Movie Extra Webfest 2.0 winner announced

08 December 2011 By Screen Australia

MOVIE NETWORK CHANNELS is delighted to announce the winner of MOVIE EXTRA WEBFEST 2.0 is Event Zero, written and produced by Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey and directed by Carlo Ledesma.

With the support of Screen Australia, the winners will receive a $100,000 production budget, providing an incredible opportunity to further develop their creative idea. The team behind Event Zero will now produce a seven part webseries for MOVIE EXTRA, with production of the series to commence in the first half of 2012. Event Zero will premiere on the Movie Network Channels YouTube channel.

Event Zero tells seven interconnected stories of people related by the same mystery; there has been a train derailment at Circular Quay and as the emergency workers arrive at the chaotic scene, they realise the biggest threat is only just emerging. People without a scratch are collapsing on the ground and dying - and it is spreading. Unless someone can work out what is going on the death toll will continue to rise. Each episode recounts the incident from a new character's perspective until finally in episode seven, the sinister secret behind 'Event Zero' is revealed.

The Event Zero team hail from Sydney, NSW and have previously collaborated on the award-winning feature film The Tunnel, well-known for the film's distribution via Bit Torrent and viewed by over 3 million people worldwide.

In second place is Julian Costanzo from Victoria for his submission Betty and Frank Will Have Sex, with third place going to Steve Baker from Queensland for Cold Cold Ground.

We are delighted with the high standard of finalist entries in our second year of Movie Extra Webfest. The passion, lateral thinking and technical skill displayed by so many of the finalists in this year's competition made the judging process both spirited and challenging," comments Emma Moroney, Supervising Producer, Movie Network Channels.

"Our partnership with Screen Australia with the injection of additional funding in prize money to $100,000 allows the potential of this ambitious project to be fully realised. The opportunity to develop Event Zero with a producing team who bring with them proven success and a depth of experience in the online content arena is in step with the core principles of Movie Extra Webfest and we look forward to working with the team in the coming months."

The winning webseries was chosen based on a number of key criteria but paramount to the selection of this entry was the individual creativity of the webseries and its ability to find a large online audience. The winner was chosen by a panel of industry judges including; Marc Fennell (film critic and Presenter, Producer and Reporter for ABC's Hungry Beast), Tom Ragg (Social Media Manager, Soap Creative), Mike Cowap (Investment Manager, Screen Australia), Emma Moroney (Supervising Producer, Movie Network Channels) and Christopher Berry (MOVIE EXTRA WEBFEST Executive Producer).

"We're thrilled to see such an intriguing and ambitious premise from this dynamic team take the top spot," said Mike Cowap, Investment Manager, Screen Australia. "The standard of entries was inspiring and the level of online conversation and activity around the competition was extremely encouraging."

Event Zero was selected from over 80 entries to the Facebook page, which now has over 27,000 fans*. To view the MOVIE EXTRA WEBFEST 2.0 winning trailer and select the '2011 winner' tab.

On 15 December 2011, MOVIE EXTRA will premiere 2010 WEBFEST finalist Mollusks. The animation was an additional commissioning by MOVIE EXTRA and will debut on the Movie Network Channels You Tube Channel. The View the trailer now.

*The number of Facebook fans as of 7 December 2011 04.00 PM AEST.