Filmmaker
Isaac Knights-Washbourn
Isaac Knights-Washbourn is a Filmmaker from Aotearoa/New Zealand. His film, Money Honey, premiered at the 70th Berlinale. It won the inaugural Wellington UNESCO City of Film Award for Best Film at the NZIFF and the Directors and Editor Guild of NZ Award for Best Director at Show Me Shorts Film Festival. He was chosen to participate in LiM: Less is More 2022, a feature film development workshop. Awarded an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, Isaac graduated in 2021 with an MA in Screenwriting from the Kino Eyes Masters Program. Mother’s Milk, his short documentary shot in Western Serbia, has screened in competition at Dok Leipzig, ZagrebDox and was nominated for the Silver Eye Award at the East Silver Market held at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. In 2023, Isaac participated in IDFAcademy and was an ESoDoc participant with his first feature documentary project, Thorntree.
FILMS
Mother's Milk / Director / 18' /Serbia / 2022
In the hills of western Serbia, Dragica begins her workday on the farm by milking her cow. It is the journey of the milk into food that reveals her dedication to her family both past and present. Dressed in black, in the wake of her mother’s passing, Dragica battles with the weight of legacy that has been handed down to her. As she provides for loved ones a cloud of doubt hovers above her, continue in her mother’s footsteps or leave behind that which was bequeathed to her? Observing her ritualistic labour and devotion from sunrise to sunset, we are taken on a journey within the confines of her fences. Mother’s Milk is a tender meditation on motherhood and the chains that bind us together.Screenings:
DOK Leipzig (Germany)ZagrebDox (Croatia)Silver Eye Award (Nomination) - East Silver Market - Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Rep)Kinemastik International Short Film Festival (Malta)Linden Film Fest Cetinje (Montenegro)BEAST International Film Festival (Portugal)20minmax Short Film Festival (Germany)International Festival of Ethnological Film (Serbia)Winner Best Student FilmHerceg Novi Film Festival (Montenegro)First Frame Film Festival (BiH)
Money Honey / Writer & Director / 9'/ New Zealand / 2020
"80 cents. But what can you buy with that? A few chips maybe, a bit of coleslaw or a burger bun? Certainly not an Elvis sandwich with peanut butter, banana and bacon. But it's worth a try, thinks Red, even if things didn't end well for Elvis. With a bit of luck and business savvy she and her mate might manage to scrape together enough money, even if it's just to cheer up Hank." Berlinale 2020Screenings:
Berlin International Film Festival: Generation - Kplus competition (Germany)
New Zealand International Film Festival: Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts (NZ) Winner of the Wellington UNESCO City of Film Award for Best Film
BogoShorts International Film Festival (Colombia)
Kyiv International Film Festival <Molodist> (Ukraine)
Show Me Shorts International Film Festival (NZ)
Directors and Editors Guild of NZ Award for Best DirectorPÖFF Shorts – Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia)
Kinemastik International Short Film Festival (Malta)
Wairoa Māori Film Festival (NZ)
Pollywood Pasifika Film (NZ)
Kino w Trampkach (Poland)
Lobo Fest - Festival Internacional de Filmes (Brazil)
Pentedattilo Film Festival (Italy)
The Two Tales / Writer & Director / 5' / UK, Portugal, Estonia / 2020
After losing his father at a young age, Isaac Knights-Washbourn explores memories of his childhood. Both the fragility of life and the strength of a paternal bond are examined through physical and mythologized traces his father left behind.Screenings:
Encounters International Film Festival (UK)
Caminhos Film Festival (Portugal)
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