Recognising movie making at The Kents Film Awards

Awards season is in full swing. The Milan Film Festival and Emmy Awards recently wowed international audiences with their colourful fashion and incredible films. Following suit, Saint Kentigern’s film awards evening, ‘The Kents’ hosted by the enigmatic Head of Media Studies Mr Luke Oliver, took place on 27 September. In true artistic fashion, Year 12 and 13 media and animation students walked the red carpet in outfits full of flare before being seated for the viewing of all Excellence achieving films.

Year 12 media students were tasked with creating a short film in the horror genre. Ominous emergency defence alarms echoed over several of the films, striking an all too familiar chord. The films reflected the well-known horror that being trapped at home is not exclusively dystopian fiction. The soon-to-graduate cohort was represented by both animation and media students. Both with no genre restrictions allowing them to create films to reflect their passions, whether that be a strong message or to have the audience rolling in stitches.

Though all achieved Excellence during grading, two films stood out from the rest. The coming-of-age film ‘Homeboyz’ engaged the crowd from the beginning. An impressive performance from the lead, who played a wide-eyed boy simply wanting to have a bucket list moment with his friends, earned him Best Performance. He got his moment in the end, with a closing scene leaving all viewers no choice but to erupt into laughter. Unsurprisingly, ‘Homeboyz’ collected The Kents for Audience Choice and Best Editing.

Best Film on the night went to the soul-striking film ‘Abel.’ From a young child’s perspective, the strong message against domestic abuse sheds light creatively and respectfully. It was unglamorous yet, powerful. This Film also won Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

In the animations category, several films took home Kent awards including ‘Final Goodbye’ which had incredible artwork, and ‘Free’ with its innovative visual storytelling. 

The awards were chosen by our’ academy,’ a trio of well-seasoned veterans in the film and television industries. The first of the three panellists, Adam Moorehead, is now based in Sydney, working with ABC and Netflix. Our second judge Jacinta Scadden is also over the Tasman in Melbourne, working in the theatre industry. Finally, our Kiwi resident Alex Cairns, most notably, was involved in the making of ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople' and Netflix's ‘Cowboy Bebop.’ Thank you to the judges who both critiqued and encouraged our filmmaking hopefuls. 

As with any production, The Kents is a result of outstanding collaboration from across different departments within the College and we would like to thank the staff from Media Studies Department (Jinny Seo, Steve Broun, Miki Kemp, Nicola Henderson, Yarden Kellerman, Naomi Wilson), the Animation Department (Carl Lidstone, Rangituhia Hollis), the Goodfellow Centre (Lesley Verryt, Deirdre Myers) and Dave Sheehan, Glen Mortensen and Jason Hatton, for making this event a success.

Congratulations to all The Kents winners:

Best Script – Finn Bilsbrough ‘5 Ways to Ruin Your Life’

Best Animation Film – Grace Evans ‘Final Goodbye’

Best Cinematography – ‘Abel’

Best Sound – ‘Abel’

Best Editing – ‘Homeboyz’

Best Visual FX – Sophia Curlew ‘Free’

Best Performance – Zach Knill ‘Homeboyz’

Best Performance in a Supporting Role – Ensemble Cast ‘Ultraviolet’

Best Y12 Film – ‘Outdoor Education’

Best Film – ‘Abel’

Audience Choice – ‘Homeboyz’

Honourable Mention – ‘Bird BBQ’