Big congratulations to Kirsty Griffin and Viv Kernick - their wonderfully moving web series Amy Street seems to be on a round-the-world ticket at the moment.
It has just been selected for the 2017 Berlin Webfest. Coming up this weekend at the Melbourne Web Fest, the series is in competition for best web series - and fellow WIFTer Prisca Bouchet is up for the best editor award.
This comes not long after two of the doco shorts were translated into Spanish - and won best documentary web series - at the Buenos Aires Web Festival in Argentina in March. Some or all of the stories have also screened at nine other festivals here and overseas, and next month one of the shorts is screening at the Manhattan Independent Film Festival. Phew!
The series of eight short films follows residents of the Supported Life Style Hauraki Trust on Amy Street, Thames, exploring their hopes, dreams, challenges and relationships as they navigate a complex world.
The films focus on the people and their personalities rather than their disability, and grew from a short film named Wayne, which was made as part of the 2014 Loading Docs initiative and won the 'award of recognition' at the Best Shorts Competition in Los Angeles.