UNIMA Australia Silver Linings Project – Online Puppet Film Festival 2020!

Trailer for Silver Linings Online Puppet Festival, 2020. Featured puppet in thumbnail by Katherine Hannaford (NSW, Australia). Music (to the tune of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ by Judy Garland) was taken from one of our entries – ‘Pivoting’ by Zan Griffith.

2020 has been a tough year, but we wanted to find some silver linings and put some joy out into the world. We invited people from around the world to join the UNIMA Australia Silver Linings Project – a call to submit short, uplifting puppet films.

We received entries from around Australia as well as the UK, Ireland, Canada and Uruguay. We will award prizes after the screening.

The playlist premiered on Saturday 26 September at 8pm (AEST) via Facebook @UnimaOz and on our UNIMA Australia Youtube Channel.

You can watch the playlist here:

We received entries from around Australia as well as the UK, Ireland, Canada and Uruguay. Thank you to everyone who contributed! Here are the films:

  1. Pivoting – Zan Griffith (VIC, Australia)
  2. Stretchy Pants Song – Kay Yasugi (Pupperoos), Leon Hendroff, Jill Webster (Story Bubble), Katherine Hannaford, The Drama Studio, Pete Davidson (One Orange Sock Productions), Brett Hansen and Elissa Jenkins (Larrikin Puppets), Sue Wallace and Steve Coupe (Sydney Puppet Theatre), Kristen Clerke, Dominique Croset, Angie Macmillan (NSW, QLD, VIC, WA, Australia)
    Song by Brian Buffington (USA)
  3. Cuckoo! Cuckoo! – Clare Jefferson Jones and Paul Jones, Splodge Designs (UK)
  4. ‘Nothing Much to Do’ 2020 – Angie Macmillan (VIC, Australia)
  5. In the Garden – Clare Jefferson Jones and Paul Jones, Splodge Designs (UK)
  6. The Kotzebue Shuffle – Ali DeRegt, Emma Fisher, Monica Ila, Campfire Tales (Canada and Ireland)
  7. Silver Linings with Larrikin Puppets – Brett Hansen and Elissa Jenkins (QLD, Australia)
  8. My Objects – Alena Skalova, Missing Pages Theatre (UK)
  9. Teddy Interview – La Casa del Árbol
    (Montevideo, Uruguay)
  10. The Memories She Doesn’t Need – Kristen Clerke (QLD, Australia). Song by Susie Hurley
  11. “Hope” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson. A shadow poem – Jenn & Rosy Thurston (UK & VIC, Australia)
  12. Silver Linings – Small Actions – Gemma Rose (VIC, Australia)

Awards and Prizes

Congratulations to the following winners:

First Place – “Hope’ is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson -A shadow poem” by Jenn and Rosy Thurston (UK/VIC, Australia). Prizes: 12 months membership to UNIMA Australia and UNIMA badges

Second Place – “The Kotzebue Shuffle” by Ali DeRegt, Emma Fisher, Monica Ila, Campfire Tales (Canada and Ireland). Prizes: 6 months membership to UNIMA Australia and UNIMA badges

Honourable Mention – “Silver Linings – Small Actions” by Georgie Rose (VIC, Australia). Prize: UNIMA Badge

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to this online festival, and to our UNIMA Australia Committee judges Philip Millar (President), Larissa Deak and Adam Bennett. We hope you all enjoyed watching these puppet films.

Please share and spread the joy!

UNIMA Australia is the official puppetry organisation of Australia. Membership is open to anyone around the world. For more information please go to https://www.unima.org.au/membership/

#silverliningsunima #unimaoz