Jameson First Shot names winners

Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kevin Spacey, Willem Dafoe and Trigger Street Productions have announced the winners of the second Jameson First Shot international short film competition.

Hanneke Schutte from South Africa, Anton Lanshakov from Russia and Shirlyn Wong from the US were picked from a shortlist of 20 entrants, and were notified via a personal Skype call from the competition’s creative director Kevin Spacey, president of Trigger Street Productions Dana Brunetti and Jameson First Shot producer Carter Swan.

The three winners will now fly to LA to commence production on their short films, all of which will star Dafoe. Jameson will then host premieres when production has wrapped to ensure each winner gets to celebrate their achievement, as well as getting the chance promote their winning short film.

Spacey commented: “After last year’s three outstanding winners, expectations were naturally very high for the second year. The entries for Jameson First Shot 2013 were of an exceptional standard and I have no doubt that the three winners we have chosen will each make an incredible and unique short film. I’m sure Willem Dafoe is going to enjoy the three roles immensely and we are all looking forward to getting production started in LA.”

Details of the three projects are as follows:

• South Africa: Schutte’s Ping Pong with Mr Yong tells the story of a hypochondriac ex ping pong player who never got over missing a major tournament final because of a cold.
  
  
• Russia: Lanshakov’s The Smile-Man focuses on a gentleman dealing with the consequences of a car accident, which has left him with a spinal injury that means he has a permanent smile on his face.
  
  
• USA: Wong’s Love’s Routine is a dark comedy about a discordant elderly couple, who ultimately prove that love is greater than flesh and blood.

Last year’s short films received more than 5.6m YouTube views between them. For more information on Jameson First Shot, visit its website.