Ben Briand’s ‘Apricot’ one of the top five ‘Best Narrative Film’ finalists at 2010 Vimeo Awards
Cherub Pictures director, Ben Briand’s critically acclaimed short film, APRICOT (starring Ewan Leslie and Laura Gordan) has been acknowledged as an online phenomenon, by being selected as one of the top five “Best Narrative Film” finalists of the inaugural 2010 Vimeo Awards.
The Vimeo Festival & Awards honour the best in online videos from around the world in multiple categories, with finalists culled from over 6500 submissions and voted on by a group of esteemed judges from the global creative community considered the best in the industries of film, art and tech.
Judges across the various categories of the Vimeo Awards includefilmmakers and artists as diverse as David Lynch (Lost Highway,Mulholland Dr, Twin Peaks); Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, Where inthe World is Osama Bin Laden); Ted Hope (legendary indie film producerof Happiness, In the Bedroom, 21 Grams); Roman Coppola (director ofhighly acclaimed and influential music videos and commercials, forbands such as Green Day and the Strokes and for clients such as Cokeand Honda); M.I.A. (Grammy and Academy Award nominated songwriter,record producer, singer, rapper, visual artist) and many more.
Winners of the Vimeo Awards are announced on October 9.
Vimeo was named this year by Time magazine as the top website for video and moving image content.
APRICOT,which has already enjoyed considerable festival success having screenedon the opening night of the St Kilda Film Festival this year and at the32nd Moscow International Film Festival 2010, has garnered a hugeonline following upon release.
The online stats on APRICOT areimpressive. It’s now achieved over 300,000 views online (across variouswebsites); has been translated into over a dozen languages; and hasfeatured on over 200 blogs across a variety of film, photography,fashion and advertising sites worldwide including prestigious UK filmsite Director’s Notes; groundbreaking agency Weiden + Kennedy’sinfluential blog; and pop culture authority, yayeveryday.com. There are also over 1600 fans of the film on Facebook.
“Theresponse to the film online has been overwhelming,” says Briand. “Farmore viewers have watched the film online than I could have ever hopedfor in the traditional festival environment. The life changing careeropportunities that have come from this exposure is a testament to thefuture of narrative films connecting directly with their targetaudience online.”
APRICOT: A chance encounter between amysterious man and a beautiful woman soon becomes deeply personal.Playful prods about the woman’s first childhood kiss sparks a series offragmented memories. The intoxicating situation turns when themysterious, handsome man begins to take notes on their conversation.
APRICOT is produced by Cherub Pictures and Moonwalk Films.
2 Comments
It’s a perfectly crafted film, absolutely stunning.
Good luck Ben, you and your team deserve to win.
The lead actor looks like he could play David Droga. The movie could be called ‘The fifth child’.
Oh and yes, well done Ben.