Report by Gus Alvarez
Now in its eighth year and described by Time Out Magazine as ‘The ultimate short film festival’, Rushes Soho Shorts held it’s annual awards shindig on Thursday evening (3rd August) at the swanky CC Club, in the heart of the West End, marking the end of a week of over 140 free screenings in cafes, bars and screening rooms in and around Soho.
As the downstairs club filled up and the free bottles of Cobra beer were swilled, excited gaggles of nominees mixed amiably with representatives of Soho’s voluminous filmmaking, advertising and music communities, as the logos of sponsors such as Adobe, Sony and Arri were projected onto the walls and plasma screens that framed the small stage. Again hosted by Mancunian motor-mouth Terry Christian, the awards were given out with the minimum of fuss in a boozy and relaxed hour long ceremony.
First up was The Adobe Title & Idents Award, which saw Producer/Director Stephen Woolley take the stage to run through the nominees. The winner was Chris Palmer at Gorgeous, who took home the award for his ident Come Home To The Simpsons, an ingenious live action recreation of the opening sequence from Matt Groening’s iconic animated nuclear family.
Next to take the stage was an icon from another era, David Soul of Starsky & Hutch fame, currently resident in the UK following his successful run in Jerry Springer: The Opera. Accompanied by Brit actress Zoe Telford, Soul awarded The Sony Media Music Video Award to Michel Gondry’s typically quirky promo for The White Stripes Denial Twist, which sees Jack and Meg White squeezed and stretched through a surreal Funhouse–cum-Conan O’Brien set. Unfortunately, the great Gondry wasn’t in attendance, and his award was collected on his behalf by his producer from Partisan.
Without further ado, Christian welcomed Ashley Walters and Jamie Winstone to the stage to present The Arri/Arri Media Newcomer Award. Co-stars in last year’s Bullet Boy, the two young stars have both made a splash since in Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and Kidulthood respectively, and presented the award to Jonathon Hopkins for his Goodbye Mr Snuggles, marking the young director as one to watch for the future.
Girl band The Pipettes took to the stage to present the penultimate award of the evening to Run Wrake at Sclah Films for Rabbit, which went home with The Vue Animation Award. The final award of the evening was presented by comedienne Doon Mackichan, to Tom Harper at Free Range Films, who went home with The Ascent Media Short Film Award for Cubs, a bizarre take on the fox-hunting debate.
And then, with the awards wrapped up in less than an hour, to the serious business of toasting the winners, consoling the nominees and dancing the night away, fuelled by ice cold Cobra.
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