BEST FILM
Voices | United Kingdom | 2022 | 11’
Director: Abbie Lucas
Writer: Omar Khan
Producer: Håkan Carlsson
Cast: Amanda Clapham, Omar Khan
Synopsis: When moving into their new home, Tara and Drew are alarmed when they overhear their neighbours arguing. As the voices get louder and more violent, they must decide if it’s their responsibility to act.
BEST DIRECTOR
Coin Slot | Canada | 2022 | 17’
Director: Scott Jones (he/him)
Writer: Scott Jones
Producer: Aly Kelly (she/her)
Cast: Scott Jones (he/him), Jessica Chapman (she/her)
Synopsis: Coin Slot paints a portrait of a young man trying not to unravel as the anniversary of a traumatic attack looms ever closer. Moments are shown in fragments, revealing an honesty and vulnerability that transports, while capturing the many shades of trauma and healing. Coin Slot dresse le portrait d’un jeune homme qui tente de ne pas s’effondrer alors que l’anniversaire d’une attaque traumatisante se rapproche. Les moments sont montrés par fragments, révélant une honnêteté et une vulnérabilité qui transportent, tout en capturant les nombreuses nuances du traumatisme et de la guérison.
BEST SCREENPLAY
THIRST | United States | 2022 | 05’
Director: YUCA
Writer: YUCA
Producer: The Youth Company
Cast: Angelica Pimenta
Synopsis: The first short film made to survive online sexist censorship rules in an effort to change them.
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
Mamma | Norway | 2021 | 15’
Actress: Synnøve Muren
Director: Aslak Danbolt
Writer: Aslak Danbolt
Producer: Khalid Maimouni
Cast: Synnøve Muren, Michelle Muren
Synopsis: It’s Christmas Eve, and Synnøve is searching for her drug-addicted daughter Michelle in an almost desolated city. (Synnøve and Michelle are mother and daughter in real life and play versions of themselves in a story that is very close to their own lives.)
BEST LEADING ACTOR
LEAVE TO REMAIN | United Kingdom | 2021 | 11’
Actor: Bamshad Abedi-Amin
Director: Remy Bazerque
Writer: Remy Bazerque
Producer: Tibo Travers
Cast: Bamshad Abedi-Amin, Camille Coduri, Paul Chan, Tom Bonington
Synopsis: Things get wild at the ‘VISA and immigration services’ when Karim, a young Iranian father living in the UK is mistakenly threatened with deportation.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
THIRST | United States | 2022 | 05’
Cinematographer: Larissa Zaidan, Yuri Maranhão
Director: YUCA
Writer: YUCA
Producer: The Youth Company
Cast: Angelica Pimenta
Synopsis: The first short film made to survive online sexist censorship rules in an effort to change them.
BEST EDITING
THIRST | United States | 2022 | 05’
Director: YUCA
Writer: YUCA
Producer: The Youth Company
Cast: Angelica Pimenta
Synopsis: The first short film made to survive online sexist censorship rules in an effort to change them.
BEST COMEDY
LEAVE TO REMAIN | United Kingdom | 2021 | 11’
Director: Remy Bazerque
Writer: Remy Bazerque
Producer: Tibo Travers
Cast: Bamshad Abedi-Amin, Camille Coduri, Paul Chan, Tom Bonington
Synopsis: Things get wild at the ‘VISA and immigration services’ when Karim, a young Iranian father living in the UK is mistakenly threatened with deportation.
BEST DRAMA
The Elevator | France | 2022 | 16’
Director: Jiang Dong
Writer: Haoyu Wu
Producer: François SERRE
Cast: Bo Yang
Synopsis: A terminally ill father lived on the sixth floor with his son, who had two crippled legs. In order to let the son be able to go downstairs by himself after the father’s death, the father contacted other owners and tried to persuade them to install an elevator. But because of the one-vote veto system, the elevator could not be installed. His father had no choice but to use the money for medical treatment to exchange the house with the resident on the first floor. A year later, the father passed away, and the idea of installing an elevator is brought up again. The son, who lives on the first floor now, votes against installing an elevator. However, the policy changed. This time, the majority rule is in place.
BEST NARRATIVE
Coin Slot | Canada | 2022 | 17’
Director: Scott Jones (he/him)
Writer: Scott Jones
Producer: Aly Kelly (she/her)
Cast: Scott Jones (he/him), Jessica Chapman (she/her)
Synopsis: Coin Slot paints a portrait of a young man trying not to unravel as the anniversary of a traumatic attack looms ever closer. Moments are shown in fragments, revealing an honesty and vulnerability that transports, while capturing the many shades of trauma and healing. Coin Slot dresse le portrait d’un jeune homme qui tente de ne pas s’effondrer alors que l’anniversaire d’une attaque traumatisante se rapproche. Les moments sont montrés par fragments, révélant une honnêteté et une vulnérabilité qui transportent, tout en capturant les nombreuses nuances du traumatisme et de la guérison.
BEST FANTASY/SCI-FI
DIVIDED BY ZERO | Ukraine | 08’
Director: Oleksandr Mell Green Serhieiev
Writer: Oleksii Alex Yeremieiev
Synopsis: In the space where there is nothing but tools for research, the scientist was able to create life, through a scientific paradox. This creature gives him hope that in the future it will be possible to create a world like paradise, where life will prevail over death and everything will be like the Garden of Eden. However, everything turns out a little differently than the scientist expected. A sci-fi film about the meaning of life and human acceptance of reality. The viewer will have to draw his own conclusion from what he saw and immerse himself in thinking about what faith is and whether it is sufficient to accept life as it is.
BEST THRILLER/MYSTERY
Writers’ Retreat | United Kingdom | 2022 | 30’
Director: Mishaal Memon
Writers: Mishaal Memon, Rik Hulme
Producer: Sarah-Jane Dawson
Cast: Rosie Gray, Lizzie Back, Bernadette Moran
Synopsis: After a sudden death, the façade of a period-themed Writers’ Retreat begins to crack as its resident maids learn more about their head writer.
BEST DANCE/MUSICAL
Temporary Contemporary | Switzerland | 2022 | 14’
Director: Oliver David Brand
Producer: Oliver David Brand
Cast: Manuel Von Arx, Steven Forster, Pricilla Villa, Michel Briand, Branca Scheidegger, Harumi Mummentahler, Kevin Dos Santos, Frederic Dos Santos, Jonathan Huor, Prscilla Villa
Synopsis: Temporary Contemporary Nothing is for eternity. Not even places that seem to outlast time. With Temporary Contemporary, director and filmmaker Oliver Brand impressively stages this transience by turning it into a stage for contemporary dancers. In doing so, he creates a moving testimony to the ephemeral nature of places that are in precisely that state only on the day the film is shot. The powerful, vulnerable and poetic choreographies, which were created under the eyes of choreographer Jonathan Hour, form touching living counterpoints to the static emptiness of the epic, sometimes inhospitable spaces. The music, composed especially for the film, creates a unique mood in each room and gives each dancer their own musical platform. Seemingly effortlessly, the sounds are woven together over the 13 minutes, giving a whole despite their individual parts. The music was composed and designed by Simon Hauswirth and Demian Wyssmann. To be enjoyed in the cinema in 5.1 surround sound.
BEST STUDENT
Void Between Us | Netherlands | 2022 | 18’
Director: Luka Gribnau
Writer: Luka Gribnau
Producers: Marina Moerland, Luka Gribnau
Cast: Tara Lydia Salahshor, Arad Alizadeh, Sara-Luna Leconte
Synopsis: In a state of confusion, the lonely sister dances through an empty world. She travels past the places where memories between her and her brother once formed. Where they once drew closer together, there is now only distance. Sometimes she catches a glimpse of him. Is this her fantasy or a memory?
BEST YOUNG DIRECTOR
Les crottés | Canada | 2022 | 11’
Producers: Cédric Gaillard, Émya St-Germain
Cast: Loïk Lafrance, Louka Bertrand-Chabot, Victor Lafond, Benjamin Villeneuve, Alexis Guertin, Léon Aymar-White
Synopsis: Right after their gym class, the boys only manage to insult and bicker each others. Lou, watching them from afar, waits until they leave to take his shower. Now alone, he will be surprised my Manu that was waiting for him. Finally in privacy, Manu will take advantage of it to get closer, to the great (almost) dipleasure of Lou.
BEST ANIMATION
Together | Brazil | 2021 | 07’
Director: Pedro Conti
Writer: Pedro Conti
Producer: Pedro Conti
Cast: Criolo, Luciana Silveira
Synopsis: Tamo Junto (Together) is an independent animated short film by Flooul Animation. In dark times, 2 neighbors lean on each other, turning small moments of life into great treasures.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Critics | Switzerland | 2022 | 25’
Directors: Sebastian andrei, Povel torudd
Writers: Sebastian andrei, Povel torudd
Producers: Sebastian andrei, Povel torudd
Synopsis: A documentary about a young collective of filmmakers in a remote part of Nigeria whose self-taught approach to filmmaking has captured the attention of the internet and Hollywood.
BEST EXPERIMENTAL
Do you want me to push you | Poland | 2021 | 19’
Director: Martyna Majewska
Writer: Martyna Majewska
Producers: Martyna Majewska, Dorota Schleiss, Konrad Śniady
Cast: Aleksander Kaleta, Tamara Romera Ginés
Synopsis: A visual poem about two young people who, after a long separation, try to start their love story from the beginning. A story about the impossibility of conveying the truth of one’s feelings to another person, exposing the eternal longing of artists for full expression through art. The film was shot in the post-apocalyptic landscapes of Fuerteventura, suspended beyond time and space. Its open form and the metaphor of an unsuccessful etude allow the final interpenetration of the created world with the documentary world. Formally inspired by Godard’s autothematic cinema and Konwicki’s ‘Last Day of Summer’.
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
21 by Luke Noa | Germany | 2022 | 05’
Director: Alexander Ronsdorf
Producer: Stefan Kraupner
Cast: Luke Noa, Thala, Sofiia Petryshyn, Wathsapol Deeduangpan, Jaya Ngoumeni Yappi
Synopsis: Glimpse into the cross-section of the young generation of our time, in the cultural moment we’re living in.
BEST MINI SHORT
The White Blank Page | Germany | 2022 | 03’
Director: Alexander Ronsdorf
Producers: Alexander Ronsdorf, Kyrill Ahlvers, Florentine Schwedes
Synopsis: Everything starts with a white blank page and so does every song. There is not much that inspires me more, than artists that bring something, out of nothing. This project explores exactly that, the creative journey of a song, step by step, from start to finish.
BEST AMATEUR
Zarja | Slovenia | 2021 | 11’
Directors: Kajetana Bevc, Benjamin Friškovec
Writer: Kajetana Bevc
Cast: Špela Setničar, Zvone Hribar
Synopsis: ZARJA is based on the Slavic legend Veelas and Rusalke and their influence on the love story of the protagonists Zarja and Nikolaj. The film sheds light on the legends of Old Slovenes, turns the classic love plot upside down when the woman rescues her partner rather than the other way around, and asks what it would have been like if in the classic ballet Giselle her partner had waited for her? What is the fate of love between an immortal creature and a mortal man? In addition, it also deals with the dual nature of the protagonist and the fact that no person, deed nor myth is only good or only bad. ZARJA temelji na slovanski legendi o vilah in rusalkah ter njihovem vplivu na ljubezensko zgodbo protagonistov Zarje in Nikolaja. Film osvetli legende starih slovencev, obrne klasičen ljubezenski zaplet na glavo saj v njem ženska reši svojega partnerja in ne obratno in se vpraša kako bi bilo če bi v klasičnem baletu Giselle njen partner počakal nanjo oziroma kakšna je usoda ljubezni med nesmrtnim bitjem in smrtnim človekom. Poleg tega pa se tudi ukvarja z dvojno naravo protagonistke in tem, da noben človek dejanje ali mit ni samo dober ali samo slab.
BEST SPORT
Thirst of the Subconscious | Ukraine | 2022 | 07’
Director: Valerii Kabanov
Writer: Valerii Kabanov
Producer: Oleh Polynko
Cast: Valerii Kabanov, Valerii Kokoshko, Oleh Polynko
