A call to action by Peter Grasse, executive producer Dictionary Films Tokyo

No Gold was awarded in directing, editing or cinematography at Adfest. No Grande was awarded in Film. Seriously?

Are the industry’s standards impossibly high? Are the juries intractably indecisive? Or are the judges simply jaded? It has been a tough year.

Of course, hints seeped out from Adfest’s jury rooms. There was a lot of talk about the amount of long form content. Two-thirds of the work judged was over two minutes long. And the warning, “it’s hard to make a long piece of film perfect,” probably was, in fact, intended to spook those waiting for applause. Additionally, there was a lot of criticism about how things were submitted and the case studies that accompanied them. “Make your submissions concise,” and, “one study doesn’t fit all categories,” now seem to have been prophesies of disappointment rather than gripes.

But that same work was also praised for its bravery. For its beauty. And its emotional power.

So, really, no standout piece in ether critical parts of  Film Craft or in Film? Isn’t that an unfair denouncement of the quality of our creative achievements in Asia Pacific?

I’ve chaired Ciclope, Spikes & Award and I know it’s hard to keep a jury in the room to deliberate that final difficult Gold or Grande Prix decision. But failing to pick one just undermines the category, the festival and, in the case of craft, the entire industry. Choosing a Grande is an especially difficult decision, but it needs to be made. Not making it doesn’t communicate that your standards are admirably high. Rather, it communicates that film and film craft aren’t cutting it to the rest of advertising.

And that is simply not true.

Moreover, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend, the Australian executive producer kill switch. It’s usually an Aussie EP at the unrewarding helm. I’m an Aussie executive producer. That’s a humiliating observation.

Do we really think so highly of our ourselves that nothing can live up to our standards?

Spikes, Award and now Adfest. Maybe it’s a tall poppy thing, but Australian EP’s don’t like to give the top prizes away. And it’s short-sightedly detrimental to us all.

The day after a parsimonious Award, I entered an editing suite in Sydney and mouthed off that, “last night’s craft jury either didn’t know what they were doing or couldn’t control the politics in the room.”

To which the editor replied, “Be careful Pete. You’ve got two of them in the room with you now.” Foot in mouth, yes, but I felt it needed to be said.

Peter Grasse

Film craft matters to me. I’ve invested my career, my energy and my passion into the pursuit of excellence and the support of exceptional film craft when I see it. It’s out there. At least some of the jurors must see it too. And if they do, they have to stay in the room and fight for it.

The message the awards are sending has to change. And that will only come about if we start to talk about the problem.

Well, I’ve got it started.

NB: This story has been amended from the original. The Stable has been made aware that Adfest does not provide for a Grande Lotus in Film Craft. Peter Grasse and I would like to apologise to the Adfest Film Craft jury for stating that there should have been a Grand Prix in this category.