For When You Wake

If anyone wants to know why my eyes were puffy when the lights came up at the heats, it was tears of laughter from all the silly films, and had nothing to do with the immense heartbreak I experienced watching this.

Jokes aside, this was a beautiful film. You can see the path it's going down pretty much from the title card but it executes everything in a way that really forces you to connect with the character and their journey. It's also nice when a team gets the Found Footage genre and still takes time to make it visually pleasing. Ka pai tō mahi

This was the best version of a poor concept! I think a lot of really tough decisions were made...
The delivery directly to a static camera...
Shooting in a mundane location...

But the execution is pretty fuckin' flawless! I'm really interested to see how this film does.
In the past, judges have required this disgusting ironic sheen on everything! It's a generational thing.
As those judges cycle out, and new ones cycle in, I hope that sincere films like this get more of a look in!!!

I wasn't expecting something SO heavy after that sassy little team logo! Very bold move here. Only critique is that the 'couple' at the end didn't seem very coupleish? But I don't think that matters, because the emotion weight carries the film. Not a critique, just a suggestion, but i wonder if this film would have played differently if the camera had been a bit more 'lo-fi'? If the shots felt less framed and static? Similar to Andrew Todds second film last year. Good choice on the sound and lighting though! I think this will do very well!

Yay for queer cinema in 48Hours! This film is beautiful, poignant, and moving. The earnest writing and acting pierce straight into my soul.

The pet names are so cute. Mister. Precious.

The transition from the partner being in a coma to being dead is devastating. Everywhere aches. There is silence in the theatre.

The repeated view of the Southern Alps as a way to process loss is so beautiful.

This is the cruel loss of the unattainable perfect gay relationship. I'm a sucker for such films. The sting of gay desire! The guilty pleasure of watching cute gay shit, regardless of whether it's happy or sad! The addiction of feeding on someone else's gay love story because you can't feed on your own!

For the reference to "our show", I thought some specificity by naming the show would have been nice. Little details can add realism and say something about the characters. I don't think it would have felt forced.

I forgot to say, this film screens immediately before Ghost PTSD by ScryptTeam, and so we have a film about the loss of the perfect gay dream immediately before a film about the loss of the perfect straight dream.

What got my attention:
A nice money-shot of the city from Halswell Quarry. Seen that same view myself many times. Nice.

Take it or Leave it:
I can’t help but think about who has “found” this. It’s very much the essence of a found-film for their to be some reference to how the viewer got their hands on it or when it was made public for example. He’s made the film for his comatose partner who never gets to see it and after some bad news keeps making the film for himself really - but it’s not really lost footage and therefore isn’t found. A simple bit at the start of him wrestling with the decision of playing the film after getting it from a box or him actually editing it together after some time (or indeed other footage for a funeral tape and finding lots of lost memories) would have added a bit of “reasons” and more of purpose to the film. As it is, the film is very one-note. Talking to the camera about all the happy things going on before accidentally filming the receiving of said bad news. It would have been good to see more of the dark times the character experienced while his partner was in a coma, the trauma he was going through. The doubts, difficulties and even temptations during that time. Just more variety needed apart from the house and Halswell Quarry. The reality is not a lot happens in this and after the partner passes who is this film for? I know there is an attempt to explain it but I think it could have all gone an even more traumatic route with someone else watching this – as an end-of-life note. Too dark, haha? Just would have added some “Why?” And I agree with some of the other reviewers, the camerawork needed to be a bit rougher, not so static, more impromptu. We get a couple of moments of this but on the whole it’s just too clean.

Final thoughts:
It’s a sweet film and well done on making the CHCH final.

This was my personal favourite of the city finals. Wish you'd picked up more wins but congrats on being reigning qweens!

On the first watch, we were SO convinced this was the winner. It was like 1am, Rachel was balling her eyes out, I was kind of chuckling to try and avoid crying myself, it was excellent. This was a film that sort of cemented for Rachel and I our desire to manage chch for a while, cause how rare is it that you can connect with your partner in such a uniquely intimate way, thanks to work that someone else made in hopes of winning a competition hahahaha

Here’s the thing - if god forbid something were ever to happen to Rachel, this is exactly how I would process the grief and cope with that kind of loss. It was like looking into a mirror of what life would be without her, and this internal wiring we have (and I suppose therefore, a fairly huge bias) made us feel that this was the one to take on for top spot, and we’re happy to share there were some judges strongly in your corner too, which was so awesome to see.
Now the trouble with this competition is you have to watch the top films more than once hahaha

Before we get to that though - other notes. beautifully shot, wonderful performance and some real standout dialogue - check, check, check. Stunning work. Love me some little elephants.

Unfortunatelyyyyy the more times we watched it, the more it felt less like ‘found footage’ and more like ‘curated footage’. A subtle but important difference that was noted by some judges quite strongly, who once again were really scrutinising genre use this year. So perhaps a version of this story where it doesn’t appear so polished would have played better for the panel.

What might this have looked like if you’d leaned into the rawest moments? The highest of highs, the lowest of lows - surely the lead would have recorded some stuff he wouldn’t have been so fond of putting in the final product. Perhaps anger that he’s not around? Maybe some reckless choices? It’s a bold thing to ask, but the found footage genre really is all about the things that get ‘caught’ rather than the things that get created.

THE BEST THING: A sincere, moving story that connected deeply with us. A rare piece of vulnerability in the comp, and one we won’t forget.

THE NEXT THING: Sincerity and calmness has been consistently at the forefront of this team, and it’s appreciated. But chaotic evil Joel and Rachel are really crossing their fingers that Screen Qweens gets a horrifically not calm genre next year hahahahaha. Action, Horror, Musical, something to really make you squirm and try tell a different kind of tale. Can’t wait to see what you make!