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Nominations Autumn 2019

Nominated: Best Director, Best Cinematography

Detectives 313

Director: Chin Yang

Writer: Chin Yang, Swayde Wilson

Producer: Christopher P. O’Sullivan, Swayde Wilson

Country: United States

Overview: Detectives 313 is a nine minute short film about undercover detectives in Detroit, who end up suffering the wrath of the drug lord Marcus and his crew.

Nominated: Best Short, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Score
Ghost in the Gun

Director/Writer: Andrew Chen

Cinematographer: Stephen Berke

Producer: Sam Purdy, Tony Jonick, Stephen Berke, Rena Yamamoto

Country: United States

Overview:A man left for dead encounters a possessed gun and transforms into a gunslinger bent on avenging his wife's murder, but unbeknownst to him the gun has a vendetta of its own. "This fantastic HOLLYWOOD LEVEL short western will take you on a supernatural journey of revenge, that will glue you to your seat!

Nominated: Best Short


Ladies Most Deject

Director: Martha Elcan

Writer: Conner Wharton, Mark Salyer

Producer: Mark Salyer, Melissa Palmer

Country: United States

Overview: A teenage girl from the Appalachian mountains struggles to protect her siblings from an addict mother.

Director Statement: Marty was thrilled to return to her home state to direct “Ladies Most Deject” and to tell this important narrative of the devastating issues that lie beneath the surface in some of the most beautiful countryside in America.

Nominated: Best Animation Short


Flame

Director: Cherelle Owusu

Writer: Cherelle Owusu

Producer: Carolina Xavier

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: Lightning strikes in the desert, and Flame is born. Alone and scared, he soon realises that he is in trouble, as the same storm that brought him to life is a threat to his survival.




Nominated: Best Animation Short
The Good Old Days

Director/Writer/Producer: Sebastian Kuder

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: An elderly man dreams of his youth racing fast cars.

Director Statement: The Good Old Days is a nostalgic look at the life of an old man who dreams of his youth.

Nominated: Best Animation Short
Jericho

Director: Sarah Andrews

Producer: Matt Wight

Writers: Sarah Andrews and Aaron Hopwood

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: A lonely robot decides to try and build a mechanical friend.

Director Statement: Jericho is a short film about friendship. It is Sarah Andrews' first film.

Nominated: Best Documentary Short
a Congo’s Journey - a film to reconnect humans with nature

Director/Writer/Producer: Marco G.Lerin

Country: Costa Rica

Overview: This is the first documentary-film in the world in which a baby monkey tells its own story addressing the human being. A Congo’s Journey, is a non-profit documentary-film that has been created by Marco G. Lerin for the Jaguar Rescue Center, located in the South Caribbean of Costa Rica, in order to give a voice to the animals and motivate the human beings towards the protection of the natural environment in which they live.

Nominated: Best Documentary Short
The World is a Skatepark
The World is a Skatepark: Photographer J. Grant Brittain

Director: Bill Wisneski

Country: United States

Overview: The World is a Skatepark shares the work and stories of legendary skateboarding photographer J. Grant Brittain. In his 40-years as a photographer, he captured some of the most iconic images in skate history, documenting the rise of future pro skaters like Tony Hawk.




Nominated: Best Microfilm
Vivi Ossa

Director/Writer: Callum Walters

Producer: Matthew Wight

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: A museum visitor brings ancient bones to life through the power of music.

Director Statement: Vivi Ossa is a short film combining the talents of many different disciplines at Escape Studios. Many craft disciplines were involved in creating Vivi Ossa, including CG, compositing, roto, prep, keying, integrating a live action character into a digital set and, of course, animation.

Nominated: Best Microfilm
Home Sweet Home

Directors: Maria Robertson and Harry Pearson

Writer: Harry Pearson

Producers: Maddison Gould

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: A group of discarded sweets try to make their way home

Director Statement: Maria Robertson is a student at Escape Studios in London, studying animation. She won the Eamon Butler animation scholarship, and is in her third year of studies.

Nominated: Best Drama Short
Pure

Director/Writer/Producer: Stephan Eigenmann

Producer: Robert Ramos

Country: United States

Overview: Helen, a call center worker who struggles with alopecia is learning to accept herself with the help of a young girl with cancer.

Director Statement: To whom it may concern, This is a personal story for me. As I myself struggle with alopecia (an auto-immune condition which makes you lose hair). The cast (the protagonist Helen and the girl Bella) have themselves alopecia and it is their first time acting. It was important for me to make it as authentic and real as possible. It took more then a year to complete and was my most ambitious project ever. I gave my heart into it and I hope you can see it.

Nominated: Best Drama Short
THIS, WHICH I HAVE
THIS, WHICH I HAVE

Director/Writer: Marek Stoklosa

Producer: AMA FILM ACADEMY KRAKOW

Country: Poland

Overview: Enclosed space. A feeling arises between Artur and Julia. Love, despite many limitations, wants to escape beyond the walls. The battle begins from the very first moment. Their victory seems inevitable. Can something stop them?




Nominated: Best Drama Short
Baa Baa Black Sheep

Director: Orlando Bryant and Anette Martinsen

Writer/Producer: Anette Martinsen

Key Cast: Anette Martinsen

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: 12th January 1946, Kristiansand, Norway, a Pregnant woman, home alone, gets trapped in the house by snow. She is unable to get out and she has to deliver her baby. It is a historical thriller and it is based on a true story that happened in my family.

Nominated: Best Comedy Short
Heavenly Borders
Heavenly Borders

Director/Producer: Kamil Iwanowicz

Writer: Miles Purnell

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: Heaven? Hell? Not sure? It’s Dimitri’s third week shadowing Alex at the gates of Heavenly Borders - where your fate is decided… for all eternity. When their latest case is beamed in, the couple will learn the true cost of moral responsibility and career choices.

Director Statement: On the bottom of the repetitive corporate food chain, it's not hard to fall into a routine, hit a dead end. Or make a bad decision. That's why there are always bright and capable people on duty. People who leave no stone unturned before delivering a just and fair verdict. Right?

Nominated: Best Comedy Short
Genericamente
Genericamente

Director/Writer: Giulio Neglia

Producers: Nuovo Imaie, Duel Produzioni

Country: Italy

Overview: Being a crowd is a job? Paolo, that dreams of being an actor, but with very poor results, is more used to appear in marginal roles. Paolo will tell us which are the enormous sacrifices, renunciations, senses of responsibility, injustices that torment the show business. From the eyes of the workers of cinema, Paolo tells an italian cross-section and, despite the economic difficulties, believes in a better world, more congenial and coherent to his dreams; these are the ones who for years have made Paolo dream, leaving aside the parental obligations: the eternal struggle between man and human being.

Director Statement: Paolo lives in a limbo between dream and reality, unaware that his goodness, his ingenuity, his fragility are not allowed in a world that speaks without knowing the art of listening.

Nominated: Best Thriller/Horror Short
Constant Treason

Director/Writer: Ruvin Orbach

Country: United States

Overview: A genomic scientist creates a bioengineering program for soldiers and decides to destroy it, the only problem is he falls in love with a CIA agent who tries to stop him.

Director Statement: I developed a story that flips the timeless tale of having spies seduce individuals for information. I wanted to see what would happen if both the spy and the “mark” got lost in each other’s love. I wanted to unpack the larger themes of morality in this complicated love story. The theme of devotion to one’s country versus the love of an individual started to surface in the writing. Also, the theme of the love of a person versus their own personal integrity developed. When does the adulation for a lover become more important than country or someone’s moral beliefs?




Nominated: Best Thriller/Horror Short
Reece
Reece

Director/Writer: Stephen Mealand

Writers: Jack Wright, Magdalena Zabecka

Producer: Jack Wright

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: A futuristic cleanup robot gets more trash than he bargained for.

Nominated: Best Thriller/Horror Short
Dance of the Porcelain Demons

Director/Writer: Cat Watson

Producer: Neil Clements

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: Once upon a time... There was a little girl named Clara and her parents loved her very much. Her mother doted on her and her father treated her as his little princess, but things were not as they appeared...

Director Statement: "Dance of the Porcelain Demons" was built around the idea that the horror genre has a lot more to offer than is being explored in the contemporary market. The idea is that horror can beautiful and magical while still having a point to prove. There is no need for gore or jump scares when you can create an atmosphere that draws the audience in. The film strives to show the different ways people tend to react toward someone on the mental spectrum. Whether over coddling and protective or cold and distancing, neither approach attempts to understand the persons real needs. A little understanding goes a long way.

Nominated: Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short
Best fairy for Cinderella
Best fairy for Cinderella

Director/Producer: Alexander Baskakov

Writer: Peter Samoilov

Country: Russian Federation

Overview: Once upon a time, in a faroff kingdom, there lived a fair young maiden - Cinderella. She dreamed of getting to the ball. Will meet the beautiful prince. But everything went wrong...

Director Biography: Alexander Baskakov (1981, Russia, Kostroma) graduated from the National University of Science and Technology of Moscow in 2004. From 2005 to 2014, worked as a IT engineer. From 2014 to 2016, worked as a DOP and assistant for several TV-projects, sport and travel documentary and advertisement.In 2017, enrolled in Moscow Film School, the Film Directing Master Program of Alexey Popogrebsky.

Nominated: Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short
REWIND

Director/Writer/Producer: Stephan Eigenmann

Producer: Don Colacino, Robert Ramos

Country: United States

Overview: A mother is grieving over her daughter, who died in combat, through the help of futuristic technology.

Director Biography: I'm a director and producer from Fribourg Switzerland and I currently study Creative producing (Masters) at the Zürich Arts School in Switzerland.




Nominated: Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short, Best Director, Best Editing
FLUX
FLUX

Director/Writer: Spencer Mead

Director of Photograph: Evan Weidenkeller

Producers: Jackie Dallas, Samantha McDanel

Country: United States

Overview:Two time travelers crash land and quickly realize that something has gone wrong with their routine test.

Director Biography: After years of working on smaller projects and studying film in the Bay Area, Director Spencer Mead has entered the festival scene with his first produced short ‘Flux’. The young filmmaker looks eagerly at the development of his next two projects. The first, directing and producing his first feature film 'CMM', a murder mystery that explores the obsessive nature of ambition. The second, a TV series called ‘The Squeeze’, that has had it's pilot script selected by the 2019 Austin Revolution Film Festival among others.

Nominated: Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short

Adam & Eve Mk II

Director: Sebastian Kuder

Producer: Sebastian Kuder

Writer: Sebastian Kuder

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: In a post-apocalyptic future, human memories from the now-extinct species homo sapiens are loaded into the artificial brain of a robot.

Director Statement: Adam and Eve: Mk II is a vision of the future in which humanity is destroyed - but human memories are uploaded to a humanoid robot.

Nominated: Best Long Short, Best Actress (Danielle Panabaker)
My Ira
My Ira

Director/Writer: Jean - Paul Epstein

Producer: Tiffany Lebel, Tara Jane

Key Cast “Ira”: Danielle Panabaker

Country: United Kingdom

Overview: My Ira is the true story of a sister lost to suicide. The film explores a side of Ira unknown to others, that enabled her twin brother to understand and accept the choices she made, finally empowering him to let her go. Through insightful eyes we witness the true story of Ira (Danielle Panabaker), a young mother sitting in a tree, challenging her fragile existence while a rope languishes around her neck.

Director Statement: Do it for love and the road will be worth traveling.

Nominated: Best Long Short, Best Director

Antifeminist

Director/Writer/Producer: Sofija Sztepanov

Writer/Producer: Tünde Bodnár

Producer: Daniel Kresmery

Country: Hungary

Overview: Leia (late 20s) is an up-and-coming feminist blogger. She receives a mysterious package, with an invitation to a secret soiree. When she arrives to the elegant villa, she finds an all- female event with all-male servants. Each room presents a different world, with exhibits of extreme feminist views. As Leia objects, she understands her writing inspired the evening. She is woken by her flatmate, Martha, claiming Leia had a nightmare. Leia, unconvinced, finds clues to the opposite. SIX MONTHS LATER: Leia is on a talk show, where she explains her new perspective on feminism.




Nominated: Best Long Short

That thing between us

Director/Writer/Producer: Dave Michael Guller Grønvall-Pedersen

Country: Denmark

Overview: Their relationship is reached a point, where they cannot be in the same room. Without falling asleep...

Director Biography: Dave Michael Guller Grønvall-Pedersen is a director, editor and writer. He has made a couple of short movies. He is a allround moviemaker, that loves to make movies. He is known for: That thing between us (2019) Back to you (2018), DOOR: How is it in there? How is it out there? (2017), Amutees (2011), Red painting (2011), TransNOIR (2010) Blink (2009) A Man and his room (2008) Integration (2008) Envy (2005) Terror (2002)

Nominated: Best Long Short, Best Actor (AMISH SRIVASTAVA)
BISCUT
BISCUT

Director/Writer/Key Cast "Bhoora, Bindes Paswan": AMISH SRIVASTAVA

Producer: SANDEEP SHANT

Country: United States, India

Overview: In an Indian village ruled by muscle and money, one man sparks a revolution without guns or bullets by betting his life on just the power of democracy. Biscut is the awe-inspiring story of Bhoora, a poor Dalit (lower caste) youth condemned to a daily struggle for survival, who turns a collective curse into a formidable force for change. BISCUT is the Hindi language word for a biscuit.

Director Statement: India is home to the largest number of hungry people in the world. Powerful people and elected politicians in this caste-based society often do not care to help provide even basic amenities to the people they seek to exploit or represent. Democracy aims to empower the last man in society. But can that last man actually solve his own problems through the power of an extraordinary idea and faith in democracy?

Nominated: Best Student Director

Make It Sound
Make It Sound

Director/Writer: AnDy Wu

Producer: JunRui Hong

Country: United States

Overview: Barry, an introvert teenager, is going through a hard time communicating with his Mom after his elder brother’s death. With profound grief, he thinks he has found a way to speak up.

Director Biography: AnDy Wu is a filmmaker from Taipei, Taiwan. AnDy works part-time as an Editor, Sound Mixer, and Sound Designer. He is currently a graduate student at Loyola Marymount University and is set to graduate in Spring 2021. With the brand new life experience in Los Angeles, he directed and wrote a few short films about Family, Society and Battling the Self. He always edits his own film. His dream is to direct a dramedy/horror film to connect society.

Nominated: Best Original Score

Dubicel
Dubicel

Directors: Yashira Jordan, Igor Gopkalo Streiff

Producers: Yashira Jordan, Maximiliano Aceto, Jonatan Guzman, Hector Fausto

Writers: Mauro Escobar, Matias Paradela, Igor Gopkalo Streiff

Country: Plurinational State of Bolivia

Overview: Dubicel is a cosmic child who lives in a galactic dome alone and wants to open the walls that imprison him to discover what is beyond and to discover the stars. Despite having the gift of materializing mysterious objects of his dreams, he can not find the one what allows him to open the window of his dome, until one of them gives him the key to be able to reach what he needs. But this one is not an object. It is a living being. This shortfilm was made by Ecological artreciclying.




Nominated: Best Short, Best Drama Short
The Nun's Kaddish

Director: Luis Ismael

Writer: The Center for Historical Research of the Jewish Community of Oporto

Producer: Jewish Community of Oporto

Country: Portugal

Overview: A heart-warming vignette that portrays a true story of inter-religious kindness when a Nun observes a Jewish ritual.

Director Biography: Luís Ismael is a Portuguese film director born November 20, 1971. His search for excellence and innovation turned his company Lightbox into the largest producer in Northern Portugal. He directed and became known for 4 successful and very different feature films distributed all over the world; Sefarad (2018), Bad Investigate (2018), Bullets&Cookies (2001) and Bullets&Cookies - the last chapter (2012). He also produces and directs advertising for several agencies, and leads several corporate audiovisual projects for top Portuguese companies.