SHORT TO THE POINT – MARCH 2018 AWARDS
BEST FILM
The Ticket
Director: Haris Stathopoulos
Country: Greece
Duration: 17:00
Synopsis: We follow the course of a ticket for Public Transportation as it passes from hand to hand. Each person that holds the ticket carries his own story and a social problem as well. A social recording of the Greek crisis.
BEST DIRECTOR
A Dark and Stormy Night
Director: Aleksi Mörttinen
Country: Finland
Duration: 12:51
Synopsis: A married couple’s passionate Saturday evening is interrupted by what appears to be a blackout. In reality, a dark force has crept into their lives to destroy their happiness. After a conversation that takes a very dark turn, their relationship will never be the same again.
BEST SCREENPLAY
No Service
Director: Alun Morgan
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 10:21
Synopsis: Chris, a selfish musician, has made a promise to play at his sisters wedding for the first dance. What will happen when his phone abandons him in the middle of nowhere with a car that won’t start?
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Last Words
Director: Mike Fisher
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 04:52
Synopsis: Emotive, funny and with stunning visuals, Last Words is a gorgeous dramatization of a Simon Armitage poem from Mike Fisher and Natasha Moses. A young woman shares the final moments of her life with a stranger in this warm-hearted short film by award-winning director Mike Fisher. Starring Ruth Bradley (Humans) and narrated by Ivanno Jeremiah (Humans), Last Words is a poignant look at final moments.
BEST EDITING
Level 4
Director: Charles Copsey
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 03:46
Synopsis: Two first-time criminals find themselves out of luck when their getaway vehicle is clamped up in a multi-storey car park.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FILM
The Big Night
Director: Pierre-Joseph Secondi
Country: France
Duration: 13:17
Synopsis: While his wife is away for the weekend, Julien decides to invite an old friend to spend the evening together as in the good old days. However, nothing will happen as expected and a big night awaits them.
BEST CHILDREN SHORT FILM
Twinkies & Root Beer
Director: Andre Campbell
Country: United States
Duration: 06:35
Synopsis: The plot is based on the anonymous “Twinkies & Root Beer” Story so often retold on the internet by faith based groups around the world. Further, the short film’s common but heavenly local park interactions (which are being depicted between the two main characters) warms the heart.
BEST STUDENT SHORT FILM
The Woodkin
Director: Mateusz Motyka
Country: Poland
Duration: 23:45
Synopsis: The Woodkin is a spirit of the forest, herald of change, the enemy of greed and gluttony. He punishes those who break the law od nature.
After ten years of absence Krzysiek takes his son for a hunting trip where he does everything to win the boy back. While two men are getting closer some lines get crossed. The Woodkin wakes up.
BEST YOUNG DIRECTOR
On the Web
Director: Katarzyna Babicz
Country: Poland
Duration: 25:00
Synopsis: After humiliation at work, 30-year old Michal decides to struggle with pornography dependence. Soon, he explores the world of the internet web cams and meets a girl called Diana, working as a cyber prostitute. Intrigued and fascinated with Diana, he starts to stalk her.
BEST ANIMATION SHORT FILM
Catherine
Director: Britt Raes
Country: Belgium
Duration: 11:51
Synopsis: Catherine loves pets! But most of all, she loves her cat. As she grows up, she can not connect with other people. Her cat is her life, and little by little she grows up to be a crazy old cat lady… Will she ever find friendship, or love?
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
The Northerners
Director: Ilya Povolotskiy
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 30:00
Synopsis: The Northerners is a cycle of film essays with a focus on Russian Northern individualism. Each one of the three parts plays out in different places around the Kola Peninsula over one day. The story evolves around the everyday life of three people that share no formal ties. Igor, who belongs to a dynasty of pilots, is a polar aviation squad commander; Vassily is a Murmansk merchant port tug master; Volodya is a woodcutter, leader of a wood harvesting guild. As most of those living in the North, they came here for work, and though they weren’t initially planning on staying on, they ended up staying forever. They share this peculiar perception of reality, a special rhythm of life and the way they see themselves and others. They have taught themselves not to fear to surrender their lives to natural cycles, to be proactive, to count on no one but themselves yet to always help everyone, even strangers, not to make plans and not to get down.
The Northerners is a project by Ilya Povolotsky, executed in collaboration with Toyota Russia. The key condition set by the brand was that the characters have a Toyota car, one of the many ever released.
BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM
Step by Step
Director: Kevork Demirjian
Country: United States
Duration: 01:52
Synopsis: The attempt to find meaning of the thoughts that linger in the back of the mind.
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Ice Teens – Maud Geffray
Director: Thomas Vernay
Country: France
Duration: 04:54
Synopsis: A girl joins a strange training center.
BEST MINI SHORT
BLUE-EYED
Director: Jan-David Bolt
Country: Switzerland
Duration: 01:20
Synopsis: The sheer objectivity of matter describes the perceptible with almost meticulous meticulousness.
BEST MOBILE PHONE SHORT
Vote For Me – Italy’s Migrant Crisis Fuels Election Campaign
Director: Claudio Lavanga
Country: Italy
Duration: 13:00
Synopsis: For years Italy has borne the brunt of the migrant crisis, and — because of its proximity to the North African coast — it has taken in the largest share of migrants compared to other European countries. The resultant humanitarian crisis has led to widespread racism, and it has been used by some parties, particularly those right-of-centre, to blame the country’s tattered economy and alleged growing crime rate on them. No wonder, then, that migration was the key issue during the recent general election. Journalist Claudio Lavanga embarks on a journey across Rome and Castel Volturno, where Italians and migrants live side by side in mutual mistrust, but also finds a glimmer of hope in the second generation. Those children of immigrants who, one day, hope to be called simply “Italians.”
BEST AMATEUR SHORT FILM
Saviour Woman
Director: Amos Ostermeier
Country: Germany
Duration: 07:20
Synopsis: If others had her powers, they’d probably do nothing. But this Woman believes it her duty to use her abilities to help others. She puts on her costume and actually does something against all the criminality happening out there every day – but being a superheroine has a pervasive impact on her private life.