SundanceTV announced the winner of the 2nd Annual SundanceTV Shorts Competition. The winner of the Jury Prize is Life’s a Drag by Johannesburg-based filmmaker Kate D’hotman. She receives a trip for two to London, which includes a screening of her film at a SundanceTV event during Sundance Film Festival 2019: London, which took place on 30 May to 2 June. The winning film will also be broadcast on SundanceTV, DStv channel 108, later in the year.
Life’s a Drag is a dark comedy about a depressed zombie named Bob. He used to be cool. He used to have groupies. He used to have all his body parts. Now, although the undead and the living have reached a truce, Bob is finding it hard to adjust. Life after death just isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. He’s in a dead-end job working for a narcissist, and he hasn’t been laid since before the Apocalypse. Up until now, he’s played by the rules, but Bob is reaching his breaking point, and he’s about to lose his temper… Life’s a Drag offers a hilarious reimagining of a world in the grip of a zombie apocalypse.
Commenting on the film, Mike Plante, Senior Programmer for Sundance Institute, said: ‘Proof that the zombie comedy genre can still have fun ideas and remind you how you are almost a zombie in today’s world.’
‘I made Life’s a Drag because I wanted to have some fun and flex my directing muscles again, and hoped that we could enter it into a few festivals to get some exposure in the lead up to my first feature, which I hope to shoot later this year,’ D’hotman said. ‘But I certainly didn’t expect to win such a prestigious award! It’s a huge honour and I’m so glad that the film has been so well received. The team all worked really hard, on a less than shoestring budget and I couldn’t be prouder of everyone.’
Life’s a Drag features performances by Damon Berry (Black Butterflies, My Father’s War), Garth Breytenbach (Beyond the River, Troy: Fall of a City) and Hlubi Mboya (Isidingo, The Docket).
‘The SundanceTV Shorts Competition provides the ideal platform to discover and showcase emerging creativity and exciting new voices in filmmaking,’ said Geraud Alazard, Senior Vice President of Marketing at AMC Networks International. ‘We’re looking forward to premiering Kate D’hotman’s winning film at an event during the Sundance Film Festival 2019: London as well as bringing it to an international audience when it’s broadcast on SundanceTV later this year. Our thanks go to all of the filmmakers who submitted entries as well Sundance Institute and our partners for their support of the competition.’
