The 2014 Sony PROduction Awards discover unknown filmmakers around the world

Los ganadores de los premios Sony PROduction 2014 son ‘Scarecrow in Purgatory’ de Oliver Clubb (Reino Unido), en la categoría de creativos; ‘That Time’, de Benjamin Chesterton (Reino Unido), en informativos; y ‘No Good Deed’, de Michael O’Neill (Australia), en el premio destinado a estudiantes.

The winners of the 2014 Sony PROduction Awards have been announced following the world's largest search for filmmakers to date. For the first time, this year's contest is open to participants from around the world. More than 450 students, professionals and amateur film fans have created their own short films for industry recognition and a chance to win the latest Sony technology, including the NEX-FS700RH NXCAM camcorder with 4K-ready Super 35mm Exmor CMOS sensor and the UWP-D wireless microphone kit.

The Sony PROduction Awards aim to discover new filmmakers with exceptional talent and give them the opportunity to develop their careers as professionals. Contestants had to create a short film (or use an existing one) of a maximum of 5 minutes in length and submit it to the Sony PROduction Awards website, where the public could view it and vote for their favorites. The popular vote closed on April 7, by which time 10,000 votes had been received. The fifteen most voted works were submitted to the verdict of a jury of industry experts who were in charge of choosing three winners, one for each category in the competition.

The winners of the 2014 Sony PROduction Awards are:

Creatives: Scarecrow in Purgatory, Oliver Clubb, United Kingdom
Information: That Time, Benjamin Chesterton, United Kingdom
Students: No Good Deed, Michael O’Neill, Australia

Philip Bloom said of Oliver Clubb's Creative category winner Scarecrow in Purgatory: “A simple concept well executed. Excellent direction, camera work and sound meet all expectations on a technical level. The main performance, linked to the script, kept me glued to the screen and made me smile. An original and very interesting short.

Austrian filmmaker Nino Leitner commented on the winner in the Informative category, That Time, by Benjamin Chesterton: «This is a beautiful documentary that shows us the life of a young mother and her son and then reveals her fight against HIV and the story of the child she was forced to hand over. It is beautifully filmed and features well-used emotional slow-motion images that offer more information about the protagonists.

Molly Clarke highlighted the winner in the Students category, who No Good Deed, by documentary director Michael O'Neill "is a drama with great direction and actors staged very effectively, not an easy task."

Each winner will receive Sony's leading 4K-ready NEX-FS700RH NXCAM camcorder with Super 35mm Exmor CMOS sensor and a UWP-D wireless microphone kit, plus advertising to promote their work. Plus, you'll have access to Sony's Ci platform for cloud-based video production and library storage.

Naomi Climer, president of Sony Media Cloud Services, commented that "the quality of the films we have seen this year has been exceptional, especially considering that they have been created with limited resources. By offering this year's winners access to Ci℠, we are putting the power of much larger studios in their hands. It will also allow them to collaborate more easily with others and will provide them with the foundation for what I am sure will be long and exciting careers."

Olivier Bovis, Head of Audiovisual Media Solutions at Sony Europe, said: "The response from the global community of filmmakers has been astonishing, both in terms of the extraordinary standard of quality of the participants and the number of people who have participated in the popular vote. We would like to thank everyone who has participated this year in our global celebration of undiscovered filmmakers. The Sony PROduction Awards remind us that there is a great pool of talent in the world of audiovisual production and gives us the opportunity to give them the recognition they deserve.”

For the first time this year, the three award-winning films will be screened alongside the other 12 shortlisted films at the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at London's Somerset House. The exhibition will take place between May 1 and 18 and will be part of a larger celebration of photography and photojournalism.

More information about Sony PROduction, here.