Morzine Film Awards 2019

The sun was shining on the 29^th March, yet Morzine was the picture of a post-apocalyptic, ghost town. A few fragile souls emerged early evening to bag themselves a double-bacon cheese burger from Cuisine 22, before slowly retreating back to the comfort of their slumber dens. What had caused this unusual behaviour? It could only be one thing… the Morzine Film Awards.

It is (arguably) the best event in the winter calendar, attracting thousands of seasonnaires, locals, tourists and even their dogs. I don’t know how they do it, but Mickey Fitz and his band of merry men organise this fun really bloody well.

The Morzine Film Awards (MFA) is a non-profit event that gets film-makers, no matter how pro or amateur, to showcase the area we live in - usually with a smattering of comedy value, and insane shredding. On the night, there’s an air of healthy competition amongst the teams, whilst everyone get suitably lubricated on drinks provided by Café Chaud, and settle in to watch hours of short films.

This years’ event saw 20 teams step up to the stage to introduce their films. Amongst them were Morzine girl gang, The Ginbomb Gypsies, The Ultimate Snowblader, Fynn Gentle and Team Plonks with their film ‘Two of Those Days’ starring four of our Morzine ambassadors sending it all over Avoriaz.

By the end of the night, we had laughed, we had gasped, and we had all sung in harmony to Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’. We had cast our votes for what would be the winner of the ‘People’s Choice’ award, and deservedly, Shredits won with their Armageddon spoof, Gnarmageddon. See what they did there?

A panel of judges deliberated to choose their top three films, one which featured our Morzine store manager Angus Donald playing the saxophone atop a snowy ridge. Swoon! Best male and female skiiers Sacha Leopold and Quentin Vaurnet were rightly awarded with a stash of Planks gear, and Jason Rickwood took home a supply of Stance socks for bagging Best Trick.

You may be sat there wondering, all this fun surely comes at a price? Well actually, other than the hint of self-loathing after boozing too hard, it’s a guilt-free night. ALL of the money spent on tickets, merchandise, food and drinks at the MFA goes towards a number of local charities that help to keep Morzine the greatest place in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD. This years’ charities included:

• Secours en Montagne: A team of rescue volunteers who put their own lives at risk to search for those missing in the mountains
• ES Foundation: A charity set up in memory of local young athlete Ellie Souter. The foundation funds young athletes who need financial support to achieve their potential and dreams
• The Morzine-Pleney Summer Build Crew: Supporting members of the MTB community in Morzine who volunteer to get the Pleney bike track built and read to ride for opening weekend. The tools and equipment used are funded by the MFA
• The Pittle Pingouins Hockey Club: Helping youngsters of Morzine build friendships whilst training to become one of the mighty Pingouins!

This year, the MFA raised over €31,000, almost doubling what it had achieved the year before. The event is getting bigger and better each season and we can’t wait to see what next year has in store.

To follow the MFA’s progress, and to check out this years’ entries, go to https://www.morzinefilmawards.com/ or follow them on Facebook.