Official Short Film Prize Winners
Films deliver messages. These messages can be obtained over the course of a few hours or in a few minutes. The impact of a great short film is much like a great poem, taking us down creative paths of storytelling. Unlike big blockbusters, typically short films are produced on limited budgets in compact time frame. Our competition has attracted filmmakers from all over the world, sharing their cultures and giving us a glimpse of what they see through their lenses.
Bizzarro e Fantastico
Synopsis: A Roman Everyman discovers a violently ill intruder on his sofa after returning from the market. Begrudgingly, the Everyman must nurse this stranger back to health before he can unearth the ominous man's true purpose for being there.
Director: Kris Krainock
Producer: Dylan Gallagher
Genre: Supernatural, Comedy, Drama
Runtime: 26 minutes
Country: United States
Links:
INTO THE AFTERMATH
Synopsis: Caught between a global pandemic that's shut down New York City and Black Lives Matter protests clashing with police, Omar fruitlessly struggles to find a test kit for his wife, Carla. Meanwhile, Carla suspects that she's been infected by the virus and she convinces Omar that if she's going to die it'll be on her own terms. Those terms include a fair amount of danger that they try and protect their daughter, Alexis from but Alexis insists on taking the risk.
Director: vagabond
Producer: Joe Carraha, Omar Villegas, vagabond
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 20 minutes
Country: United States
Links:
Divide - Time to Breathe
Synopsis: Gerald, an African American teenager who believes in taking a stance against the injustice to his people, and rebels against his father Jerome, a retired police officer, who does not agree with the methods implemented by the BLM supporters in 2020. Feeling suffocated and unable to breathe, Gerald lashes out against his father’s opposing beliefs resulting in the immanent divide between them. Tensions rise and Gerald’s mother, Trisha, is caught in the fallout of this modern New York City family as they crumble to the pressures of different ideologies, racial injustice, and being Black in America.
Director: Anthony Paulino
Producer: Vijaykumar Mirchandani, Jorge Alvarez
Genre: African America, Drama, Family, Youth, Social Justice, Human Rights
Runtime: 14 minutes 58 seconds
Country: United States
Links:
Atomic Cover-up
Synopsis: "Atomic Cover-up" is the first documentary to explore the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 from the unique perspective, words, and startling images of the brave cameramen and directors who risked their lives filming in the irradiated aftermath.
It reveals how this historic footage, created by a Japanese newsreel crew and then an elite U.S. Army team (who shot the only color reels), was seized, classified top secret, and then buried by American officials for decades to hide the full human costs of the bombings as a costly nuclear arms race raged. All the while, the producers of the footage made heroic efforts to find and expose their shocking film, to reveal truths of the atomic bombings that might halt nuclear proliferation. "Atomic Cover-up" represents, at least in part, the film they were not allowed to make, as well as a tribute to documentarians everywhere.
It is based entirely on the first-hand accounts of key members of the film crews (from the man who shot an early Akira Kurosawa movie to a pioneering American TV director) and the first vivid 4K transfers of their footage--much of it appearing in a U.S. documentary for the first time--as well as long-hidden official records which document the suppression. These rich, vital materials are carefully assembled for haunting effect and maximum relevance for today as nuclear dangers reach peak intensity and official "cover-ups" expand. Charlie Seaborn contributed an original score and Alex Gibney and Alex Winter served as chief advisers.
Director: Greg Mitchell
Producer: Suzanne Mitchell
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 29 minutes 16 seconds
Country: United States
Links:
Harvest Time
Synopsis: Don Most and Anson Williams have released their first scripted program that they’ve appeared in together since playing legendary best friends Ralph and Potsie on HAPPY DAYS. This time they play brothers in the dramatic comedy HARVEST TIME.
HARVEST TIME was written by award-winning New York playwright Frederick Stroppel. In the film, Anson plays a man on dialysis, in desperate need for a transplant. Don plays his brother, who has promised to donate his kidney…until he gets a better offer. On Ebay.
Director: Anson Williams
Producer: David Levin, Don Most, Anson Williams, Frederick Stroppel, Jory Rosen
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 25 minutes 1 second
Country: United States
Lifeline: The Brothers Who Hold the Same Breath
Synopsis: A story of Abel Cain set in modern times from a different perspective. Hayati and Saffet are two brothers who live on fishing. Saffet could not continue his education because, but he educated himself in the science of the sky, which he made a passion. While Saffet is convinced, his older brother Hayati is dealing with treasure and turning the corner as soon as possible. They sold their old cars, which are their only assets, and get a treasure map in return. Thanks to Saffet’s interest in astronomy, they find the location of the treasure, but his two brothers await a surprise in the treasure hunt.
Director: Abdullah Şahin
Producer: Abdullah Şahin
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 19 minutes 54 seconds
Country: Turkey