Amateur NY blizzard film hailed ‘Oscar-worthy’

LONDON - Highly respected film critic Roger Ebert has praised a short film of the blizzard in New York by an independent filmmaker, as being worthy enough to win an Oscar.

The film, titled ‘Idiot With A Tripod’, was made as an homage to Dziga Vertov’s 1929 silent classic ‘Man With a Movie Camera’, by Jamie Stuart, who runs a tiny production firm.

It features a series of shots of New York streets, buildings and residents being attacked by the storm, which left the state covered in almost two feet of snow.

Writing on his blog, Ebert praised the film’s “wonderful quality” and said it deserved to win the Academy Award for best live-action short subject.

“It represents an almost unbelievable technical proficiency. Any professional will tell you the talent exhibited here is extraordinary,” the Telegraph quoted Ebert as saying.

Stuart spoke to Ebert about making of the film, which has become an Internet hit.

“The funny thing is, for the first part of the shoot I felt early uninspired and almost stopped. But I kept going. And it ultimately turned out really nice,” he revealed.

“The one stupid thing I did was to forget my snow boots and wore my Adidas, which, along with my pants, were soaked by the time I got in,” he added. (ANI)