The inaugural Microflix Awards and Festival was held on Friday Sept 14 as part of the 2018 Surry Hills Festival. Microflix is a unique film festival which brings together great short Australian stories curated by Spineless Wonders and talented filmmakers. In its first year, emerging animators and sound designers from the University of Technology Sydney worked with 200-wd texts to produce thirty micro-films of 90 seconds in length. Awards in the three categories of Best Adaptation, Best Direction and Best Sound were announced at the special screening event on Friday Sept 14. The thirty microflix will be screened nightly in Steel Ln (next to the Shakespeare Hotel) and all-day on Surry Hills Festival Day, Saturday Sept 22, 10-5pm at 1880 Hall, St Stephens, 235 Devonshire St, Surry Hills.
The nominated films and winners for each category are:
Microflix Spineless Wonders Award for Best Adaptation of a Microlit
Finalists:
Turing Test Study Guide:
Adapted from a microlit by Kristen Tranter pulblished in Flashing The Square.
Direction and design: Leanne Quach, Maxine Gando and Seo Young Kim
Anchor
Adapted from a microlit by Susan Mcreery published in Loopholes.
Direction and Design: Ziyi Ren, Jinyi He and Jianqiao Shang
Screws:
Adapted from a microlit by Jon Steiner published in The Last Wilkie’s & other stories.
Direction and Design: Karen Etherington, Kylie, Fredericas, Casper
Winner: Anchor
Prize is $200 JB Hifi gift cards
Microflix UTS Award for Best Direction
Finalists:
Call an Ambulance:
Adapted from a microlit by Shady Cosgrove published in Flashing The Square.
Direction, Animation and Design : Romy Lester, Yayun Yang and Jessie Du
Museum
Adapted from a microlit by Evelyn Araluen published in Out Of Place.
Direction, Animation and Design Ananta Avilaazmi, Amy Bell, Will Thompson, Raynald Hidayat
Hold Up
Adapted from a microlit by Susan Mcreery published in Loopholes.
Direction, Animation and Design: James Vallance, Jeremy Li, Xiaopeng Wang
Koi
Adapted from a microlit by Karen Whitelaw
Direction, Animation and Design: Maximilian Cao, Yvonne Cheung
And Karin Zhou-Zheng
Winner: Koi
Prize is $200 gift voucher from JB Hifi
Microflix Surry Hills Festival Award for Best Sound
Finalists:
Koi:
Adapted from a microlit by Karen Whitelaw
Sound by: Zac Meagher, Yifan Shen and Aria Wood
Museum:
Adapted from a Microlit by Evelyn Araluen published in Out Of Place.
Sound by Ilan Aarons, Elizabeth Dominis and Lachlan McKay
Over Time:
Adapted from a microlit by Kim Waters published in Time.
Sound by Blake Gilray, Daniel Grosskopf, Dean Hooper and Samuel Tregeagle
Winner: Museum
Prize is $200 gift Vouchers for JB Hifi
The inaugural Microflix Festival is screening thirty, short animated films inspired by micro fiction published by Spineless Wonders and produced by emerging animators and sound designers from the University of Technology Sydney under the supervision of filmmaker, Deborah Szapiro and sound designer, Felicity Wilcox.
Hosted by the Surry Hills Festival, the launch event on Friday Sept 14 celebrated the emerging animators and sound designers behind these entertaining, short films. The event was attended by a number of authors whose work featured in the films as well as friends and family of the filmmakers. The full list of 2018 microflix texts and their authors is as follows:
| Title | Author |
| Skins | Pip Smith |
| Koi | Karen Whitelaw |
| Permanence | Lee Kofman |
| Paper Lining | Elizabeth Tyson-Donnelly |
| Museum | Evelyn Araluen |
| Jesus Saves 82 | Matthew Gabriel |
| What is Dog? | Jude Bridge |
| Perpetual Motion | Samantha See |
| Earth Dog | Elizabeth Challoner |
| Butterflies in Iraq | Tim Heffernan |
| Woof | Scott-Patrick Mitchell |
| Screws | Jon Steiner |
| Texting through Time Zones | Johanna Ellersdorfer |
| I saw a man Die | Cameron Semmens |
| Hold up | Susan McCreery |
| Dante | Tanya Grassi |
| Call an Ambulance | Shady Cosgrove |
| Turing Test Study Guide | Kirsten Tranter |
| Leaving | Angela Argent |
| Average Morning | Harriet McInerney |
| Overtime | Kim Waters |
| Dancing | Nick Couldwell |
| Flying the Dog | Julie Chevalier |
| Tooth | Jon Steiner |
| I don’t use my powers for good | Ruth Wyer |
| Fritz | Madelaine Baud |
| Proposal | Jenni Nixon |
| Anchor | Susan McCreery |
| Sanctuary | Shady Cosgrove |
| Amelie | Pamela Seckin |
For more information on Microflix, check out the website here.