The Large Format Short Films Competition, in partnership with CVP, has announced the winner of its inaugural year, with Joe Warner’s Monolith scooping the prize.
The short film was chosen from 10 scripts that reached the nominations shortlist, with a dedicated panel picking it out as the best among hundreds of high-quality entries.
Warner will now receive individually tailored support from Large Format Films and £5,000 cash, with the production studio already kick-starting the filmmaking process.
Speaking of securing the top prize, Warner revealed: “I still can’t quite believe we won! This is my most ambitious, and crucially most personal, short film yet, so getting the chance to finally make it with Large Format’s incredible support is a real game-changer.
“Monolith is a film about bisexual visibility, so choosing us as winners is also a testament to their courage in the types of stories they want to platform.”
Explaining why Monolith triumphed in a competitive field, Large Format’s Joe Ransom said: “Sifting through the nominees was one hell of a task, and I feel like the shortlist that we landed on was of such incredibly high quality.
“The shortlist was made up of 10 really good scripts, any one of them could have won, and I’d be happy to have been making any of those films.
“Yet with the themes that the piece touches on, Warner gave us a lot of confidence in the film, and we knew it was something that is going to look visually outstanding. It was a project that’s incredibly interesting and that I believe will do well on the festival circuit.”
Ransom added that he and business partner Richard Bell set up the Large Format Short Films Competition to help “young emerging filmmakers to get into the industry”, with the tailored prize package helping to bring the winning film to life.
Just days after telling Warner that his project had won, the team were getting to work on production.
Sharing why the competition is so important, Warner said: “Making short films is near impossible these days without shaking the bucket at family and friends. With this prize, Large Format and their generous sponsors are fixing the foundations of the British film industry by putting their money where their mouth is, and opening up a space within UK film for new voices.”
Large Format’s support isn’t solely focused on the winner, however. The filmmakers in second and third place bagged £250 and £150 CVP vouchers respectively, and all nominees continue to receive support from Ransom and his team as they look to take their projects to the big screen.
“I’m actually in conversations with two or three of the other shortlisters about how Large Format can support them as well,” Ransom revealed. “We’re in discussions with them about how we can get these films made. So our support definitely doesn’t stop with just the winner.
“I made a pledge in my speech at the awards night to say that should any of these filmmakers want to take the next step and get their films made, we’re there as a support outlet for them.
“I think ultimately that’s the goal of the competition: to help young emerging filmmakers into the industry. When I tried to get into the industry, it was a barrage of ‘no’s, lots of closed doors. It’s not what you know, it’s definitely who you know, and you need someone to take a punt on you.”
