Vanessa proves a winner

Undressing Vanessa, the documentary profile of drag queen Vanessa Wagner, won the award for Best Short Documentary at last week’s Inside Film (IF) Awards on the Gold Coast.

Sydney Star Observer spoke to the film’s director, Matthew Pond, prior to the awards. At the time, he didn’t fancy his chances of winning.

We’re a student film, so I don’t think I’m going to win, he said. After the awards, I’ll continue to try and get projects up -” beg and grovel for funding.

After his surprise win, Pond was in a more optimistic state of mind.

The night was a huge amount of fun! he said.

Vanessa Wagner and her partner Peter were at the Gold Coast for the Awards and Vanessa added her particular brand of colour and movement to the red carpet. I’m especially gratified that a documentary with such obvious gay and lesbian content was awarded a gong at a mainstream film award show.

Pond said he hoped that the win would provide new opportunities for Wagner.

Vanessa would love the opportunity to get some more TV work and is so much more interesting and articulate than a lot of the social commentators and interviewers on the box, so I hope that someone might recognise her potential and put her back on the small screen.

Director Matthew Pond and producer Tina Lymberis accepting their award for Undressing Vanessa.