Its been interesting following the entries to Relentless’ first Short Stories narrative video competition; a great opportunity for film makers and directors.

The winner has been announced as Dark Side of the Lens a moving five minute film by Penzance-born surf photographer Mickey Smith and Australian filmmaker Allan Wilson of Astray Collective.

As well as being the overall Short Stories 2010 winner, Best International Short award at the inaugural Canadian Surf Film Festival, and Digital Short of the Year at the star studded Surfer Poll Awards .

In addition to Dark Side, three more compelling shorts were released: Transatlantiscm by Matt Lambert, his portrait of BMX pro Mark Webb; Permanent Vocation by Finnish filmmaker Johannes Östergård, on Triple X Games champion snowboarder Jenny Jones; And the stunning Flight of Passage by multi-talented filmmaker James Gardner, starring skater Ben Nordberg, with heartfelt narration from Steve Mason, former The Beta Band front man.

Whats perhaps even more interesting is that the guidelines for 2011’s competition have been issued. Can’t wait to see the creative juices it gets flowing!

Short Stories is now calling for entries for its 2011 evolution – with eight films released from February to December. Relentless invite international filmmakers to define their empowering attitude NO HALF MEASURES – where artists and athletes who pursue their obsessions without compromise – but concentrating on the theme of FOCUS.

It’s this concept of focus – the ability to create order out of chaos and a zen-like state of calm – which Relentless have asked filmmakers to use as inspiration for Short Stories 2011: to enliven the concept of focus through cinema and communicate power, scale, grandeur and mood.