Short film Blind Freedom has received multiple international film festival awards in the last month.
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Emily Donohoe
Locally filmed Blind Freedom has been on an international film festival sweep.
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At the start of the year, director and writer Craig Wyhoon’s short film was awarded Best Short Screenplay at the Los Angeles Film Awards.
A few days later, it took home the Best Indie Short Film, Best Historical Film, and Best Supporting Actress (Claire Duncan) awards at the New York International Film Awards.
Mr Wyhoon's certificate for Best Indie Short Film from the New York International Film Awards.
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Claire Duncan and Skye Hope pictured on the World Film Festival in Cannes award for Best Historical Film.
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Then, at the end of January, it won Best Historical Film, Best Supporting Actress (Claire Duncan), and Best Young Actress (Skye Hope) at the World Film Festival in Cannes.
Mr Wyhoon said receiving all the awards was a little surreal, but a great feeling.
His focus now is on two major Australian events — St Kilda Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival — to which Blind Freedom was recently submitted.
“They’re Academy Award qualifying events,” Mr Wyhoon said.
“We don’t have to win anything, it would just be great to be selected.”
Through selection for the festivals, Mr Wyhoon aims to spread his message of advocacy for those with disabilities showcasing their talent in film.
“All our films are centred around having some form of disability theme incorporated into them, as well as having actors or crew that have some form of disability,” he said.
While the accolades have been rolling in, Mr Wyhoon has been working on a new script for another period film, which he plans to start shooting at the end of this year.
He has also been working with Australian actor and producer Jessica Orcsik on turning his first short film, Loki and Me, into a feature-length piece.
“There’s still a long way to go, but we hope to finish writing in the next three or four months, and then her company will hope to produce it,” Mr Wyhoon said.
If the project is given the green light, Mr Wyhoon has endorsed local young star Skye Hope for a role in the film.
“She’s going to go places, I can tell you that right now,” he said.
Mr Wyhoon said the supportive culture of the film industry had motivated him to continue working on projects.
“I didn’t realise that, until after Blind Freedom, the crew and cast are so supportive of each other, and they provide so much feedback and positive energy,” he said.
“It’s a great industry to work in. So many people are so for inclusiveness that I didn’t realise, which is a good thing because that’s the message I’m trying to spread.”