Celebrating Tasmania’s Brightest & Best Young Filmmakers

The winners of the 19th MyState Bank Student Film Festival were announced live today at the Theatre Royal in Hobart, shown online and live streamed.

258 short films were entered in this year’s festival from Tasmania and around Australia, with more than $20,000 in prizes awarded across 26 categories. The 24 judges included high profile Tasmanians from film, television, animation and cinematography.

The festival is open to primary, secondary and university students across Australia. This year’s theme or feature item was ‘window’. Winners were from Tasmania, Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

Janelle Whittle, MyState Bank General Manager of People, Community and Public Affairs said the standard this year was incredibly high.

“We’re so proud to support this festival for nearly twenty years, and are thrilled by the role it plays in encouraging and celebrating the creative talents of students across Tasmania, and the rest of Australia.”

“There continues to be fierce competition between the schools, and we’re grateful to the local arts industry heavyweights who take the time to judge every year. We hope these awards inspire the next generation of storytellers, as Tasmania is one of best backdrops in the world,” said Whittle.

First time alumni judge, 20 year-old Amara Gantz, entered the festival in 2015, and then won the best animation category in 2016 as a student at Taroona High School.

In 2020, through an internship with Screen Australia, she went to Portland (Oregon USA) to work on the animated movie, Pinocchio. She’s now back in Hobart working on local animation projects and short films.

“Entering this short film festival as a student really encouraged me on my career path,” said Gantz. “I could never have imagined where it would lead. All you need to begin is a good idea, lots of drive, and in my case, a piece of paper.

“This year’s short films were really intense, with a wide range of technical skills and acting. I loved the theme of ‘window’ as it could be used literally or metaphorically. The entries were really clever.”

Highlights from 2021 awards

– Taroona High School won 10 of the possible 21 Tasmanian award categories including the technical achievement award, best original score, best music video, people’s choice award (Tasmania), Premier’s award, best use of feature item, most engaging talent (year 9 & 10), best film in both the intermediate and high school categories. In addition, teacher Robert Gawlik has taken out the most outstanding teacher contribution award for the second year running.

– Rosny College claimed four awards – best screen play, best cinematography, most engaging talent and the best film for the post year 10 category.

–  Rosetta Primary School, Tarremah Steiner School, Lindisfarne Primary School and UTAS Media School each won awards.

–  Launceston Christian College won best animation award category.

–  Leighland Christian School won best documentary.

The theme or feature item for the 2022 festival is ‘water’ and will be launched during Term 1 2022.