2010 NSWNA Nurses Short Film Festival

The second NSWNA Short Film Festival attracted a packed crowd at NIDAs Parade Theatre, who were treated to a diverse collection of films about nurses and made by nurses, in celebration of International Nurses Day 2010.

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The winners

First prize: Escape from the Café of Healthy Salvation

Susan Ling Young, RN at McKesson Asia-Pacific, took out the gong for her film about a waitress/nurse angel who succeeds in helping a customer escape the ‘revolving door’ of the Café of Healthy Salvation.

Working from McKesson’s Lane Cove office, Susan liaised with her colleagues, some of whom work from home, to make the film. ‘What I’m trying to get across is nursing can be many different things nowadays,’ she told The Lamp. ‘My film is about what we’re trying to do with McKesson in the disease management team – it’s trying to help patients with chronic diseases to minimise the progression of the disease when they are well and help them stay well and reduce their hospital stays. This is a win for everyone: Nurses get more balance in their lives and more beds become available – it’s about trying to break the revolving door of what happens with people with chronic diseases.’

Susan won a $5,000 first prize.

Second prize: Robo Nurse 2

Last year’s winner Frances Usherwood from Sydney Children’s Hospital was runner-up with Robo Nurse 2. The futuristic sci-fi thriller is set in 2024 in a dystopian society where the Facist Benevolent Neo-Conservative party has moved to replace all working Australians with robots. All union activity is now illegal and small bands of freedom fighters – including renegade nurses – struggle to survive.

Frances won a $2,000 second prize.

Third prize 1: Baby Nurse

What do you do when you’re a student nurse and the RN in charge is a bitch? ‘Bring her some lollies’ is EEN Ariel Moon’s strategy. In a candid interview, shot by her mother Robyn Moon, an RN at Royal North Shore Hospital, Ariel talks about her experiences with staff in the delivery suite in Baby Nurse.

Robyn was thrilled to take out joint third prize of $1000. ‘I’m absolutely ecstatic,’ she said. ‘It’s lovely to be able to give something back to the profession. The NSWNA has supported me well over the years. I’ve been an RN for 33 years, and with a daughter coming through nursing, I really wanted to explore what it was like when I started and how difficult it is for them now, so she was the perfect vehicle.’

Third prize 2: The Gift

In what was considered by some in the audience to be the most confronting and moving film of the night, Carolyn Guichard’s The Gift documents the process of childbirth, showing the parents and midwives just before, during and after the birth.

The couple featured in the film are Carolyn’s son and daughter-in law.

Although Carolyn is not a midwife – she’s a Clinical Nurse Educator at Coffs Harbour Community Health – she was eager to ensure midwifery was a part of the festival. ‘I’m in awe of the work they do,’ she said.

Carolyn’s other entry Bop Till You Drop was also a finalist and next year she plans to submit two more films.

Watch the films Here