With one month to go until entries close, the first film got delivered today.

I'm looking forward to getting quite a few more over the next 4 weeks.

Hi everyone,

Festival Director, Allan Dowthwaite here...

We've had a few enquiries about Ignite in the past few weeks, which is not surprising given we've been really quiet for a while.

The main thing you need to know is that IGNITE IS ON this year, but with some changes. Here's what's been going on...

The organisations that started Ignite, and have been financially underwriting it (Total Visual Solutions & Anglican Media Sydney), decided earlier this year that they could no longer afford to support the festival.

They did, however, agree to 'give' Ignite to me so it can continue, but, it's taken a while to set things up so I can run the festival through a trading entity rather than my personal accounts. I've now done this and we're ready to go. Ignite will now be run by my new company The Media Business.

Our major sponsors, the Mary Bladon Fellowship and Christian Multimedia are on board, so we still have some great prizes - which is fantastic!

However, there are 2 big changes to the festival you need to know about...

1. ENTRY DATES: Because we've been 'off-line' for a while, I've pushed the dates for entries back a month. So instead of the end of July, entries will be due at the end of August (check the entry form for exact dates). This also means everything else gets pushed back a month - for example, the winners will be announced in early October not early September.

Again, the entry form has all the details.

2. AWARDS NIGHT: The biggest change is that Awards Night will not be on this year. It's expensive to put this night on, and it has never covered its costs. Without financial support, I simply can't afford to do it on my own. I'll be working hard in the next few months to secure a financial sponsor for next year, so we can hold a screening and awards night again in 2011.

The Good News? I'll still be producing the Festival DVD, and Channel 7 is still willing to provide air time on Christmas Day for the best films. There are some great cash prizes (and Sparkies) for the winners, and you'll still be bringing the word to light through your short films.

I'm sorry you haven't heard from us for a while. If you've got any questions, please email me.

Allan

 

The theme for Ignite 2010 is LOVE.

The 2009 Ignite Film Festival ended on Saturday night with Matthew Carson-Drever's film, Enmity, taking out the top prize. Matthew also won a Sparky for Best Director, while the film's star, Luke Bennett got the Best Actor award.

The People's Choice Award was won by Sorida - A Film of Hope, which had also took out the Schools Category.

Here are all the winners...

Enmity
Gold Sparky for Best Film
Best Director: Matthew Carson-Drever
Best Actor: Luke Bennett

 

Sorida - A Film of Hope
People's Choice Award
Schools Category Winner

 

The Conversation
Best Script: David Cairns
Best Actress: Megan Johnston

 

Two Sparrows
Best Cinematography: Belinda Bosward
Best Editing/Effects: Belinda Bosward

 

Hear My Voice
Best Sound: Joshua Hoffmann

 

Sam Shady
Bright Spark Award: Sam Wallace & Jeremy Wassink

 

The 2009 Ignite DVD is now available for just $20.

It contains all the films that made the Top 20, plus a few that just missed out.