Tope Oshin Ogun Wins Best Director Award at 2012 In-Short International Film Festival

Tope Oshin Ogun.


Tope Oshin Ogun won the coveted prize for Best Director for her thriller Till Death Do Us Part at the 2012 In-Short International Film Festival held in Lagos, Nigeria. The film won the Best Short Film prize of the film festival. Till Death Do Us Part also won the best short film from Nigeria award at the last Abuja International Film Festival in 2012.

The following is the list of all the nominations and winners.

NOMINATIONS AND WINNERS FOR IN-SHORT FEST 2012

1. BEST SCREEN PLAY

1. BIG DADDY
2. NATIONAL CAKE
3. SILVERLINING
4. TILL DEATH DO US PART
5. TO LIVE AGAIN

WINNER: NATIONAL CAKE

2. BEST SOUND

1. MIND TRIP
2. BIG DADDY
3. TO LIVE AGAIN
4. TILL DEATH DO US PART
5. LOOP

WINNER: LOOP

3. BEST EDIT

1. BIG DADDY
2. LOOP
3. NATIONAL CAKE
4. TO LIVE AGAIN
5. TILL DEATH DO US PART

WINNER: BIG DADDY

4. BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. TO LIVE AGAIN
2. TILL DEATH DO US PART
3. BIG DADDY
4. NATIONAL CAKE
5. REUNION
6. MIND TRIP
7. THE BIRTH

WINNER: TO LIVE AGAIN

5. BEST USE OF MUSIC

1. TO LIVE AGAIN
2. REUNION
3. THE BIRTH
4. PATRIOT

WINNER: TO LIVE AGAIN

6. BEST USE OF SPECIAL EFFECT

1. HECTOR
2. MIND TRIP
3. NATIONAL CAKE
4. THE BIRTH

WINNER: MIND TRIP

7. BEST ACTOR

1. AKINTAYO AKIN LEWIS (NATIONAL CAKE)
2. OC UKEJE (TILL DEATH DO US PART)
3. AKPEN BARNABAS (PATRIOT)
4. DADA ADESEGUN VICTOR (HECTOR)
5. WHOBA OGA (SILVER LINING)

WINNER: AKINTAYO AKIN LEWIS (NATIONAL CAKE)


8. BEST ACTRESS

1. AMAKA ANOIJI (TILL DEATH DO US PART)
2. ZARA ABIMBOLA UDOFIA (BIG DADDY)
3. BOLA EDWARDS (LOOP)
4. OBONGANWAN BENNET JAMES (TO LIVE AGAIN)
5. MONALISA CHNDA (SILVER LINING)

WINNER: AMAKA ANOIJI (TILL DEATH DO US PART)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE – BIG DADDY
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD – THE BIRTH

9. BEST DIRECTOR

1. TOPE OSHIN- OGUN (TILL DEATH DO US PART)
2. CHRIS EHIDERO (BIG DADDY)
3. TOM ROBSON (SILVER LINING)
4. UDUAK ISONG OGUAMANAM (TO LIVE AGAIN)
5. KEMI ADESOYE (NATIONAL CAKE)
6. STANLEE OHIKHUARE (LOOP)

WINNER: TOPE OSHIN-OGUN

10. BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT
1. REUNION
2. UNDERGROUND
3. GHOST 101
4. TAKE ME TO THE BALL
5. ENGLISH BREAKFAST
6. SECOND WIND

WINNER: UNDERGROUND

9. BEST SHORT FILM IN-SHORT 2012

1. TILL DEATH DO US PART
2. BIG DADDY
3. TO LIVE AGAIN
4. NATIONAL CAKE
5. SILVER LINING
6. LOOP

WINNER: TILL DEATH DO US PART

STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JURY: IN-SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2012

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I consider myself privileged to stand before you this evening to give a report of the assessment of the crop of films that were entered for this year’s edition of the In-Short International Film Festival. It has been my pleasure to serve, once again, as Chairman of the festival jury and indeed a privilege to have presided over a well peopled jury who followed a rigorous process in order to reach a consensus and in order to identify the most outstanding films, actors and technicians nominated in the various categories of this edition of the festival.

For us at the jury, it has been an illuminating experience viewing the films that were handed down to us by the pre-selectors who we must say, did a great job of pre-selection from the loads of films that we were informed were received at the festival secretariat. We would like to express our appreciation to the organizers of the festival particularly to the President and Founder Mr. Victor Okhai for the opportunity to serve and also would like to commend all those involved in pre-selecting the stunning range of films we saw during our jury work, for their thoroughness. The pre-selectors made our task, which was simply that of rewarding and encouraging professionalism and identifying unique and distinctive filmmaking talents, easy.

To arrive at the decisions that will be announced shortly, we looked through over 40 entries comprising short films, short documentaries and a couple of infomercials that aptly captured the theme of this year’s festival, which is ‘Simple Idea…Great movies’. The unprecedented number of entries, in all categories and from different countries of the world, can lead only to this conclusion: that the IN-SHORT film festival has, indeed, become a truly international event. I served on the jury last year, and comparably I would like to report that this year witnessed a remarkable increase in the quality of the films submitted. From their technical qualities to the acting and directing, the 2012 film slate is most impressive. We saw films that were well shot and whose stories were dramatically imaginative with diverse thematic concerns and narrative techniques. The competition in most categories was very strong and our decisions reflect much thought and debate.

In all, the Jury is impressed by the quality and diversity of the storylines of the films presented. We saw films that told real and uplifting stories: films that were compelling, films that were visually stylish, films that took full advantage of the power of the lenses to explore the world, and films that signaled the emergence of a whole crop of young and ambitious filmmakers who are determined to keep cinema alive and well. In fact it took us longer time to agree on the eventual winner in the different categories because of the unarguably high standard and convincing styles clearly evident in the nominated films.

But we saw films that left us with sour tastes as though we tasted burnt bread. Not only were their stories implausible, it was spurious and their scripts did not match their visual sophistication. The Jury also wishes to highlight that the documentaries entered this year were of very low quality compared to the maiden edition. Indeed the Jury didn’t find their examination of the relationship between subject and the filmmaker, fascinating. Therefore we found that improvement was needed in the documentary film category. The Jury therefore had to take the painful decision not to give an award in that category because of shortcomings, especially the perceivable low artistic level. So there will be no award for the documentary category this time around. But we have included two categories this year and that is the music and special effect category. We observed efforts by some filmmakers to make these elements count in their films. So there will be an award for music and special effect this evening.

Also and more gratifying too, we observed a remarkably strong presence of women in front of and behind the camera. In fact 60 percent of the strongest films of the festivals were either conceived or directed by women. This is encouraging because the film industry tends to be very male dominated. Therefore the sure-footed emergence of women filmmakers is very promising and encouraging. We are also encouraged by the emergence of new talents who are making bold cinematic statement. We are particularly gratified by entries such as The Birth and National Cake that addressed the most serious social and political issues, with visual wit and a compressed sense of dramatic form. We commend the advances being made by these directors and producers and specifically single out these short movies- Loop, Silver Lining, The Birth and To Live Again for Honourable mention. We applaud Loop for its bold innovation; Silver Lining for offering a refreshing insight into autism, a condition of which parents and the general public need to be aware of, The Birth for its treatment of the Jos crisis and To Live Again for offering a non-stereotypical insight into the issue of HIV/AIDS. We are, therefore, unanimous in our decision to honour these four films with a Honourable Mention from the Jury.
Significantly, in addition to the publicized competitive categories, the Jury unanimously decided this year to give a “Jury Award” to a film, which in our view deserves a special acknowledgement for its impact and achievements above and beyond the individual technical categories. This special award will be announced later tonight.

For us at the jury, the most important thing in a Festival is the selection and eventual nomination. We know how difficult it is to make a film at all let alone a good one that will be selected and nominated. Therefore we salute all the filmmakers whose films have found their way to IN-SHORT 2012. We congratulate you all and wish you all better filmmaking days ahead.
Once again, we thank the organizers for the opportunity to serve and May I on behalf of my colleagues Dr. Bola Ademeso, Dr. Becky Angyur, Augusta Okon and Yemi Oladeinde, commend to you tonight, our roll call of the best for In-short 2012.
Thank you and do have a wonderful evening.

Shaibu Husseini,
Jury chair, In-Short 2012
MEMBERS: DR. BOLA ADEMESO (Senior Lecturer at the Department of Theatre Arts, Lagos State University), DR. BECKY ANGYUR (Visiting Research Fellow/film and media scholar), AUGUSTA OKON (Poet, published writer, lawyer, event manager, film critic and blogger), YEMI OLADEINDE (Journalist, film critic, programmer and PR/Media Consultant).

Tweet