Directed by Jon-Claire Lee, the short film Budget & Co – The Homeless Effect last night (11 July) was awarded the BEST EDITING AWARD over 50 international films entered in “The 2014 Project Homeless Film Competition.”  The Awards Ceremony was held at the Riverside Theatres, Parramatta and Budget & Co was screened along with the other 15 finalist films.   Budget & Co was very honoured to be have received one of only 7 major awards presented on the evening.

Budget & Co is a comedy about one day in an advertising agency, which is trying to desperately avoid bankruptcy by coming up with a winning “homeless week” advertising campaign. The agency’s decision makers  are, of course, totally clueless about what to do, so they come up totally improbably but hilarious ideas.

Jon-Claire addressed the capacity crowd with the following award acceptance speech: “I’d like to thank the Parramatta City Council and Screen My Shorts for giving this award to our film Budget & Co – The Homeless Effect.  We hope our film will raise public and industry awareness about how important it is to portray our nation’s homeless population in truthful, compassionate and positive ways that will help advance the betterment of their care and standard of living.  I wish to thank our outstanding ensemble cast and dedicated crew for helping make this important issue translate so well to the screen.  I accept this award on your behalf.  Thank you.”

Run in partnership with Parramatta City Council, Project Homeless was open to filmmakers, animators, machinimatographers and documentary makers from across the planet, who are invited to produce a 3 – 10 min short film on the one theme: the Homeless.  Over 50 films from around the world entered the competition.  All filmmaking teams were  allocated one of 20 topics to explore in relation to the Homeless, such as current refugee situations, LGBT intolerance, homeless by choice, gambling, economic pressures and returning war veterans.  Project Homeless was purposely designed as a global event for filmmakers to participate, contribute and raise awareness whilst giving them opportunities to develop their craft. Their creative works will then become a community resource for education, entertainment and inspiration.