When the smoke cleared at the third annual Flicks on 66 Wild West Digital Shootout on Saturday, July 20th in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Steven List was presented two top prizes for his short film “Shibubu”, a comedy about a Zen assassin. “Shibubu” and the six other finalists were all shot and edited in one week, ending Saturday. Flicks provided cast, crew, equipment and everything else necessary to make the pictures.
List nabbed the Palm de Grease for best picture for “Shibubu,” which he co-wrote with Astrid Neal. Their movie won by a single point over runnerup “Twenty Questions” by Keith Calder, of London, in the closest voting in the festival’s history. “Twenty Questions” is a comedy about what happens after Death and the Tooth Fairy have a fling. “Willpower” took second runnerup. It was written by Veronica Hirsch and Ken Cahall of Tucson, AZ and directed by Hirsch. It’s a comedy about a cop and his prey who fight to stay awake on a lonely road.
List also won the Audience Award, barely beating out “Willpower” for that honor in front of a packed auditorium at El Rey Theater in downtown Albuquerque.
In addition to the Palm de Grease, List receives a scholarship to the Fox Searchlab program in Los Angeles. The Searchlab program seeks emerging filmmakers. They are mentored by top names in the industry. The filmmakers then receive a small budget and equipment to make another short digital movie. If officials at Searchlab are impressed, they will consider funding a low-budget feature by the chosen filmmaker. It is the first year Searchlab has been affiliated with Flicks on 66.
Flicks began soliciting short film scripts at the beginning of the year. The winning scripts were chosen from more than 200 submitted to compete in the Wild West Digital Shootout, which is produced by the Digital Filmmaking Institute, Inc. of Albuquerque, NM, a non-profit organization. Shooting began Sunday, July 14. Finished films were turned in by noon on Saturday, July 20.
For more information, check out the official website for Flicks on 66.
