Franswa Sharl wins the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film in Generation K Plus at Berlin International Film Festival

Monday 22 February 2010

Screen Australia­–funded short film Franswa Sharl has been awarded the prestigious Crystal Bear Award for Best Short Film in Generation K Plus at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival.

Written and directed by Hannah Hilliard and produced by Linda Micsko, Franswa Sharl is about a 12-year-old boy who reinvents himself as a French girl while on a family holiday in Fiji so he can enter a competition – much to his father’s dismay. A fictionalised account of a bizarre stunt pulled off by co-writer Greg Logan, Franswa Sharl is framed in the exotic and colourful landscape of a Fijian resort in 1980.

On awarding Franswa Sharl, the Berlin jury said, “We couldn’t help laughing when we saw this charming and funny story based on a true story. Nonstop fun! For a moment we forgot the world around us. The actors were simply great.”

“The audience reaction in Berlin has been amazing – the best response a filmmaker could possibly hope for,” said director Hannah Hilliard.

Callan McAuliffe stars as the young Greg Logan who will go to the most extreme lengths to win the attention of his father. McAuliffe has recently been cast as the lead in the feature Flipped. Other Franswa Sharl cast include John Batchelor, Diana Glenn and Steve Lemarquand.

Franswa Sharl screened in Berlin’s Generation K Plus section – a special section for children and youths.

In addition, Australian filmmaker Bryn Chainey has won the Berlin Today Award in the Talent Short Film Competition of the Berlinale Talent Campus for Jonah and the Vicarious Nature of Homesickness. This live-action and stop-motion short was made by Berlin-based Bryn and produced in co-operation with the Berlin production company, Anna Wendt Filmproduktion.

Franswa Sharl
Production Company: Room Four Film Pty Ltd
Writers: Greg Logan and Hannah Hilliard
Director: Hannah Hilliard
Producer: Linda Micsko
Cast: Callan McAuliffe, John Batchelor, Diana Glenn, Steve Lemarquand, Pippa Grandison, Ivy Latimer

Synopsis: Keeping the position of number one son calls for a certain amount of ingenuity.

Jonah and the Vicarious Nature of Homesickness
Production Company: Anna Wendt Filmproduktion (Germany)
Writer/Director: Bryn Chainey
Producer: Anna Wendt
Cast: Jens Winter

Synopsis: One day Jonah left his family. He gave no explanation and no goodbye, only a telephone number that redirected to an answering machine, before blasting into outer space with his homemade spaceship.

Victoria Buchan, The Lantern Group, victoria@lanterngroup.com.au
T: (02) 9383 4033  M: 0408 114 864

Note: this release was updated at 5pm on 22 February 2010 to include Bryn Chainey.