WINNER: 2022 JURY SPECIAL MENTION – MINI-DOC

Dir. Elliot Spencer
2021, Australia & China, 9 mins.

Filmmaker Elliot Spencer accepts the SDFF 2022 Jury Special Mention for Mini-Doc Sentience 知覺.

Sentience 知覺 is a short art documentary filmed in China. It takes us to two opposed locations in a span of twenty-four hours. Guanxi’s scenic mountainous region being one, and the other Yangshou’s raucous, touristy West Street sector. The former brims with a quiet, almost hypnotic majesty that can only be appreciated during the day, while the latter roars with an overwhelming assemblage of both human, and mechanized fury, that is at its most palpable come nightfall. 

JURY NOTE
“Enchanting and disturbing in equal measure, Sentience 知覺 is a visually stunning essay on the contrast between ancient beauty and modern aesthetics in China, and explores the ways in which we interact with and participate in our surroundings.”