Thursday, April 26, 2012

2012 Urban Nomad Awards

“Time of Cherry Blossoms" director Tsai Shui-cheng (left)

In 2012, more than 160 short films were submitted to Urban Nomad. Of these, we chose about 35 for our short film programs, and selected seven nominees. Prizes were decided by an independent jury of three members, Lee Yao-hua, Brook Hall and Shu Kuo-chih. The winners are as follows:

THE BIG NOMAD (NT$20,000): 
【Time of Cherry Blossoms】
Director:Tsai Shui-cheng 蔡旭晟
JURY STATEMENT: Time of Cherry Blossoms sets young boys as its main characters, and their playtime with the gods of an old temple takes place between the real and the imaginary. Friendships between the boys and the gods are established, and at the same time we're shown a natural way of relating between the world of people and the world of spirits. But then, due to the disregard (or arrogance?) of the adult world of men, the boys' new friends are dispelled and returned to the spirit world. The filmmaker has designed both his human and otherworldly characters tale using a rich array of color and imagination. Visually there is no large gulf between them and this indeed is his major theme.. - Lee Yao-hua

片尾主題曲點名創作宗旨,旋律輕快優美,不論詞或曲都再一次重申生死、 人界神界一線之隔的關係。至於男孩的經歷是真是夢,也不用再多追究了!- 李耀華

JURY PRIZE (NT$10,000): 
【Mr. Candle's Momento Journey 2010】
Director: Huang Ming-cheng 黃明正 
JURY STATEMENT:【倒立先生】的特殊性在於,他人生就是要做“倒立“這件事!這是他最擅長的事,他也可以利用“倒立“這件事完成自己的環島、 甚至環遊世界的夢想,並且慢慢改變這個世界。 他已經上路了! 這種追求夢想,自我實現,用最單純的心願對世界發聲,而且片子的敘事,拍攝, 剪接,在概念與執行上都很完整。 是一部遊牧影展的精神非常接近的影片! - 李耀華

"Mr. Candle" producer Ocean Liang (left) receives the award from Lee Yao-hua

SPECIAL MENTION:
【A Rainbow Over the Ruins】
Director: Sandy Lo 
JURY STATMENT: We would like to give special recognition to the documentary film entitled "Rainbow Over The Ruins" for what we believe is truly important and compelling subject material. We hope that by giving this film special attention, we can build it's audience and create a social awareness about both wasteful government spending and the courageous teacher Yao Jui-chung, who is using his art to expose it. - Brook Hall

"A Rainbow Over the Ruins" cinematographer Zhuang Kai-yu (莊凱宇)

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD / 觀眾票選獎 ($10,000) : 
【Pick Your Dream】太陽自轉
Director: 徐嘉凱 
STATMENT: Long before the festival started, one member of the 2012 Urban Nomad film selection committee predicted that the filmmakers behind PICK YOUR DREAM will be famous five years from now. This film definitely has tons of youthful energy and knows how to tell a fun rock ‘n roll story. This year’s audience obviously felt so too! - David Frazier (festival director)

"Pick Your Dream" director Hsu Jia-kai