| Noise Control Wins Best Film Award |
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For the second year in a row Simmonds brothers Animation has received the Best Film award at Show Me Shorts film festival in Auckland.
The festival showcases short films from Australia and New Zealand.
The eleven minute film - a documation which includes live action and hand-drawn 2D animation - tells the story of the shooting of Raumati South Kindergarten's pet rooster back in 2001.
Last year the Simmonds Brothers' film A Very Nice Honeymoon also won top prize. In that film five generation of the brothers' family tell the story of the 1893 wreck of the SS Wairarapa on Great Barrier Island.
"It wasn't a surprise to me at all that the judges selected 'Noise Control' as the winner for this year's Best Film award. I had been keeping an eye out for Phill's next short film after he won the award last year, since he was clearly a talent to watch", says Festival organizer Gina Dellabarca. "I expected 'Noise Control' to win from when I first saw it as I thought the film was even better than his previous film 'A Very Nice Honeymoon'. We only hope he will make some more short films in future and we won't lose him to feature films."
Noise Control was produced by Paekakariki's Huia Lambie, the music composed and performed by local band The Volunteers and animated by Phill Simmonds and Gina Kiel both Raumati South locals.
Producer, Huia Lambie says "We're delighted that this local story with
a global heart has been embraced in this way."
"We're really excited", says Phill Simmonds. "Winning twice in a row is a huge endorsement of our work.
"Noise Control is true to the kaupapa of Simmonds Brothers - telling local stories, or rather letting local people tell the own stories".
The film has also recently attracted international attention screening at Chicago International Children's Film Festival - the world's largest showcase of children's films.
Noise Control screens in a collection called True Story
Paramount Cincema, Wellington - Thus 13, Sun 15 and Sunday 16 November
Regent on Worcester, Christchurch - Thurs 20, Fri 21, Sat 22 and Sun 23
The Octagon, Dunedin - Thurs 27, Fri 28, Sat 29th and Sun 30
its also screening in Motueka and Whitianga
for more details check out www.showmeshorts.co.nz
Screenings of Noise Control are being planned in Kapiti over the summer - dates yet to be confirmed.
However anyone interested in seeing some clips of the movie and seeing Simmonds Brothers latest project The Making of the Volunteers go to www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/volunteers.
contact Phill Simmonds
(029) 904-5411 | |
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Like everyone else in the Raumati community in 2001, we were shocked to hear that the local kindergarten's pet rooster had been shot. When I heard that the name of the animal control officer who pulled the trigger was a Mr Wolff I immediately thought it would make a great documation.
The rooster had been shot because neighbours had complained to the council that the rooster was crowing through the night. The shooting made national news at the time and tv presenters Paul Holmes and Carol Hirschfeld make cameo appearances in the film. Noise Control is one of the favourites in this years Show Me Shorts competition in November. http://www.showmeshorts.co.nz/news_130808.php
Like our other documations the ten minute short merges video interviews with animation, reality with fiction, in order to make an original comedy. I think kiwis are funniest when they're not trying to be funny. That's why I like recording the extraordinary stories of ordinary people in their own words. Rich raw material to work with.
The Animator...
I lived in Hawkes Bay for my first 18 years. I touched down on the planet in Napier in 1960, lived in Taradale and Hastings and in 1978 I left home and moved to Wellington to start my first job in the proofreading room of the old Evening Post.
I'd sold the occasional cartoon to the NZ Listener while attending St Johns College and I never stopped drawing.
After a number of years doing graphic design and cartoon illustration in Wellington I decided I wanted to be an animator. I really wanted to see my drawings come to life so my brother Jeff and I I got a few books out of the library and taught ourselves how to create hand-drawn 2D cartoon animations.
Jeff was also pursuing his interest in film-making and so in the mid 90s we started collaborating - creating simple animations without sound to put on our website.
Those early experiments evolved into a film genre we call Documation. It's kind of a mix of documentary and animation which makes for a very kiwi kind of comedy. We use unscripted and unrehearsed audio and use it with animated cartoon characters.
The brothers' early films created with Creative NZ funding caught the attention of the NZ Film Commission in 2006 when they received funding to make A Very Nice Honeymoon featuring the animated voices of five generations of the brothers' family. A Very Nice Honeymoon received the best film award at last year's Show Me Shorts national short film competition.
Two years ago the brothers won the SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year award for their innovative work. Several of the their health education-oriented animations are now being distributed all over the world by the NZ Ministry of Health. One is currently being translated into Croatian! One of their projects - 50 episodes of Rasta Rangi produced for Maori TV - is entirely in Te Reo.
For the second year in a row Simmonds Brothers Animation took the Best Film Award at Show Me Shorts film festival in Auckland with the NZCF-funded Noise Control. The same week it screened at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival.
Ten years of development and thousands of drawings after the initial vision, Simmonds Brothers Animation is now receiving national and international attention. | |
| The Making of The Volunteers... |
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Our next project - the world's first animated reality series launched in August 2008 on popular online New Zealand news and entertainment site Stuff (www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/volunteers).
The internet-based series has been created by Kapiti animation team Simmonds Brothers Animation
It's not the first time Phill Simmonds has animated a band. "Jeff and I did a documation of local band Paselode in 2004 which proved it was an interesting thing to do. Luckily for me when I wanted to do another one there was this amazing band forming literally in my own living room. What are the chances!
"I like the thought that the most amazing stuff is happening right under our very noses and this was a very good example of that. I was filming everything right from the very beginning. When I heard the girls were going to be invited along to a practice I was able to interview them before they even met the other band members. " says Phill. "That's what I like about documentary-style recording. You have to be there when it happens.
Every week a new episode will appear on the Entertainment pages of the Suff website which attract a million hits a week. If you're on broadband or know someone who is, do check it out.
More info...
Our website: www.simmondsbrothers.com
Phone (04) 904-5411
Mobile (029) 904-5411
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