On a remarkable and historic night in the presence of a 250 strong crowd at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia on the 11th of July 2014, Machinima came of age, stamping its mark and taking one of the major prizes for 'Project Homeless 2014'. Rysan Fall's 'The Invisible City' was adjudged 2nd Runners-Up Overall (AUD 500, approx L$112,000), as well as Best Machinima Film (AUD 300, approx L$67,000). A whisker away from both these prizes, ultimately taking out 2nd (AUD 250) in the Machinima category was Tutsy Navarathna's 'Homeless', a sublime combination of second life and real life elements set in India. The 'Flyin Finn', Vilvi Rae who in 2013 had prevented Tutsy from becoming the quadruple champion of the UWA challenges won 3rd (AUD 150), with Sun Dog, which looks at homelessness from an LGBT perspective.
"I can't express how overjoyed I am at how well this film was received. This is such a serious subject and I wanted to be respectful in the way I presented the message. The message I was trying to convey was that it can happen to anyone. Even through no fault of their own. I was extremely excited to hear that "Invisible City " came in first in the machinima competition. But I was even more excited to hear that it placed 3rd in the mainstream film competition. It was great to see a machinima film judged alongside real life films. I am honored to be part of such a worthwhile and important film contest." said Rysan
Tutsy's 'Homeless' was another feather in the cap of this much storied champion, and he shared that, "Project Homeless is a topic both interesting and difficult to treat. I am very proud to have win this 1st Runner Up in this machinima competition with my film and congratulate all those who participated in this project and particularly Rysan Fall."
Vilvi was equally pleased, "I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers and to everyone involved in the project. It was a challenging and very important subject, but eye-opening to work on."
Project Homeless 2014 is a Challenge run by Screen My Shorts Inc & UWA in partnership with and sponsored by the Parramatta City Council. Here entrants of all ages, cultures and ability were invited to submit original creative digital content (conventional film and/or machinima) and win a share of the AUD 10,000 (L$2.28 Million) and have their works exposed on the international stage.
Watch out also as in the next 2 weeks, MachinimUWA VII: Transcending Borders will officially launch with a prize pool of at least L$500,000.
The full awards list can be found HERE. The overall winner was 'Peacekeeper' by Joshua Hoareau, also winning the North Bondi RSL Prize for best film on Returning Veterans.
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