Global urbanisation and climate change were popular themes among the winning entries of the Anthroposcene Short Film Competition announced recently by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.
Organised by AILA in partnership with the National Museum of Australia and LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture, the global Anthroposcene Short Film Competition was part of the 2016 International Festival of Landscape Architecture, which concluded recently in Canberra. The winners of the competition were decided by audience participation at the Not In My Backyard Outdoor Screening during the Festival.
The Architect by Sydney-based actor and filmmaker Tiffany Hoy won the top prize of AUD7,000. Set in the year 2020, The Architect imagines a world in which humans are responsible for all life with much of Earth’s flora and fauna having been wiped out by climate change, progress and the ravages of war.
Sic Erat Scriptum by Los Angeles-based landscape architect and filmmaker Evan Mather was the runner-up, winning AUD3,000 in prize money.
The Anthroposcene Short Film Competition was open to the public with the brief seeking short films themed around the new epoch of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is defined as a new geological epoch in which humans are now the main force altering the environment on a planetary scale.
The eight shortlisted films, which explored ideas of identity, the future, increased urbanisation, technology and environmental change, were selected by a jury from 141 international entries. The jury comprised of seven international design professionals including Jury Chair and International Festival of Landscape Architecture Creative Director Richard Weller from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design; Author and Artist Paul Carter; Architect and Futurist Liam Young; Harvard University’s Silvia Benedito; University of Southern California’s Aroussiak Gabrielian; Editor in Chief of LA+ Journal Tatum Hands; and Visual Anthropologist from the National Museum of Australia Kirsten Wehner.
The Anthroposcene finalists along with the Director’s Cut can now be viewed on the International Festival of Landscape Architecture: Not In My Backyard website.
