The Outlook for Someday

MEDIA RELEASE - 15 APRIL 2008

The Outlook for Someday

Young South Island Film-Makers Share Sustainability Film Prize

Two short films - one a parody of Al Gore*s An Inconvenient Truth and the other a documentary about living sustainability locally - have tied in the online vote for Best Winning Film in the inaugural The Outlook for Someday sustainability film challenge for young New Zealanders. The films were made by Katie Baddock (age 20) from Dunedin and brothers Guy and Paul Williams (age 20 and 15) from Nelson. The winning film-makers now get an opportunity to study at the South Seas Film and Television School in Auckland.

Voters chose their favourite film from among 20 winning films selected by judges who work in television, education and youth development. The 20 films came from throughout New Zealand from film-makers aged 9 to 20, telling stories in a wide range of genres including dramas, documentaries and animations.

A new The Outlook for Someday film challenge for 2008 will be launched midyear.

The two 5 minute films which tied for Best Winning Film take different approaches.

Katie Baddock*s Life To Scale is about living sustainably in her hometown of St Clair, Dunedin.

*Our film promotes the concept of living locally in self-sufficient communities with local resource use, local waste management and localised economies. We believe it's a globally applicable model which could make a huge difference to both environmental and social problems plaguing the world,* said Katie Baddock who is studying psychology at the University of Otago.

And Inconvenient Tuth by Guy and Paul Williams is a parody inspired by Al Gore's documentary, *An Inconvenient Truth*. It uses comedy to make its point.

*We had a serious message behind the comedy. We definitely think an environmental tax is something that New Zealand may want to consider for the future,* said Guy Williams, who is studying Political Sciences at Victoria University. His team-mate and brother Paul is in Year 11 at Nelson College.

The vote for Best Winning Film was conducted at The Outlook for Someday website: www.theoutlookforsomeday.net

The Outlook for Someday is run by Connected Media, a charitable trust promoting sustainability through media. David Jacobs, Director of Connected Media, is pleased that the Best Winning Films were entertaining and informative:

*These two films are quirky, personal takes on sustainability, each with a distinct flavour. They convey their messages with down-to-earth wisdom and humour.*

*Connected Media has a goal to help grow a generation of film-makers who are empowered to make films about sustainability. We are really glad that The Outlook for Someday can be a stepping-stone in the careers of these enthusiastic and talented young film-makers.*

The film-makers are grateful for the opportunity to speak out about issues they care about:

"The competition was a very cool initiative by to get young people thinking and talking about sustainability, and to inspire young film-makers,* said Katie Baddock who made Life To Scale alongside her bother Sam and her friends Sarah Taylor and Tony Rayne.

*It*s the first time we*ve ever done anything like this. It was a great opportunity to create something that involved film-making and had a meaning,* said Guy Williams.

As winners of the vote for Best Winning Film, Guy Williams, Paul Williams, Katie Baddock and Sam Baddock will each attend a 5-day Introduction to Television Production course at South Seas Film & Television School in Auckland.

*Congratulations to the winners,* said Gerben Cath, School Director at South Seas Film and Television School. *We look forward to welcoming Guy, Paul, Katie and Sam onto our next 5 day practical introductory video production course.*

Each of the 20 winning film-makers / teams has already won a laptop computer donated by The Laptop Company and vouchers donated by The Body Shop.

The 20 winning films have been broadcast on TVNZ 6 and can now be viewed: * at The Outlook for Someday website: www.theoutlookforsomeday.net

* at TVNZ ondemand * as podcasts on iTunes

The project partners - Connected Media, the Enviroschools Foundation and the Global Education Centre - are now preparing to launch a second year of the film challenge.

Connected Media is also making a documentary about The Outlook for Someday for M*ori Television, featuring five of the winning films and film-makers.

The project funding partners are the Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Youth Development, Ministry of Education, Save the Children New Zealand and New Zealand On Air.

For updates on The Outlook for Someday: www.theoutlookforsomeday.net

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