LS/FF 2011: And The Winners Are…
“Many thanks to our incredible screening panel who took the time to support independent surf filmmaking and to watch and vote on all the films premiered at the festival,” says Event Director Chris Nelson. “They were overwhelmed with the incredible diversity and creativity of the movies showcased at this year’s inaugural event which made judging a hard task indeed. With that in mind, we’re stoked to announce the winners of the London Surf / Film Festival 2011.”
The Best Film award went to Keith Malloy and Woodshed Films for his ode to body surfing Come Hell or High Water which had its European Premiere at the event. Keith and Woodshed also carried away the award for Best Cinematography. At the festival, we were honored to host Keith as well as his wife Lauren, who also played an integral role in the creation of the award winning film.
- Keith on stage collecting his award from Festival Director Chris Nelson
The LS/FF 2011 Shortie of the Year presented by National Trust went to Chris McClean and Mark Waters for their atmospheric film, ‘Uncommon Ideals’. “In establishing The Shorties, we wanted to create a springboard for UK talent that would help establish homegrown talents on the world stage,” said Chris Nelson. “Congratulations to Chris and Mark for creating this incredible piece of filmmaking that has gone viral and made the surfing world sit up and really take notice.”
Chris McClean and Mark Waters with their award for Shortie of the Year 2011
The award for Best Documentary went to Adam Pesce for his compelling film Splinters which explores indigenous surfing in Papua New Guinea and the impact waveriding can have on a community. Adam came to London fresh from the Warsaw International Film Festival and was stoked to share his film with the UK crew.
Director Adam Pesce
Oakley Freesurfer and former English Champion Oli Adams was on hand to present the award for the Oakley Viewers Choice Award. Voting took place over the three days of the festival with members of the audience choosing their favourite film through a secret ballot. The award went to Cyrus Sutton for his award winning film Stoked and Broke.
Oli Adams presents the award for Viewers Choice
“When we set out to create this festival, we wanted it to be a celebration of independent filmmaking and to be able to honour those filmmakers who explore the diverse nature of surfing,” explains Festival Co-founder Demi Taylor. “With this in mind, we created a Spirit of the Festival Award which comes from Chris and myself and this year goes to Aleksi Raij for his beautiful documentary Finnsurf. Thanks to the Finnsurf crew for being there and celebrating like only the Finnish can!”
Dianne Ripoll star of Through the Whisky Barrel, Aleksi Raij Dir. Finnsurf, Jukka Metsaaho of Pablo Films, Screening Panelist Danny Webb and Allyn Harper Dir. Through the Whisky Barrel celebrate.
Huge appreciation goes out to all the filmmakers whose work we premiered at the first annual London Surf / Film Festival – each film played to a packed house (with people queuing for returns) and the audience showed their support with lengthy ovations – stoke levels certainly went to 11!