Berwick local wins big at Very Short awards
Star News, By Eleanor Wilson A Berwick local wowed judges at this weekβs Very Short Film Festival, beating out 150 entries to win the open category for his animated film New Life. Forty-year-old Mark Bernard was announced as a winner at last Fridayβs premiere screening of the 2022 festival, held at Spring Bay Mill in Tasmania. Mr Bernard, who is a graphic and web designer in his everyday life, said creating the short film was βmore of a passion projectβ for him. βAbout 10 years ago I entered the Tropfest Film Festival, I ended up being shortlisted, however getting married and starting a family took priority over my creative ambitions,β he said. βIt was always my dream to enter another film at some point in my life and the Very Short Film Festival appeared at just the right time for me!β βIβm still pinching myself! Thanks so much to the inspirational judges, Artology, Spring Bay Mill, The Guardian and Wide Angle Tasmania for restarting my creative career!β Mr Bernardβs animation centres on the journey of a young personβs progression in life amidst war and diversity, whereby they choose to look away and not deal with the pain, until a new life comes along and changes their perspective. Mr Bernard said his animation, which sits at just under three minutes in length, was inspired by current world events. βMy thoughts have been with my Ukrainian friends that I consider family who have been affected, as well as displaced people from around the world,β he said. βMy parentsβ journey was also an inspiration β they migrated to Australia in the late β70s to start their new life in this beautiful country and havenβt looked back.β Mr Bernard said entering the competition has been βa game changerβ for him, after his creative motivations took a hit from the Covid pandemic. βIsolation due to the pandemic did take its toll β earlier on I was thinking Iβll have all this time where I could catch up on my creativity β however, during the same period, I lost some friends and family members, as well as having family members pass away overseas due to Covid,β he recalled. βThe Very Short Film Festival appealed to me as I had a target to create something in a short amount of time. βI wasnβt confident enough to create a lengthier film so it was a great stepping stone for me to dabble into film animation.β He said he hopes to develop his animation skills further and learn more about storytelling and film making. βThe judges that were involved with the Very Short Film Festival have really inspired me to delve further into creating powerful messages through the power of animation,β he said. Aside from reigniting his creative passion, Mr Bernard was also awarded with a cash prize of $5000 and will be mentored by VSFF judges. Mark Bernard can be found on social media as @sketchnkustom. To view his winning short film, head to Read the full article.