The votes have been counted, and we're delighted to reveal that the winner of our Audience Award is Fran Healy's Almost Fashionable: A Film About Travis. Healy's film is a music biopic with a difference - he invited Wyndham Wallace, a journalist whose hate for the band is on record, to join the band on a tour of Mexico, to offer a fresh view of a band whose music and friendships endure after more than 20 years of success. The resulting film is delightful, and a comment on the nature of opinion and criticism and much the music of Travis. Wallace and the band joined two screenings of the film at this year's Festival, and your votes have handed them this award.
Also voted on by the public, the McLaren Award for best British animation, supported by the British Council, goes to Peter Peake for his Take Rabbit, a film exploring an age-old conundrum: a man attempts to transport a fox, a rabbit and a cabbage across a river in his tiny boat but soon realizes he's taken on more than he bargained for. The film features the vocal talents of Matt Berry, Amelia Bullmore, Stephen Graham and Steve Pemberton. Winner of the Award in both 1994 and 1998, with Pig and Pog and Humdrum respectively, Peake has also garnered Oscar and BAFTA nominations for his work.
We also announced the winner of The Young & the Wild’s inaugural short film competition, New Visions, honouring two outstanding Scottish short films made by young filmmakers aged 14-18 and 19-25.
Age group 14-18:
Winner: Ghost by Georgia Ayres & Sam McDonald (Prize of £300 & a paid trip to Glasgow Youth Film Festival)
Jury Special Mention: Home by Amber Grieve
Age group 19-25:
Winner: Nights Out by Li Gong (Prize of £300, work experience with BBC Studios & a delegate pass for EIFF 2019)
Jury Special Mention: A Waste of Time by Libby Cavaye & Eilidh MacKinnon
These awards, which commend vision and effort and aim to boost the careers of new voices in filmmaking, were selected by a jury comprised of Vashti Anderson, Emily Jones & Donal Foreman) from a shortlist of 12 filmmakers created by our Youth Advisory Group. 