The full list of winners will be published on 1st of May.
BEST FILM
Itching | UK | 08’
Director: Catherine Marriott-Brown
Writer: Catherine Marriott-Brown
Producer: Gracie Mills
Cast: Caitlin O’Ryan
Synopsis: Shot on 16mm film, Itching tells the story of a lonely young mudlark with an itch she just can’t scratch.
BEST DIRECTOR
Under the Sky Eternal and Blue | Russian Federation | 2021 | 31’
Director: Elena Emelyanova
Writers: Elena Emelyanova, Namzhil Nimbuev
Producer: Elena Emelyanova
Cast: Sayana Tsydypova, Aryuna Tsydenova, Ruslan Santuev, Danzan Toktokhoev, Zandan Toktokhoev
Synopsis: On the edge of the forest and steppe in Siberia, far from people, an elderly Buryat woman Dimid lives with her dog. Many years ago, the World War II broke into her life. But she doesn’t remember it. Year after year Dimid washes her children’s clothes and sends the dog into the forest for her husband-forester. The dog searches for the owner, but always returns with nothing. One day Dimid’s oblivion is broken.
BEST SCREENPLAY
Itching | UK | 08’
Director: Catherine Marriott-Brown
Writer: Catherine Marriott-Brown
Producer: Gracie Mills
Cast: Caitlin O’Ryan
Synopsis: Shot on 16mm film, Itching tells the story of a lonely young mudlark with an itch she just can’t scratch.
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
Under the Sky Eternal and Blue | Russian Federation | 2021 | 31’
Actress: Sayana Tsydypova
Director: Elena Emelyanova
Writers: Elena Emelyanova, Namzhil Nimbuev
Producer: Elena Emelyanova
Cast: Sayana Tsydypova, Aryuna Tsydenova, Ruslan Santuev, Danzan Toktokhoev, Zandan Toktokhoev
Synopsis: On the edge of the forest and steppe in Siberia, far from people, an elderly Buryat woman Dimid lives with her dog. Many years ago, the World War II broke into her life. But she doesn’t remember it. Year after year Dimid washes her children’s clothes and sends the dog into the forest for her husband-forester. The dog searches for the owner, but always returns with nothing. One day Dimid’s oblivion is broken.
BEST LEADING ACTOR
Concert for mitya | Russian Federation | 2022 | 22’
Actor: Aleksey Yarmouschik
Director: Natalia Omelchenko
Writer: Marina Potapova
Producers: Ilya Otrepiev, Marina Potapova, Vladimir Ivanov
Cast: Aleksey Yarmouschik, Julia Marchenko, Serguey Bezroukov, Denis Bourgazliev
Synopsis: Mitya is an autistic child, but he has a passion for music. Through the music he feels the harmony of the world. Onе day a famous musician comes into town. Mitya wants to attend his concert. Mitya’s dream turns into reality in an unexpected way.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Under the Sky Eternal and Blue | Russian Federation | 2021 | 31’
Cinematographer: Mikhail Pashkulsky
Director: Elena Emelyanova
Writers: Elena Emelyanova, Namzhil Nimbuev
Producer: Elena Emelyanova
Cast: Sayana Tsydypova, Aryuna Tsydenova, Ruslan Santuev, Danzan Toktokhoev, Zandan Toktokhoev
Synopsis: On the edge of the forest and steppe in Siberia, far from people, an elderly Buryat woman Dimid lives with her dog. Many years ago, the World War II broke into her life. But she doesn’t remember it. Year after year Dimid washes her children’s clothes and sends the dog into the forest for her husband-forester. The dog searches for the owner, but always returns with nothing. One day Dimid’s oblivion is broken.
BEST EDITING
Itching | UK | 08’
Editor: Radu Rojas Oprean
Director: Catherine Marriott-Brown
Writer: Catherine Marriott-Brown
Producer: Gracie Mills
Cast: Caitlin O’Ryan
Synopsis: Shot on 16mm film, Itching tells the story of a lonely young mudlark with an itch she just can’t scratch.
BEST NARRATIVE
OLYMPIQUE | France | 15’
Director: Julien Marquet
Writer: Julien Marquet
Cast: Simon Rérolle, Augustin Marquet
Synopsis: OLYMPIQUE tells the story of ASB Olympique, a professional basketball club. We follow its new owner Theo, who at only 21, succeeds his recently deceased father at the head of the club.
BEST DRAMA
Ma Lina | South Africa | 2022 | 15’
Director: Ydalie Turk
Writer: Ydalie Turk
Producers: Nicki Priem, Liesel Priem, Casey Diepeveen, Cindy Horn
Cast: Frances Sholto-Douglas, Grace Setsitsoe Matetoa
Synopsis: LOGLINE: Ma Lina is 15-minute drama about grief and the complicated relationship dynamics between two young girls and a domestic worker, in post-apartheid South Africa. BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Ma Lina centers Kai and Lerato as they embark on a road trip together, at the behest of their recently deceased ‘mother’, to scatter her ashes at her favourite spot in the Western Cape. They have not seen each other since they were young girls, and their relationship is strained and fraught with racial and economic dynamics typical of contemporary South Africa. Ma Lina has recently passed and the two girls reunite, only to uphold their ‘mother’s’ dying wishes. In reality, Ma Lina was Kai’s domestic worker and is Lerato’s biological mother. However, due to financial constraints, Ma Lina left Lerato to work for Kai’s family, ultimately developing a closer bond with her daughter-figure—Kai. Kai is tumultuous, lost, and lives with the reckless abandonment afforded by privilege. Lerato has had to buckle down, discipline herself, and make her way through the world mostly alone. Throughout the road trip, the two find themselves at odds with one another as they confront the reality of their relationship, and despite their mutual love for Ma Lina, the constraints of a post-apartheid South Africa seem too rigid for true reconciliation between them.
BEST COMEDY
Give Way To The Right | Russian Federation | 14’
Director: Mikhail Shklofsky
Synopsis: In an effort to end the abusive relationship, Sasha leaves her husband, taking her daughter and mother with her. When the car gets stuck in a dead traffic jam, Sasha starts having a panic attack. When her mother tries to intervene in the situation, it only gets worse.
BEST DANCE/MUSICAL
As Long As The Music Is Playing | Switzerland | 2022 |18’
Directors: Lars Badertscher, Valentin Pitarch, Michael Schertenleib
Writers: Lars Badertscher, Michael Schertenleib, Laszlo Schneider, Senta Camille Hüssy, Valentin Pitarch
Producer: Lars Badertscher, Elias Wallach
Cast: Lars Badertscher, Dayane Hofer, Senta Camille Hüssy
Synopsis: «As Long as The Music is Playing» is Zurich based Pop artist Larry F’s yet most personal album that he converted into a visually complex short film. The story follows the journey of two star-crossed lovers who, as time passes on, become the victims of modern time society. Although they madly fall for each other. He is never really able to throughly express his feelings whereas. She slowly starts to distance herself. „As Long as The Music is Playing“ is a movie that revolves around the heartfelt songs and emotions of the artist himself and at the same draws a vivid and sometimes brutal picture of lives that could be yours or mine.
BEST STUDENT
Still breathing? | Denmark | 2022 | 18’
Director: Emma Birkø
Writer: Emma Birkø
Producer: Astrid Gott Schmidt
Cast: Vanessa Nerea Moliné, Thomas Diepeveen, Amina Tornak, Bastian Laigaard Rasmussen
Synopsis: Anna’s life has stagnated. While having a casual relationship with her ex boyfriend she is working as an intern at a public school. Nothing seems to make sense, and when Anna finds out she is pregnant she has to make a choice. Because is it morally justifiable to bring new life into a world on fire?
BEST YOUNG DIRECTOR
Diagnosis | 2022 | 04’
Director: Melanie Gerber
Writer: Melanie Gerber
Producer: Jürgen Haas
Synopsis: After being diagnosed with endometriosis, Alma struggles to come to terms with the disease and struggles to gain acceptance and control over her body and reality.
BEST CHILDREN SHORT
ATIVIO, Pieces of wood | France | 2023 | 26’
Director: Juliette Boucheny
Producer: André Bouvard
Cast: Guénolé Hodikou, Claire Hodikou
Synopsis: Guénolé, an eleven year old boy, lives in a very small village called Agotimé Adamé, at three hours from Lomé in Togo. West Africa. He has an obvious musical sensitivity and dreams of playing the piano. He will manage to practice without having one…
BEST ANIMATION
Ana Morphose | Portugal | 2023 | 10’
Director: Joao Rodrigues
Writer: Joao Rodrigues
Producer: Rodrigo Areias
Synopsis: A little girl reads herself to sleep. As she dozes off, the physical world starts melting into an alternate reality where the contents of a book rule over the laws of physics. Ana has to escape being swallowed by the overwhelming accumulation of printed knowledge and find her own space in a world where nothing is what it seems.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Babajanja | Croatia | 2022 | 14’
Director: Ante Zlatko Stolica
Writer: Ante Zlatko Stolica
Producers: Tibor Keser, Vanja Jambrović
Synopsis: Babajanja is a short essay documentary with horror elements. Going back to the past, the narrator is trying to find the mysterious woman he was scared of as a boy. Rummaging across his memories, dreams and forgotten horror films, he is trying to find out who she is and where she is today. He includes his family, relatives, fellow villagers in his investigation – no one is particularly keen on helping, but gathering more and more information about her, the narrator is getting closer to finally meeting her.
BEST EXPERIMENTAL
Elephant in the Room | India | 2022 | 10’
Director: Nila Madhab Panda
Writer: Nila Madhab Panda
Producer: ART FOR THE WORLD
Cast: Nakshatra Jagadish, Veena Santhosh, Pauli Valsan, Sajid Shukur, Saji Alappuzha, Rekha Subin, Jazik Basheer
Synopsis: “Elephant in the Room” , is an attempt to highlight the severity of the man-animal conflict, and to present a real life case that the world should feel proud of and emulate. The film is set in a small village called Sankarapally, along the banks of a river in Wayanad district of Kerala. Thamara, a young mother in her early thirties, is 7-months pregnant with her second child. Their family, residents of Sankarapally, is engaging in some light hearted festivities, in welcoming the second child. There, Kanni, Thamara’s first born, a lively 9-year old, is having fun with her friends, when suddenly they come across the viral news clipping of the elephant dying of the pineapple bomb. Kanni is deeply impacted by it, and questions her Mother, that when she is so well looked after during her pregnancy, why aren’t the elephants given similar love and affection. To satiate Kanni, Thamara narrates her a true story, of their own village, which migrated from their ancestral village Pulayankolly, to Chekkadi, around a decade back, putting an end to their perennial ‘Elephant Problem’. The tale interweaves the multiagency effort of the Kerala Forests and Wildlife Department, Wildlife Trust of India, with the support of the UK-based charity Elephant Family. It’s the story of such a unique but lesser known phenomenon, where all around collaboration along with the local administration, hand in hand with the residents of Pulayankolly village, could resolve such a sensitive but dangerous problem that ails the entire world today. Kanni is amazed with the story, and even more delighted, when she realizes that it is none other than her own village which had left their ancestral lands for the sake of the pachyderms, which is a great example of how elephants and humans can live alongside each other peacefully
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Rise Up | United States | 2021 | 06’
Directors: Chus Sarrión, Francis Trachta
Writer: Francis Trachta
Producer: Fourtrac Creative
Synopsis: Freedom is a foreign word When you’ve got nowhere to hide Step back to take a look Instead, you close your eyes
BEST MINI SHORT
A Big Fish | France | 2023 | 03’
Directors: Violette Horvat, Anaïs González
Writers: Violette Horvat, Anaïs González
Synopsis: A remote police station, an exhausted Salmon, a closed case.
BEST NO/LOW BUDGET
Good girl | France | 2023 | 12’
Director: Antoine Blanche
Writer: Antoine Blanche
Producer: Vincent Vermandel
Cast: Naima Maurel, Damien Bellard, Sebastien Perrier
Synopsis: At night, in the suburbs of Paris, a young lady find herself caught psychologically between her boyfriend and a police officer.
BEST SPORT
Aiguille du Midi Operation Electric Avenue | Bulgaria | 2023 | 17’
Directors: Georgi Kerezov, Stoil Dimitrov
Writers: Alexander Vladimirov, Georgi Kerezov, Hristo Hristov, Stoil Dimitrov
Producer: Never Know Productions
Cast: Emiliyan Kolevski, Viktor Varoshkin, Thierry Renault
Synopsis: Right next to Aiguille du Midi, situated in a sea of mountains at an altitude of 3842m, stands proudly the 50m high granite monolith Gendarme des Cosmiques. For the past 30 years it hosted only 2 climbing routes, Digital Crack (8a) and Arête des Cosmiques (8a), but this changed on the 10th of August 2022!
BEST COMMERCIAL/AD/TVC
Hammer & Heart | Austria | 2023 | 01’
Director: Mareike Färber
Writer: Mareike Färber
Producer: Katharina Gaßler
Cast: Laurenz Wakolbinger, Nora Garlock, Luisa Dirnberger, Jürgen Heigl, Ina Dirnberger, Mona Dirnberger, Ricarda Moser
Synopsis: Give me more everyday madness, baby. We do not know the one way – Just like us, tools and their use are individual. They are tools to help us evolve, create and live. It doesn’t matter what you do, how you do it or when you do it – Just do it right! The spec-spot for the fictitious hardware store hammer&heart humorously combines the brand message of quality DIY products with the representation of the individuality and uniqueness of the clientele. In three different stories we’re about to learn about a little drilling heroine eating spaghetti, a bad ass playing minigolf with a heavy punch and two lovebirds doing it the other way around. True to the motto: Every way is good, if it is yours! In addition to product presentation, the commercial focuses on the need to meet the individual needs of the clientele as well as the use of their uniqueness to build lasting and personal customer loyalty.
