Last year there were 20 finalists in the Green Screen Environmental Screen Film Festival's inaugural Very Short Shorts (VSS) Mobile Film Competition. This year 25 film-makers advanced to the final round of the environmental mobile film competition.
On opening night, patrons had the opportunity to view the 25 selected films in the competition and vote for the People’s Choice Award at Queen's Hall, St Ann's, on November 5.
Eden Eaten by Renaldo “Red” Frederick emerged as the overall winner of the competition and received $12,000 courtesy Bmobile.
He did a double as he was the winner of the inaugural VSS Youth Award last year
Compost It by Janis Mollineau was the Youth winner and $5,000 courtesy FilmTT.
Speaking to Guardian Media, Carver Bacchus, festival founder and director said "Between this year and last year the number of submissions was about the same, holding steady at more than 40 entries, but the quality overall has improved.
"So we felt comfortable extending from 20 last year to 25 this year, 26 including the honourable mention. We're pleased that the film-makers are taking it more seriously and it's good for the competition and the film industry."
People were given the opportunity to vote for the winner on closing night, November 9, at LofTT Gallery. The winner was awarded $3,000, courtesy SWMCOL.
Jury Youth winner Janis Mollineau said that it had been such an exhilarating experience, both times she entered the competition she was not in it for the money, it was just a fun, creative way for her to express her creative film making passion.
She said last year she submitted her entry at the very last minute, she saw the advertisement for the event posted on social media on the last day for submissions.
Mollineau said she shot her one-minute film in one day and was so surprised when it ended up in the top five selections, this year was a bit more prepared.
She said she asked herself what would the judges like to see, and strategically created a film that they can repost, share, be good information for people, but she also had interest in environmentalism and had fun filming.
Mollineau said both of her films were done in her backyard with no elaborate sets or huge production planning and were done on her cellphone.
She said her film featured elements of humour with her cat, Venus and a dog that had no name.
Mollineau said her film Compost It, was about eco-friendly action, being sustainable, how to compost waste material such as old cardboard, fruit peels to create something beneficial for the Earth.