Last year, Heckler’s lead editor, Andrew Holmes worked on a special film called Byron, the passion project of David Nobay, chief creative officer of Marcel Sydney and Justin McMillan, Goodoil and Taxi director.

It was a film made remarkable by superb cinematography and sharp directorial decisions.

Holmes’ sharp editorial decisions have just won him a Silver Lotus Award.

The spot, which visualises Nobay’s emotive declaration of love for Byron in poetry, became a highlight of 11-year old 2017 Byron Bay International Film Festival that attracts filmmakers and film lovers from all over the world.

Holmes’ work on it made Heckler the only Australian post house to win an award in the editing category.

Andrew Holmes. Photo by David Collins

The news of Holmes’ win came as his second child, Harlow Indie Holmes, was born.

“What an amazing week!” Holmes said,

“One minute I’m rushing my wife to hospital, about to give birth to our little girl, the next minute I’m waking up with baby in arm, getting text messages from Justin congratulating me on winning Silver for Best Editing at Adfest. Weeks don’t get much better than this one.”

Nobay commented, “From the moment I discussed the project with the team at BBFF, there were only ever two people on my short list as creative collaborators: Justin, as director and Andrew as the alchemist I knew who would deftly meld my words and Justin’s images. Andrew is a uniquely gifted editor, whose ability to improvise and innovate has rightly won him the nickname ‘Jazz Hands’ around the industry.”

“Working on this film was really refreshing,” Holmes added. “It was an amazing opportunity to work closely with a bunch of filmmakers, which at times felt like an art experiment, collaborating and exploring ideas and developing visual narratives that would work for this particular film.”

The film was special to McMillan. “After living in Byron for the last 7 years, this was an especially tricky film for me to execute. I was honoured to colour in Nobby’s words and I really love this editor. Andrew Holmes is a storyteller I really enjoy working with.” The pairing of McMillan and Holmes seems to have been a match made FOR heaven.

View Holmes’ other work here…

…including his award-winning work on Wok for Tiger Beer:

Heckler’s Andrew Holmes wins Australia’s only One Show Pencil in Film Craft

David Nobay & Justin McMillan write their own path to The Byron Bay Film Festival