A round of applause for Rebecca Tansley, whose film The Strangest of Angels was honoured with a Special Mention for Extraordinary Artistic Achievement for its dramatic interpretation of the contemporary chamber opera The Strangest of Angels at the Golden Prague International Television Festival.
As many as 83 films were registered in the competition for seven prizes. The Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97 Prize went to the creators of the film Nikola Márová: Portrait of a Prima Ballerina produced by Czech Television.
The Strangest of Angels is the film of a chamber opera. Rebecca directed and produced the film for New Zealand Opera through her company Minerva Productions. The opera was inspired by an episode in the life of acclaimed New Zealand author Janet Frame, and we filmed it on location. It stars sopranos Anna Leese and Jayne Tankersley.
There is only the one Special Mention given at the GPITF, alongside the three category winners, one Czech film award and the Grand Prix. Rebecca reports that some of the jurors confirmed to her afterwards that the five of them – all very experienced industry practitioners in the area of music and arts film and television – were unanimous in their decision to award The Strangest of Angels the Special Mention from the 30 or so films in competition.
The Strangest of Angels screened at this year's New Zealand International Film Festival.