Film / Encounters Film Festival
Encounters 2018 winners revealed
Over 216 filmmakers and 250 short films from up-and-coming talent were nominated for awards at the 2018 Encounters Film Festival.
The foremost short film festival in the UK, Encounters screens films at various venues around Bristol and is a qualifiying festival for the Short Film category at the Academy Awards. Offering an open platform for filmmakers both new and established, this festival presents an opportunity for aspiring talent while also celebrating the full breadth of the filmmaking medium.
This year’s programme included a range of international films, animation shorts and virtual reality experiences when it ran from September 25-30 at the Watershed, Arnolfini and The Forge.
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Each year, winners are announced in a number of fields, including three grand prix categories chosen by the festival’s jury of international industry professionals. This year’s big winners were Fauve, Wildebeest and VR experience Kinoscope. It was the first time a virtual reality film scooped an Encounters prize.
The winner of the Brief Encounters Grand Prix was Canadian filmmaker Jérémy Comte’s short film Fauve, which also scooped the Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2018. Set in a Quebec surface mine, it follows two close friends whose seemingly innocent power struggle takes a dark turn.
It was lauded by the festival’s jury for its “agonizingly tense narrative, arresting visual style, brilliant directing and stellar naturalistic performances”.
Belgian filmmaker Matthias Phlips’ short Wildebeest won the Animated Encounters Grand Prix. Noted for its relatable sense humour, its narrative follows Dutch couple Troyer and Linda during their safari in the African savanna. These stereotypical tourists fit the archetype of a fish-out-of-water, especially after they are left behind by their tour group and forced to fend for themselves in the wilderness.
The film artfully combines animation with live action, further separating the two protagonists from their surroundings.
The final prize, for Immersive Encounters, was won by Philippe A Collin and Clement Leotard’s VR experience Kinoscope, which took the spectator on a “lively and colourful” journey through the history of cinema, narrated by fabled production designer Dean Tavoularis.
Other winners included actor/director Ed Skrein’s Teen Jury Award winner Little River Run, labelled “personal, insightful, and highly relatable.” Departure by Aoife Doyle was awarded the Children’s Jury Award, voted for by the pupils of Downend Secondary School, while MARFA by Greg and Myles McLeod won the Animated Best of British Award. Ted Evans’ short To Know Him collected the Deaf Shorts Award.
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