BEST SHORT - INTERNATIONAL - WINNER

BEST ACTOR – Feature or Short - WINNER

Graham Dickson (“Michael”)

BEST DIRECTOR - Short

Matt Riley (Nominee)

THE OPERATOR

The Operator follows Michael, a client contact associate as he starts another dull day of business as usual. Connecting long distance intergalactic calls from a remote satellite (not as exciting as it sounds); a bleary eyed and coffee fueled Michael receives a distress call. No one ever receives a distress call. They barely touched on distress calls during his induction day.

Director Biography - Matt Riley

Matt Riley is a Director of Photography based in Bristol in the southwest of the UK. The Operator is the first film he's written and directed. The Operator is an allegory for my own experience of learning about the true extent of the climate crisis, and how helpless and ill equipped a person can feel. It explores the notion of "Climate Grief" as the world heads towards a series of climate and ecological tipping points. His day job is that of a DP the technical side of the story telling was very important to me, camera movement and lighting cues are integral to the narrative and the way the story unfolds for an audience.