren Brunswick.

The ScreenWest Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award was presented to costume desinger Gail Pether, who was recognized for her service to the screen industry, working on countless television commercials, feature films, drama series, documentaries and short films.

Lotterywest CEO Paul Andrew praised Gail's commitment to the screen industry when presenting the award.

"Dedicating her life to the industry with her passion and creativity, Gail has mentored many an emerging filmmaker. With retirement on the horizon, the local screen community would like to thank Gail for the enormous contribution she has made to the industry over the years and for being a valuable resource for so many people", said Paul.

FTI received a grand total of 479 entries from 162 screen projects across 33 categories.

29 WASA winners received the contemporary WASA statuettes, designed by Western Australian sculptor, Geoffrey Drake-Brockman.

Former WASA winners include some of Australia's most prominent screen practitioners such as Nelson Woss (Red Dog), Elissa Down (The Black Balloon), Zak Hilditch (These Final Hours), Robert Connolly (The Turning), James Bogle (Lockie Leonard, The Circuit, Closed for Winter), Sue Taylor (The Tree, Last Train to Freo), Myles Pollard (Drift) as well as a who's who of the next generation of household names including Lauren Elliott, Ben Young, Emilia Jolakoska, Antony Webb and seasoned professionals including Kim Lord, Lawrie Silvestrin, and Torstein Dyrting.

FTI enhances the vibrancy of the WA Screen Sector by providing skills and career development, facilitating professional networking opportunities, and production development and support. The WASAs connect audiences with WA screen content and WA screen practitioners with each other.

The 27th Annual WASAs were proudly supported by major partners ScreenWest and Lotterywest and presented in conjunction with the Revelation Perth International Film Festival (2 - 12 July 2015).

2015 WASA WINNERS

1. CANON BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - SHORT FORM

WINNER: LITTLE DARLING DIRECTOR'S CUT - DAMIAN SMITH
Karroyul - Torstein Dyrting ACS
Pale Blue Eyes - Joel Crane
Top Knot Detective - A.J. Coultier

2. CANON BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - LONG FORM

WINNER: THE WAR THAT CHANGED US - JIM FRATER
Birthplace Of The Giants - Leighton De Barros
Pinch - Antony Webb
Prison Songs - Torstein Dyrting ACS

3. SANDBOX BEST EDITING - SHORT FORM

WINNER: KARROYUL - LAWRIE SILVESTRIN ASE
Pale Blue Eyes - Joe Henderson
The Amber Sky - Andre Chang Fane
Top Knot Detective - Steven Hughes and Dominic Pearce

4. SANDBOX BEST EDITING - LONG FORM

WINNER: PRISON SONGS - MERLIN CORNISH
Birthplace of the Giants - Jonathan Rowdon
Enigma Man - A Stone Age Mystery - Lawrie Silvestrin ASE
The War That Changed Us - Lawrie Silvestrin ASE and David Fosdick

5. SCREENWEST OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE INDUSTRY
WINNER: GAIL PETHER

6. HAPPS BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - SHORT FORM

WINNER: TOP KNOT DETECTIVE - MATT WILLEMSEN
Bloom - Onna Evdokimoff
OnO - Alana Starcevich
Wanderer - Sarah Ryan

7. HAPPS BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - LONG FORM

WINNER: PAPER PLANES - CLAYTON JAUNCEY
8MMM - Emma Fletcher
Kill Me Three Times - Clayton Jauncey
The War That Changed Us - Emma Fletcher

8. BEST SOUND - SHORT FORM

WINNER: GOD SQUAD - BEN CHASE
Karroyul - Ric Curtin and Glenn Martin
Pale Blue Eyes - Ben Nockolds
The Amber Sky - Mathew Dwyer

9. BEST SOUND - LONG FORM

WINNER: PRISON SONGS - KIM LORD AND GLENN MARTIN
Pinch - Ric Curtin
The Reckoning - Ric Curtin, Glenn Martin and Scott Montgomery
The War That Changed Us - Ric Curtin, Glenn Martin, Ash Charlton and Owen Hughes

10. REVELATION PERTH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC - SHORT FORM

WINNER: GOD SQUAD - BEN CHASE
Karroyul - Ash Gibson Greig
Maap Mordak - Lorrae Coffin
The Parting Gift - Andrew Clarke

11. REVELATION PERTH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC - LONG FORM

WINNER: PINCH - ASH GIBSON GREIG
Enigma Man - A Stone Age Mystery - Ash Gibson Greig
The War That Changed Us - Ash Gibson Greig

12. COLONIAL BREWING CO. BEST MUSIC VIDEO

WINNER: STONE COLD SOBER ­ MATHAS - LAUREN CLEARY, DOMINIC PEARCE AND AARON MCCANN
Too Much Time Together - San Cisco - Robert Livings and Matt Sav
The Weapon is Sound - Thundercracker - Dominic Pearce and Luna Laure
Willow Beats - Merewif - Lauren Brunswick, David Vincent Smith and Daniel Craig - Matsu Photography

13. ULTIMO BEST VISUAL FX

WINNER: THE AMBER SKY - ANDRE CHANG FANE AND FU PENG - ROCKETT LAUNCH
Enigma Man - A Stone Age Mystery - Mike Dunn - Phimedia
The War That Changed Us - Mike Dunn - Phimedia
These Final Hours - Nathan Stone and Stuart Campbell - Double Barrel
Top Knot Detective - Dominic Pearce, Robert Woods and Steven Hughes

14. FROG MANAGEMENT BEST TV PRODUCTION - FACTUAL

PRISON SONGS - KELRICK MARTIN AND HARRY BARDWELL
Birthplace Of The Giants - Jodie De Barros, Leighton De Barros and Jonathan Rowdon
Enigma Man - A Stone Age Mystery - Andrew Ogilvie
Who Do You Think You Are? Andrew Denton - Celia Tait, Brian Beaton and Margie Bryant - Artemis International and Serendipity Productions

15. FTI BEST GAME

WINNER: DRUMBEAT QUEST - HOLYOAKE
Catnips - SK Games
Square Heroes - Gnomic Studios

16. FTI BEST INTERACTIVE PRODUCTION

Choose Your Homage: Chinchilla Hunt - Hayden Fortescue and James Pentecost
WINNER: DINOSAUR DISCOVERY AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE - HUNGRY SKY & WA MUSEUM
#emilywasted - Shelby Shaw and Briege Whitehead - WA Screen Academy at ECU - Theatrical Response Group - Red Tiki
The Dark Room - John Robertson, Jon Hayward and Jetha Chan

17. LOT 20 BEST ANIMATION
WINNER: GOD SQUAD - TROY ZAFER AND NICHOLAS KEMPT
Game Over - Gareth Lockett and Michael Redfern
Reflections - Damian Smith
The One And Only - When I Look At The City - Samantha Johnston - L'unica Productions

18. AWG BEST SCRIPT - SHORT FORM

WINNER: MADHOUSE - BILL SCHEGGIA
Maap Mordak - Dot West
OnO - Lauren Brunswick
Setting Them Straight - Brett Dowson and Kaleb McKenna

19. ADG BEST DIRECTION - SHORT FORM

WINNER: ONO - LAUREN BRUNSWICK
Little Darling Director's Cut - Damian Smith
One Fine Day - Kelli Cross
Top Knot Detective - Aaron McCann and Dominic Pearce

20. ADG BEST DIRECTION - LONG FORM

Frackman - Richard Todd
WINNER: PRISON SONGS - KELRICK MARTIN
The Reckoning - John V. Soto
The Waler: Australia's Great War Horse - Russell Vines

21. MEDIA SUPER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR

WINNER: ETHAN TOMAS - GREENFIELD
Ben Sutton - OnO
Clarence Ryan - One Fine Day
Liam Graham - Greenfield

22. MEDIA SUPER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS

WINNER: MARTHE SNORRESDOTTER ROVIK - GREENFIELD
Emma Diaz - Water
Naomi Pigram - Dark Whispers
Nina Deasley - Indefinite

23. CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BEST STUDENT FILM

WINNER: PALE BLUE EYES - CAMERON WHITEFORD - MURDOCH UNIVERSITY
I am No King - Karl Lacambra and Rob Gibbon - Central Institute of Technology
Jennifer's Coming Home - Georgia Landre-Ord and Dawn Jackson - WA Screen Academy at ECU
Water - Shelby Shaw and Poppy van Oorde-Grainger - WA Screen Academy at ECU

24. WA SCREEN ACADEMY AT ECU BEST SHORT FILM - FACTUAL

WINNER: NAJI - JODIE BELL, KIMBERLEY WEST AND TERRY HUNTER - RAMU PRODUCTIONS
Olga Cironis: Embodiment - Tenille Kennedy, Georgina Isles and Melissa Hayward
The One and Only - Is Sharing Caring? - Karla Hart - L'unica Productions
The One and Only - Kurrunpa Kunpu - Perun Bonser - L'unica Productions

25. WA SCREEN ACADEMY AT ECU BEST FEATURE FILM - FACTUAL

WINNER: FRACKMAN - RICHARD TODD, TRISH LAKE, SIMON NASHT AND KATE HODGES
The Lloyd Rayney Story - Michael Muntz, Brian Beaton and Celia Tate - Artemis International & Stellar Promotions
The Waler: Australia's Great War Horse - Marian Bartsch

26. CINEFEST OZ BEST SHORT FILM - DRAMA

WINNER: KARROYUL - JACLYN HEWER, MELISSA KELLY AND KELRICK MARTIN
Greenfield - Daniel James Tenni and Robert Livings
OnO - Georgina Isles and Lauren Brunswick
Top Knot Detective - Lauren Brunswick, Aaron McCann and Dominic Pearce

27.THE BACKLOT PERTH PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
WINNER: EMILY - IAIN APPLEYARD

28. CURTIN UNIVERSITY BEST FEATURE FILM - DRAMA

WINNER: PINCH - JEFFORY ASSELIN
Kill Me Three Times - Tania Chambers, Laurence Malkin and Share Stallings
Paper Planes - Robert Connolly, MAGGIE Miles and Liz Kearney
The Reckoning - Deidre Kitcher and John V. Soto

29. MCKENNA HAMPTON YOUNG FILMMAKER OF THE YEAR
WINNER: LAUREN BRUNSWICK
Jess Black
Joe Henderson
Ruben Pracas

Don't Miss a TV News Story Sign up for all the news on the Winter season, discounts & more...