The full list of winners will be published on 26th of August.
BEST FILM
Walk with Me | Colombia | 2023 | 12’
Director: Adrien Boublil
Writer: Julian Flores
Producer: Luis Enrique Vanegas Obando
Synopsis: A young man delves deep into his past, uncovering the profound influence of a pivotal figure in his life, as he seeks strength and reassurance on the day of his wedding.
BEST DIRECTOR
Walk with Me | Colombia | 2023 | 12’
Director: Adrien Boublil
Writer: Julian Flores
Producer: Luis Enrique Vanegas Obando
Synopsis: A young man delves deep into his past, uncovering the profound influence of a pivotal figure in his life, as he seeks strength and reassurance on the day of his wedding.
BEST SCREENPLAY
Walk with Me | Colombia | 2023 | 12’
Director: Adrien Boublil
Writer: Julian Flores
Producer: Luis Enrique Vanegas Obando
Synopsis: A young man delves deep into his past, uncovering the profound influence of a pivotal figure in his life, as he seeks strength and reassurance on the day of his wedding.
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
Chairs | United Kingdom | 2023 | 20’
Actress: Georgina Campbell
Director: James Hughes
Writer: James Hughes
Producer: James Hughes
Cast: Georgina Campbell, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Brittany Ashworth
Synopsis: A man regales his peculiar obsession with chairs to his new psychiatrist. BAFTA Winners Georgina Campbell (Barbarian) Akemnji Ndifornyen (The Queen’s Gambit) The first short film to star two BAFTA winning leads.
BEST LEADING ACTOR
Chairs | United Kingdom | 2023 | 20’
Actor: Akemnji Ndifornyen
Director: James Hughes
Writer: James Hughes
Producer: James Hughes
Cast: Georgina Campbell, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Brittany Ashworth
Synopsis: A man regales his peculiar obsession with chairs to his new psychiatrist. BAFTA Winners Georgina Campbell (Barbarian) Akemnji Ndifornyen (The Queen’s Gambit) The first short film to star two BAFTA winning leads.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Hungry Like The Wolf | United Kingdom | 18’
Cinematographer: Benjamin Leggett
Director: Kieran Dee
Writer: Alan Hall, Gabriel Thomson
Producers: Alan Hall, Gabriel Thomson, Emilia Clark
Cast: Gabriel Thomson, Alan Hall, Gráinne Good, Alfie Stewart
Synopsis: Musicians Cam and Adam find themselves caught in a hedonistic spiral. Adam has had enough of it, whereas Cam is young, dumb and full of himself.
BEST EDITING
Walk with Me | Colombia | 2023 | 12’
Director: Adrien Boublil
Writer: Julian Flores
Producer: Luis Enrique Vanegas Obando
Synopsis: A young man delves deep into his past, uncovering the profound influence of a pivotal figure in his life, as he seeks strength and reassurance on the day of his wedding.
BEST NARRATIVE
For You United | Kingdom | 2023 | 04’
Director: Luca Paulli
Writer: Luca Paulli
Producers: Richard Barnett, Luca Paulli
Synopsis: ‘For You’ is a heartfelt letter from a father to his two-year-old son, capturing a summer day in the park, a world filled with wonders yet to be discovered and a looming danger. Set in Peckham, South East London, the director narrates the story in Italian, the language he has spoken to his son since birth. This project is deeply intimate and personal, yet carries a universal and resonating message: what lies ahead might be uncertain, but with love, courage, and imagination, we can create a better future.
BEST COMEDY
Virtue of Ignorance | United Kingdom | 2024 | 08’
Director: Lucas Pelizaro
Writer: Lucas Pelizaro
Cast: Jake Waring
Synopsis: A Mockumentary about a self-proclaimed entrepreneur and social influencer on his journey to success.
BEST FANTASY/SCI-FI
The Abyss | Argentina | 2024 | 10’
Director: Andres Aloi
Writer: Andres Aloi
Producer: Pablo Finkelstein
Cast: Victoria Paz
Synopsis: Iris, a wheelchair-bound young woman, is recruited into testing a cutting-edge device that hijacks the mind and induces vivid dreams. As she assesses a prototype that is as dangerous as it is revolutionary, Iris struggles to accept her physical reality.
BEST DANCE/MUSICAL
Spellbound | Netherlands | 2023 | 11’
Director: Nicola Hepp
Producers: Niekie Khaled, Nicola Hepp
Cast: Célinne Bodinger
Synopsis: A woman walks slowly through a dark, untouched forest. She is following someone in the distance, someone she can’t quite make out. Or is the other actually following her? Too late, the woman regrets a desperate attempt to escape her pursuer. As she starts to understand and approaches the point of no return, she is lured into making a dire decision.
BEST STUDENT
This Peculiar Day | Slovakia | 2023 | 19’
Director: Emília Ondriašová
Writers: Emília Ondriašová, Pavel Babej
Producer:Tomáš Kubica
Synopsis: There’s nothing more pathetic and sad than the midlife crisis of an artist who truly has it all but realizes it way too late.
BEST YOUNG DIRECTOR
FISHMONGER | United States | 2024 | 23’
Director: Neil Ferron
Writers: Neil Ferron, Alexandra Dennis-Renner
Producers: Valerie Steinberg, Jordan Willcox, Neil Ferron
Cast: Dominic Burgess, Donnla Hughes, Penny O’Brien, Mark Bramhall, Ron Bottitta, Mari Weiss
Synopsis: In this supernatural dark comedy, a pathetic Irish fishmonger must survive a sex pact with an ancient fish creature in order to save his mother’s soul from burning in hell.
BEST ANIMATION
Smile | China | 2023 | 14’
Director: Yuan YUAN
Writer: Yuan YUAN
Producer: Changkai YANG
Synopsis: For losing the love of his life, the once champion boxer, A-ren, sank into a deep depression. Three years later, in order to regain his family and to prove himself, he steps into the ring with a smile on his face ……
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Water is Coming | United Kingdom | 2024 | 17’
Director: Aśka Faron
Writer: Aśka Faron
Cast: Deben Munda
Synopsis: The Sundarbans region in South Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable places in the world. Frequent cyclones destroy people’s livelihoods and contaminate clean water sources, which are already in short supply there. This affects millions of people, including the often marginalised Munda community – an ethnic minority group with Indian origins, who migrated there over two centuries ago. Deben Munda, a descendent of those early settlers, has lived in the Sundarbans all his life – a life marked by hardship, hard work, and the forest itself, at once a source of livelihood and terrible danger. Now, as a reliable supply of clean water is about to be brought to Bhetkhali for the first time, he reflects back on his experiences, his struggles, and his hopes for the future – painting a portrait of an extraordinary life on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and the courageous community who call this land their home.
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Stay With Me | United States | 2024 | 05’
Director: Jiaxin Wang
Writer: Jiaxin Wang
Producer: Chris Zilong Wang
Cast: Jolie Chen
Synopsis: A young woman’s journey to self-actualization unfolds through fragmented time and vivid visual metaphors as she confronts her inner struggles.
BEST MINI SHORT
What A Catch | United Kingdom | 2024 | 05’
Director: Thomas Pickering
Writer: Thomas Pickering
Producer: Thomas Pickering
Cast: Nathan Geering
Synopsis: On a late night trip to the lake, a victorian fisherman’s evening takes a sinister turn.
BEST NO/LOW BUDGET
Amidst | Finland | 2024 | 30’
Director :Pia Andell
Writer: Suna Vuori
Producer: Pia Andell
Cast: Vera Kiiskinen, Krista Kosonen, Hannu-Pekka Björklund, Ria Kataja, Tommi Korpela, Meri Nenonen
Synopsis: Everything is perfect, and then, boom!
BEST DEBUT
The dead eurasian blackbird | Sweden | 2024 | 10’
Director: Arpen Sargsyan
Writer: Arpen Sargsyan
Producer: Arpen Sargsyan
Synopsis: Emil Hernried, Rasmus Wessman, Sophie Tunklev
Cast: Yan’s encounter with a couple at the local park evolves dramatically, taking unexpected twists that lead to a complex entanglement of realisations, ultimately challenging how they perceive one another.
BEST FASHION SHORT
Ogūn – Brandfilm | Germany | 2024 | 02’
Director: Franziska Heinemann
Producer: Alexander Draheim
Synopsis: Please find attached our film as ode to mother nature, a down-to-earth approach to present and discover Ogun’s Men SS 2024 collection. The Capetown based fashion brand is deeply connected with Africa and its people. As the namegiver, Ogun stands for craft and strong roots in the mother continent. The brand is also shipping worldwide, representing a strong bond between nature and humans through the fabrics. The two models were chosen by Fashion Designer James Berlein. Ostap originally from Ukraine, was forced leaving friends and his home due to Russia’s aggressive war. In these times there is something timeless also speaking of and showing elements of earth that connect us humans. Nature doesn’t judge, it is just there, uncompromising, deadly and beautiful. All the adjectives that came in our mind when describing Ogun’s pieces also had a hang towards nature – timeless, modest, minimalistic, simple, pristine, pure, kind of earthy in the tones. We thought a lot about how Africa as the mother continent has shaped us, as the cradle of humankind. How people move within the land and feel connected as well as inspired in their aesthetics. How wind is the wave, how our souls are similar to water, how our destiny is like the wind. The soul and heart of every individual is connected within the bigger picture / our planet / nature / universe & surroundings. So we build a three-act structure, consisting of /imagine, /dream and /experience – the writing remembers us of prompts we would type in AIs like MidJourney nowadays. But we play with it and go back to our route as humans, our imagination and senses. So firstly we get the viewer in our world with the simple request /imagine… then we invite him or her to /dream … in the meantime the film develops a humble poem to mother nature and in passing, associates the shapes and colors of the models surroundings with their clothes. In the third act, there is a the call to action /experience where the viewer can find their very personal connection.
