TORI GARRETT TAKES TOP DIRECTING HONOURS IN NEW YORK

What do Spike Jonze, Gwyneth Paltrow and Neil Blomkamp have in common? They were all finalists in this week’s prestigious No Spot Film Festival in New York, and Australian Tori Garrett outclassed them all, taking the award for Best Director.
The award-winning entry is Garrett’s first short film, The Barrows, which stars iconic Australian actors Julia Blake and Terry Norris, and is her commercial production company, Two Little Indians’ first foray into drama.
Shot by long time collaborator Robert Humphreys ACS (Somersault, Suburban Mayhem), and written by James Greville, the film was one of eight finalists selected from a record 180 submissions.
Open to advertising directors and creatives worldwide, the No Spot Festival is a stand out event at the annual Advertising Week conference in New York and is judged by a panel of industry heavyweights drawn from some of the world’s best agencies, commercial production companies, interactive companies and the entertainment community.
According to Creativity and AdCritic.com Editor Teressa Iezzi, this year’s submissions were both diverse and impressive.
"The overall quality in No Spot tends to be very high because the directors are used to crafting creative images," said Ms Iezzi.
The top overall award on the night went to Neil Blomkamp for Tempbot. Blomkamp’s next assignment is directing the film adaption of Halo for Peter Jackson.
This news caps a great few months for Garrett and The Barrows: the film was a finalist at last week’s Equinox Film Festival in Melbourne, where it was nominated for Best Director and Best Cinematography.
It was also a finalist in the St Kilda Film Festival and The Female Eye festival in Toronto. Following this, The Barrows is a finalist in this month’s Canberra Film Festival, Shorts in Adelaide and will screen later this year in the ‘Short and Curly’ season on ABC2.
The Barrows was independently produced by Two Little Indians, a high end film production company based in Brisbane. Two Little Indians currently has a documentary and another short film in pre-production, with a feature project under development.
Garrett also recently wrapped directing the filmed components of on-line drama PSTRIXIE for Hoodlum Active, currently unfolding on Yahoo7s multiple platforms.