A foreign language film has taken out the Golden Sparky for the first time at this year's Ignite Film Festival.
Over 300 people packed out the Wesley Centre on Saturday night for the fifth annual awards night of Sydney's premier Christian short film festival.
Japanese-language film Atarashii Tabidachi (A New Start) took out the top honour.
The film is directed by Michael Woodward, who attends Crows Nest Japanese Christian Church.
Mr Woodward was awarded with two tickets to Europe courtesy of Jetset and $2500 cash from the Mary Bladon Fellowship for his film, which is based on Matthew 16:18, a verse about Peter being the rock upon which Christ would build his church.
However, the film is a samurai picture set in feudal Japan, with an all-Japanese cast who are dressed in kimonos, armour and helmets and wielding swords. All dialogue is entirely in Japanese, so English subtitles are used to reveal the dialogue to non-Japanese speakers.
Mr Woodward says he was "very honoured and surprised' to win the Golden Sparky.
"I was stunned. We had already won one award for best sound that night and we were the first film shown, so I assumed the judges would have forgotten about us by the end of the night," he says.
"When my name was read out one friend said I looked like a deer in headlights."
Mr Woodward returned from Japan with his new wife, Kayo, especially for the Ignite awards night.
"We were going to have our honeymoon, but we ran out of time and money so we came back. But it was worth it and Kayo was extremely happy that we won," he says.
"Having won the trip to Europe, it means we can plan a holiday later."
The success of the film was a true team effort according to Mr Woodward with over 50 church members assisting on the film.
"We prayed about every part of the process and as we made the film we knew God would be less concerned with how good the film was and more concerned with how we showed love to each other as we made it," he says.
"We had ladies from the mid-week Bible study making costumes for us, we had shy young guys from church growing in confidence as they learned to act and do the stunts and we had many others from church helping in all sorts of ways."
Mr Woodward says his inspiration for the film was to bring his favourite stories about Peter to the big screen.
"Peter is the rock on which Jesus builds his church and he does many wonderful things in Acts. But he was so badly flawed, as we read in the gospels, like when he denies Jesus. My film was about showing the fact that our God is a God of new beginnings who offers fresh starts to people," Mr Woodward says.
A fireman by trade, Mr Woodward says he doesn't have aspirations of being a full-time filmmaker any time soon and wants to focus on his marriage.
"I'm just happy that God has used the film to bring people in the church together and to help us minister to one another. If God can use it to minister to other people as they see it on the Ignite DVD, or on TV or the internet, that would be great too."
The People's Choice award went to a unique comedy called "Seven Short Films About Stones', directed by David Cairns.
The Mitcham Salvation Army, Melbourne member received two tickets to Chile courtesy of Jetset.
There were also eight category winners who each received a Silver Sparky, $100 from the Mary Bladon Fellowship and a selection of CDs and DVDs.
The Ignite plight
Each year the Ignite Film Festival has a theme that filmmakers must incorporate into their short film and this year's theme was "rock or stone'.
Over 40 films were entered this year using a range of Bible passages containing references to rocks and stones.
Anglican Media CEO and festival organiser Allan Dowthwaite says this year's entries were better than ever.
"The standard of films at Ignite continues to increase every year and 2008 was no exception," Mr Dowthwaite says.
"I am always amazed at how creative Australian Christian filmmakers are in bringing the word of God to light on the big screen."
The theme for Ignite 2009 will be "animals'.
"We have had parables, water, fire and light as themes in previous years, so in 2009 we want to see Christian filmmakers use the many references to different kinds of animals that are throughout the Bible," he says.
Mr Dowthwaite says the Ignite DVD also makes an excellent resource for churches, youth groups and Scripture classes.
"The Ignite 2008 DVD contains 28 of the best short films we received this year and can serve as a useful and creative addition to any presentation of the Bible," he says.
To order the Ignite 2008 DVD visit the Ignite online store.
The Ignite 2008 one-hour special containing some of this year's best entries will be screened nationwide on the Seven Network on Christmas Day.
