Unlike previous years where the awards ceremony was incorporated into the closing gala, the nominees and winners were this time honoured separately in the Union Society by a conglomeration of the festival speakers and guests, chaperoned by Michael Smiley. Both preceded and followed by a generous drinks reception, the black-tie, invite-only event is by far the most exclusive of the three day festival. And yet, considering that in general, Watersprite makes such an effort to be accessible to the public as well as students, one might also describe it as curiously reclusive. On the other hand, this is the first year that bursaries have been offered to the award nominees, ensuring that those from further afield have the chance to attend and have a powwow with industry insiders and scouts. If they were lucky - that is if they managed to elbow their way through the inevitably unabating throng - even to sip champagne with Olivia Colman or Neil Gaiman.

            Dancing in the Ashes and Jamón shared the top honours, coming away with three awards each. The former, a product of the Arts University College Bournemouth impressed with its Production Design, recreating the grim atmosphere of an unnamed extermination Nazi camp and the luxurious quarters of its officers, an incredible feat considering its micro budget. The film’s lead, Sarah Winter collected the award for best acting on behalf of the film’s ensemble, though most likely as a recognition of her own powerful and almost entirely silent performance. The gin in the Campari for Dancing in the Ashes was in the category of Best Film itself, gratefully accepted by its director Nick Rowland who had earlier missed out on the Best Directing award.

            Jamón meanwhile, the incredibly dark animated tale of a pig adopted by a human family and desperately trying to fit in, was rewarded first for its sound editing and then its screenplay. The Israeli stop-motion film Nyosha, adapted from the memoir of a holocaust survivor, did just as well, first winning Best Cinematography on the merit of astonishing sunlight and cloud effects caught on the plasticine puppets. Best Soundtrack came next, presented by Dire Straits guitarist turned film composer Hal Lindes, Yoav Hudin’s simple and heartfelt piano-led score taking the honours. With both films equally matched, the competition came down to the Best Animation Category, Jamón ultimately out front by a nose.

            Watersprite’s genre awards are presented to the winning film’s director (rather than the producer as the Oscars do with Best Picture) which comes close to rendering the Best Director award redundant. This year at least, the opportunity was taken to reward a film that had otherwise been overlooked - The Painter and His Wife - a darkly comedic short of suspicion, jealousy and revenge that should have been featured in the Best Fiction category as well. This latter award was claimed by multi-nominee Chippendale, with the German Sensed and Rocket Boys winning Best Documentary and Editing respectively.

            Altogether a great showcase of the wealth of talent that Watersprite attracts annually, both of the short films themselves and the personalities who give some of their time to speak. Set to celebrate its fifth year in 2014 (apparently that’s a wooden anniversary. Well...), the festival continues to go from strength to strength.