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2010 Short & Sharp Pitching Competition Winners

Everyone's a Winner!

The 2010 Short & Sharp Pitching Competition Final was held on Wednesday night in front of a full house and a judging panel comprised of Alan Finney, David Redman, Jana Blair and Mike Cowap at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. The six finalists pitched their socks off, but, in the end there could only be one winner (plus a Runner-up, oh.. and a Special Mention too. And let's nor forget the Audience Award).

Before presenting the awards, Alan Finney said, "Selecting the winner and runner-up was a complex decision, because, apart from the fact that the projects were of different genres and different nature; they are at different stages of development, and that did factor into our decision making. We believe the winner is ready to go right now."

1st Prize - Capital High (Sandra Duncanson and Cameron Thompson)

• They bitch, backstab and refuse to admit they are wrong. Welcome to the world of Capital High. A weekly, short form satirical animation that takes the events and characters of federal politics and transfers them to a typical Australian high school where two crews vie for power.
Capital High will now go into development with Open Channel, and the winners will jet off to Sydney for the National SDA (Screen Development Australia) Pitching Competition at SPAA Fringe in October. And if they are one of two projects selected for the Holding Redlich Pitching Competition at SPAA in November, they could be taking their project to the Cannes Film Festival or a TV Market in 2011.

Runner Up - Mum, My Village and Me (Suzannah Bayes-Morton)

• A Papua New Guinean/Australian daughter takes her adoptive English mother to her biological father's village.
Delivered in 'character' straight from the lectern, Suzannah presented her own personal story of family connections and dis-connections as 'Poh's Kitchen meets Man vs Wild meets Getaway'. A moving story, Suzannah's impeccable delivery hit all the right spots with both audience and judges alike.

David Redman said, "I think people would love to watch you on the screen. I think you are avery amusing and I think your enthusiasm and 'batty-ness' (in the nicest possible way!) would be really engaging. It's so important to have a strong personality at the centre of a personal story. I think people would go on your journey."

Special Mention - Capra (Trevor Matthews & Marisa Brown)

• A shadowy 'corporate services' organisation specialising creating scapegoats for big businesses find themselves in over their heads when they take on their first political client, and realise that they're not the only ones who are experts in doctoring the truth.
David Redman said, "We really liked it. To get it right the writing will need to be at an international quality. If you get it there it will be superb. Your ambition is inspiring, but the quality of writing and the team of writers you'll need to put together to get it will need to equally inspiring. But if you get it right it will something that will really, really work.

The Audience Award - as voted by those present on the night goes to... .Capital High

Congratulations to all of the finalists. Here's a recap:

Tim Columbus, Adam Wajnberg & Liam McIntyre: Omega Team (Narrative TV Comedy)
• Omega Team follows the surprisingly sexy exploits of Melbourne's most elite group of hard-nosed ticket inspecting bastards as they battle a crime syndicate eating away at the rail network.

Angie Black & Kate Schmitt: White Lady (Comedy/Drama Series)
• Pepper, an aboriginal former child star arrives back in Australia and struggles to make peace with her family, her past; and tries to avoid being set up again for a drug crime after falling for the wrong 'White Lady'.

Kathryn Lefroy, Khrob Edmonds & Miranda Edmonds: Pole Position (Dance Movie - Feature Length)
• Pole Position is a love story about Aleksandra - a pole dancing instructor and Sebastian - a bike courier - who must overcome society's view of 'acceptable' sensuality and dance together to save the school Aleks teaches at.

SHORT & SHARP IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY FILM VICTORIA