In 2014 the Sundance Institute started a new project named the ‘Short Film Challenge’ which uses independent filmmaking to shed light on poverty and hunger around the world. The competition, which received support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, invited three-to-eight-minute submissions of either documentary or narrative form which depict innovations made by individuals to combat poverty.
This year, Nigeria’s Mobolaji Adeolu with the film A Will of Iron made the cut. Four other winning narrative and documentary short films were also selected from 1,387 submissions representing 69 different countries.
The films and filmmakers which presented their world premieres at the festival are:
Man in the Maze by Phil Buccellato and Jesse Ash,
Dropping In by Willem Van Den Heever,
Isabelle’s Garden by Jeffrey Palmer,
175 Grams by Bharat Mirle,
A Will of Iron by Mobolaji Adeolu.
A Will of Iron is a true life story of a blacksmith who has lives under the 3rd Mainland Bridge with his wife and child for almost 15 years. He shares his struggles and hopes while living under the bridge. The 3rd Mainland Bridge is Nigeria’s longest bridge at 11.8km in length.
The competition was designed to use the transformative power of storytelling to generate discussion, shift perceptions around extreme hunger and poverty, and harness the power of independent films to create a global conversation about these issues. Each of the selected short films will be awarded $10 000.
