My RØDE Reel 2021: winners announced
RØDE has just announced the winners of the My RØDE Reel 2021 short film competition, with its biggest grand prize yet: $250,000 USD.
Walking away with the major cash prize, Malaysian filmmaker Chen Wei Choon has been named the Judge’s Choice Prize winner for 2021.
Speaking on Choon’s winning entry, Two Halves, the judge Sunday Emerson Gullifer said, “Full of creativity and craft, Two Halves is a beautifully made short film that absolutely utilises its three-minute runtime to deliver a well-told story.” Jess dela Merced and Ryan Connolly sat with Gullifer on this year’s judging panel and helped select this year’s winners.
You can watch Two Halves here.
Entrants were tasked with submitting a 3-minute short film that was created using a RØDE product. Aside from these requirements, each prize category was open to interpretation.
With a prize pool of cash prizes, camera gear and other filmmaking prizes, more than 2000 entries flooded in from 114 countries from across the globe.
In this year's roundup of winners, a number of Australians have been awarded top category placings. Lucas Nicotra has taken home first place in the Drama category for the film The Cold Order, as well as second place in the Behind the Scenes category with the film titled Fadeaway. Scott Pope’s film Employee of the Month has placed first in the Behind the Scenes category and second place in the Sound Design category.
And now, without further ado... we've listed all of this year's winners below!
Drama
1st Place: ‘The Cold Order’ – Lucas Nicotra (Australia)
2nd Place: ‘Last Birthday’ – Wiktor Szafrański (Poland)
3rd Place: ‘Walk in the Park’ – Chris Lodge (Ireland)
You can view the winning video here.
Documentary
1st Place: ‘The French Cowboy’ – Jacob Redman (France)
2nd Place: ‘Xolani’ – Tao Farren-Hefer (South Africa)
3rd Place: ‘EMBAERA’ – Noam Tryber (Israel)
You can view the winning video here.
Comedy
1st Place: ‘ZERO’ – Tim Hamilton (New Zealand)
2nd Place: ‘Next in Line’ – Alex Raban (USA)
3rd Place: ‘Pipe Dreams’ – Nigel Shinnors (Ireland)
You can view the winning video here.
Animation
1st Place: ‘Two Halves’ – Chen Wei Choon (Malaysia)
2nd Place: ‘SKYLER’S BOX’ – John Remar Lavina (Phillippines)
3rd Place: ‘Nighty Night’ – Bruno de Sena Giovanini (Brazil)
You can view the winning video here.
Sound Design
1st Place: ‘Brainstorming’ – Bruno de Sena Giovanini (Brazil)
2nd Place: ‘Employee of the Month’ – Scott Pope (Australia)
3rd Place: ‘Misia – A Love Letter to My Daughter’ – Andrzej Rudz (Japan)
You can view the winning video here.
Behind The Scenes
1st Place: ‘Employee of the Month’ – Scott Pope (Australia)
2nd Place: ‘Fadeaway’ – Lucas Nicotra (Australia)
3rd Place: ‘Escape’ – Malik Bouabid (Canada)
You can view the winning video here.
People’s Choice Prize
1st Place: ‘The Stage’ – Yadukrishnan O.V (India)
2nd Place: ‘CHUZALONGO’ – Diego Ortuño Ñ (Ecudor)
3rd Place: ‘The Redemption’ – Mohanad Al-jawaheri (Germany)
You can view the winning video here.
Best Chinese Film
1st Place: '归宿 (The Home)' – Xie Dawei
2nd Place: ‘家庭驱邪的五个步骤 (Five Ways of Home Exorcism)’ – Dazhao Gege
3rd Place: ‘无价之宝 (Priceless Treasure)’ – Chen Si
To find out more about the annual competition, you can visit the My RØDE Reel website here.