Official Selection
February-March
Here you can find out the dates and stages of the festival.
1
Andromeda Deadline
2
Bootes Deadline
3

Milky Way Deadline

4
Notification Date
Best Animation
Meet Cute
Inspired by the silent films of the 1920s, Meet Cute tells the story of a fateful day between two people waiting for the bus.

► by: Shawn Patrick Tilling
Best Music Video
Best Actor
Cherry Rose
A story about a cabaret pianist

►by: Danil Panov
Best Mobile Film
From traffic to God
Briefly, the film tells about human beings under God's allegiance. How important His presence is in our hearts. The film is directed in Miami, with the help of Miami Community Church.

► by: Danil Panov
Best Fantasy
Fearless
A journey between real and surreal: a girl gets out for a quiet walk in the countryside, but takes the wrong road on coming back home, and ends up into completely different places from the ones she is used to. After waiting for rescue on a desert coast, she decides to find the way home herself, and starts walking in unknown territories, alone all the time, across such spectacular and unusual landscapes as to wonder if she is still on her planet or somewhere else, and what happened to her world. She walks across an immense lagoon, meets semi-human beings, overcomes several dangers, has an almost supernatural experience in a mysterious castle, to end up into a fairy garden, quite a Garden of Eden, apparently to stay there for the eternity. Will she find the way back home? Is she going to be the same like before, or is everything going to be much different from what she expected?

►by: Giampiero Torello
Best Short Screenplay
A Normal Life
A young girl lives in an old apartment with a strange roommate in the city. One morning, she needs to leave her apartment for an interview. But for some reason, she found herself unable to get out of it. Meanwhile, many people began to express inappropriate interest in her apartment, and her privacy. The head of the residential committee incessantly tries to force her to vote; a male neighbor wants to come into her apartment to return her underwear; a middle-aged lady with a chainsaw wants to saw off an ox leg in her apartment…All these bizarre actions make her deeply disturbed and struggled to calm down until a special “gift” is delivered to her. After opening her gift, she now decides to turn her apartment into a hell.

► by: Xiaoxuan Qu
Best Black & White Film
Best Short Film
The World Is Lit By Lightning
A chance meeting of a playwright and a young ambiguously gendered person in the 1940s leads to one of the greatest works of theater of the 20th Century.

►by: Greg Roderick
Best Animation
Feeling Special
Animated film adaptation of the children's book, Feeling Special, about a Turtle who believes that all his friends are special, but that he is just ordinary, and finally realizes that he is special too.

► by: Carlos Hoffman
Best Student Film
Ballad of a Permavirgin
Max is madly in love with his friend Carlaena Milena Montealegre, when he discovers that she recently broke up with her ex-boyfriend Anthony, he attempts to ask her out, but things don't turn out the way he expects them to.

► by: Natalie Mahoney
Best Comedy
Bored Games: Ep. 1 - The ABCs
A group of friends meets weekly for their "game club" (a la book club). The week they discuss a crass book idea. (Designed as a pilot for a web series about nothing - a la Seinfeld)

► by: Paul Inman
Best Short Film
That Feeling
**This is a Stephen King "Dollar Baby" - authorized by the author.** A woman on her belated honeymoon deals with the transgressions of her past - and, ultimately, the consequences of her choices - as she struggles with deja vu at 16,000 ft. Stephen King helps independent and student filmmakers with his "Dollar Baby" program which gives them the chance to hone their skills by adapting one of his unsold stories. Accolades for That Feeling: Official Selection & Award of Merit - Director Foothills Film Festival Official Selection & Best SC Director Crimson Screen Horror Film Festival Official Selection, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Music, Best Director, & Best International Short Film Mayavaram International Film Festival Official Selection, Best Actress (Finalist), Best Actor (Nomination), & Best Soundtrack (Nomination) Golden Shorts Film Festival Official Selection Beaufort International Film Festival Honorable Mention Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition Official Selection Marina del Rey Film Festival Official Selection 6ix Screams International Horror Film Festival Official Selection Stephen King Rules Dollar Baby Film Festival

►by: Paul Inman
Best Music Video
Stolen Time
We live in the midst of plenty, but always seem to want more. We feel we do not have enough time, and yet we waste our precious time; Let's split the time, let's go with modern technology, but make more time for family and friends, for our town , for our country, for the world. Otherwise, when you are old and near death, what you will remember is STOLEN TIME

► by: Ingrid Gisela Smith
Best Photography
All In A Days Work.
Viarity of an example of some of my Art Work.

►by: Nicou Koumpla
Best Comedy
Best Actor
Step Right Up
Glen Tavern goes on a nightmarish odyssey in search of a new coffee maker, after his breaks.

► by: Kris Salvi
Best Feature Film
Agilem or Fragments of a Life of Head
Two adventurous researchers starts their voyage to find the surviving papers and data files in hard drives of a late artist Aartje Aeria Agilem in the years 2030-2047. After finding them they start to gather the fragmentary information as an assemblage but it starts to live it’s own life and change as a some kind of caleidoscope as they try to compile it. In the fragments of files there is one story line where galactic refugee has come to earth to tell the people of the world that they still can make a change in their spending habits and in their relationship with nature. In the second fragmentary story line there is an advertisement singer who wanted to be real actor but didn’t quit succeed in it. There are also several other lines of story. In one of them there is a bunch of consultants who try to prep up a group of potential new winners of the future world in several uplifting ways. There is also one story line that tells the story of a dysfunctional family that prepares themselves in the life of post-apocalyptic world which is about to start at any minute. In the end we will find out what happens to galactic refugee and the disappointed advertisement singer in the oeuvre of godardian and jodorowskian-lynchian spirit.

► by: Ilkka Leva
Best Feature Screenplay
Forever After
World-weary Beverly Hills Detective “Mack” McDonald is weeks from retirement when he lands a murder case in a ritzy retirement resort slash hospital. People are dying and bodies are going missing. And the on-site, divinely connected Clergy, Sister Diana, seems to know why. But she’s not letting on. Yet. When an accident suddenly activates his special galactic gift, Mack begins to unravel the secrets of his past, and a sinister agenda that will compromise everyone’s future. That’s when he “runs into” Dr. Ravi Singh, the eccentric East Indian healer who orbits in his own special galaxy. And has a knack for knowing the unknown, even if English isn’t his first language. Or second. Ravi astutely detects that our Detective can revive the dead and heal the sick. He wastes no time sucking him into his own deluded notion of life and death, and coerces him into a rampage of mercy healings. Mack’s not sure his deeds are kosher, and with a little coaxing from Sister D, must weigh his waning morality against his intense desire to help those in need. Shirley MacLaine, you with me? The Dark-Ops military team at Area 51 soon realize that Mack’s newly activated skills could spell the demise of a top secret off-world project, and they’ll do anything necessary to turn him into stardust. But anthropology geek Dr. Julius Kramer will have none of that. He knows all about Mack’s Starseed heritage and has studied the legacy and the legends of his Hopi lineage. Yep, Mack is the chosen one. Together, Mack and Kramer work to thwart an audacious plot destined to destroy Earthling civilization as we know it. And if they can pull it off and escape nuclear genocide, they will have “boldly gone where no man has gone before.” And be back in time for dinner. Hang onto your lightsaber, Luke Skywalker. There’s a new Space Cowboy on the galactic prairie, and he’s about to save your ass.

► by: Emil Faithe
Best Feature Screenplay
Perfect World
SARAH CAHILL went missing two years ago. Her grieving husband, ROB CAHILL hasn’t gotten over it. But he has gotten his fill of crap as an E.R. doc at a stately Napa, California hospital, where he routinely sees things he’d rather not see. Until he sees the one thing that changes everything.

►by: Emil Faithe
Best Feature Screenplay
GMO
LOGLINE In 2067, a beaten down geneticist in search of his missing father comes face-to-face with a deity hell-bent on abolishing all trace of the human race SYNOPSIS The year is 2067. Violence, corruption and greed have reached a feverish pitch, and the human race is on the brink of collapse. Suddenly, people start dropping like flies, and no one seems to know why, except the deep state Armed Forces. And they have a plan-- It’s time to go.

► by: Emil Faithe
Best Music Video
RADIOMAGIA
Drawing never dies. It succeeds in surviving because the appetite it satisfies - that is, the desire of an active, investigative, lively manual relationship with the things we see and wish to know - is clearly important, like something that awakes a pleasant, intense nostalgia for a past nobody of the audience has never experienced ( Robert Hughes )

►by: Daniele Faraotti
Best Director
The Nautilus Mutiny
When Lester Landon, a dyslexic criminal working for a dodgy watch dealership, decides on "the straight and narrow" he is tasked with one last job before he is set free. Time is running out as the ghosts of his past are coming back to haunt him. We've received a lot of jury prizes! THIS FILM IS YET TO HAVE ITS WORLD PREMIERE

► by: Daniel Shehata
Best Feature Documentary
Nomad District
From Flanders to Wallonia "the nomad district" crosses Belgium in an annual tour that has been going on for centuries. Its inhabitants, the showmen, are nevertheless well established in the modernity. In the banality of their daily lives and the cycle of life. The film wonders about the unconscious tradition that goes through them. What are the impalpable residues? Would it be that of our traditions, of us ... In the community to which we unconsciously belong. This immersive film portrays a community that is insidiously endangered by the regulation of cities and the disrepute of popular culture.

►by: Alexandra RICE
Best Feature Screenplay
CASH
Bride wrongly feels abused and runs off with $2.5 million husband was transporting for gangsters.

► by: Thomas Constantinides
Best Sci-Fi
Robot Romance
Struggling writer salvages a robot from the street and it completely changes his life.

►by: Thomas Constantinides
Best Short Film
Best Drama
A Month. A Day. A Year.
A dream. A nightmare. Reality. Serge is a young man living with autism and dealing with ongoing depression. He lives on a schedule to try and keep his negative thoughts in check. Everything comes crashing down when he has to face his fears in a confession for therapy.

► by: Hunter Brockmann
Best Short Screenplay
Best Short Film
Super Nova
Super Nova" is a heartwarming story about the bond between a father and daughter, and the ways in which that bond can shape and influence our lives. Nova's father works for NASA and each night he shares his space explorations with her, sparking her imagination and allowing her to dream. But when he becomes a workaholic and distant, Nova's dreams stop and she grows up to be just like him - cold and unhappy. It's only when she has a daughter of her own that Nova realizes the importance of pouring into and encouraging the imagination of the next generation. Can she break the cycle and be a better parent to her daughter and rediscover the power of dreaming?

► by: Jonathan Cardell Sims
Best Symbolic Film
Best Animation
Man in a Can
A man leaves an oasis and starts walking. In the middle of the desert, he finds this strange building and immediately, he addresses someone on the inside of the building. Whether there's any need, for airco, food, or maybe even some music or television, here in this inhospitable part of the world? After fruitless inquiries, the man spends the night in the desert. The morning after, he realizes that, ultimately, there's only one possible decision to make. All this is just a day dream of a guy on a beach, somewhere in Kenia. Slightly confused by his dream, he cannot but promise his girlfriend to come and swim with her on that first lovely day of the year.

► by: Henk Pringels
Best Feature Documentary
Little pile of things I & II
This documentary made in two parts, begins with Jeanette, an old lady explaining her life with her things. While, in the second part, her objects and archives tell us different things about her. A 90 years-old lady explains the origin of her perception of possessions and the personal reasons which drive her to amass things. Things that have taken over her living space. Confronting the problem of emptiness and fullness, the story follows Jeanette with her hoarding disorder. A poetic journey following a lady who represents herself with the past, present and future through her relationship with things. Virginie Balabaud (filmmaker) offers her an artistic alternative by suggesting to build a tent with all her accumulated fabrics. It’s the second part of the movie, the filmmaker plays the role of Jeanette in a burlesque way. Through Jeanette’s objects, archives, we develop the History of France : the feminist fight against bourgeoisie education, the second world war and the after war, emancipation and adaptation of a woman in the modern time. Melting the past and present, the viewer can have an image of the life of Jeanette.

►by: Virginie Balabaud
Best Thriller
Best Short Film
Valvonauta
On the phone with a rich man whose son he has kidnapped, with whom he hasn't had contact for fifteen years, the kidnapper gives him the chance to save his son's life and rebuild their relationship.

► by: Riccardo Romano
Best Comedy
Best Short Film
School of Idiots by Sheldon Mashugana
Comedy like Cheech and Chong and the Three Stooges

►by: Dean Morgan
Best Thriller
Acting Like Nothing is Wrong
Despite what would seem to be a flourishing career, most recently playing Kermit on Showtime's "Shameless", Hollywood character actor Jim Hoffmaster struggles both professionally and personally. "Acting Like Nothing is Wrong" explores how he navigates life without a stable upbringing. Foster care and abuse lead Jim to acting, where he could finally be seen and appreciated. ​ The film poses universal questions and illuminates mental health issues we experience on a daily basis. Do we ever completely overcome our traumas? What are our coping mechanisms? Glimmers of hope and healthy doses of comedy are vital elements in the film.

► by: Jane Rosemont
Best Sport Film
RAGE
When Jasser joins his brother Salem at the MMA club he gets tested by Nick the MMA champion.

►by: Abdulrahman Al Jandal
Best Music Video
Best Short Film
I've Been Afraid
"I've Been Afraid" is about big and small fears, and the violence against women that permeates our society.

► by: Cecelia Condit
Best No-Dialogue Film
Best Short Film
Talking Cure
A black room, a chair, a couch and two men. The constellation reminds one of a session at a psychotherapist. With one significant difference: the two men don't speak to each other. Why are they silent? One of them is perhaps tired of talking, the other possibly fears his own voice. Or maybe it is because they are meeting inside a film whose narration relays mainly on pictures. We look through daring mimings and gestures beyond which fantastic visions and imaginations are dwelling. What the two men don't say the pictoriality of silence reveals...

►by: Maren Krüger
Best Drama
Best Short Film
Belles paroles
Un jeune handicapé se bat pour faire découvrir son talent d’écriture auprès d’autres rappeur qui le juge sur son physique . A travers cette œuvre c’est l’histoire vraie de Massyl Kasri.

► by: Mohamed Ouaddah
Best Dark Comedy
LANA & TONI
Lana and Toni are a couple in a long-term relationship. Lana wants children and a large family, but Toni lives in his own world and shows no signs of wanting to take a step forward in their relationship. One day, Lana and her best friend Maja head to a castle where Toni's birthday party is supposed to be happening, but to their surprise, there is no one there. The situation gets even more complicated when they bump into Alex, Toni's best friend. As they are about to walk out of the castle, they come across a box with a very special surprise in it.

► by: Predrag Peter Rajčič
Best VFX
Best Color Editing
Operation Teak
Winner - Best Animation 2023 Mad Monster Film Festival Winner - Audience Award Best Short Documentary 2023 Golden State Film Festival An antho-logical experi-mental animated documentary about Brillo, Baseball, The Slave Trade, The Bay of Pigs, Warhol, Columbus, VHS, Detroit, True Horror, Qaddafi, the Poisonous University of Michigan vs, Ohio State rivalry, and a secret CIA Operation nobody knows anything about, not even us...

► by: Peter Kotas
Best Feature Screenplay
Parateichion
LOGLINE A man from the 15th-century Kyiv goes through dramatic adventures while the attempts to overcome church schism and to save Constantinople from the Osmans are being made. He describes the fall of Constantinople in his famous book.

►by: Oleg Bazylewicz
Best Television Script
Oroboro Island
Three time-travel ships are sent from the 23d century to a distant past with an important research mission. Unaware of a huge planetary time-stream loop, the expedition goes through many unexpected adventures and produces stunning results. Even though there is no way to change anything, the remaining crews still try to fix at least something... (Project files: - episode 1 of 10, - episodes 1-10 - full script) BRIEF SYNOPSIS At the beginning of the 23rd Century, humanity is on the brink of destruction due to intense tectonic activity causing land riffs, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Three time-travel vessels are launched back into the past, using the recently discovered Omega-Field energy source, to allow extra time to conduct research for a solution. This mission is thrown into chaos, however, when two of the ships end up on an island later called “Oroboro Island” in the age of the dinosaurs, while the third ship lands in the Andes Mountains 12,000 years B.C. during the Stone Age. (50 % of the total project material will be filmed in the Peruvian Andes and jungles. A great portion of the cast represent Spanish-speaking world). Surprised time voyagers meet other sentient beings that Earth has produced and sustained in multiple planetary time streams. They have to question almost everything they believed in. They learn that the history of our world is very complex and that certain myths and mysteries are explained and generated by an astonishing loop in which their particular time stream is trapped. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fSTcVWZLk Pitch notes The “Oroboro Island” sci-fi series has extensive appeal to a broad audience. It perplexes the viewers by introducing the idea of a planetary time stream that has a pretty complicated structure but still pieces together many things about our planet and its history. A long time ago, it formed a separate loop - and now we need to fix it, but how? This story will particularly appeal to sci-fi aficionados: people time-travel, making stunning discoveries, developing wondrous future technologies, and shedding the light on many ancient mysteries, especially those in Latin America. The characters, "a man and a woman on a mission" setup, the wildlife, and the adventures in the rich plots involved will have very wide appeal. The storylines sre gripping, and the stakes are really high.

► by: Oleg Bazylewicz, Karen Buckton
Best Sound Design
An American In Europe
Johnny Vonneumann’s “An American in Europe” tells a story of an American being seduced, inspired, dazzled, and challenged, and eventually falls madly in love with the vibrant history of Europe. Johann Strauss' The Blue Danube Waltz is the narrative spine of the romance. The story is told through an American visitor, exposing America's beliefs, culture, dance, elegance, grit, ethics, joy and art as he embraces, Europe’s complex culture and vast history. Which became the bedrock for the American dream.

► by: Johnny Vonneumann
Best Symbolic Film
Helezon Değişken
Helezon - Değişken ( Spiral - Shifting ) is the second installment of a four episode short film. Its thesis is " The warmth you seek in nature is within yourself". The element of the film is "fire", and the prominent colour is red. Helezon Değişken tells the story of two rebels who struggle with cold, a bear and enemy soldiers. During the film, the emotions and behaviours of the characters change in accordance with the shifting nature of fire. About Helezon (Spoiler) Helezon is a series of short films based on Empedokles's philosophy which claims that "Things in nature such as fire, water, earth, air is within one's self" The series is shaped by this concept. The man character is a patient in a mental hospital who suffers from multiple personality disorder. It is not clear whether he makes up stories and characters from the materials he sees around himself or he remembers his past lives and lives them at the same time. The answer will be left to the viewer at the end of the fourth film. Being the symbol of the film, the spiral seems to be made up from multiple layers when seen from across whereas it looks as if it was one piece from above. This is a metaphor of main character's multiple personality disorder and the fact that the human is a being that houses four elements.

► by: Cihan Abdal
Best Short Screenplay
The Bench
People cannot help judge other people but as one mother learns something that looks suspicious is really not that sinister.

► by: Tammy Boyer
Best Short Film
A Little Light
The dark can be a scary thing but Chloe learns to be brave as her mother shows her a way to control it. But her mother forgets to save a little light for herself as fear has a way to take over.

►by: Tammy Boyer
Best No-Dialogue Film
On Waking Up
A tale about depression and despair in the modern age. A young man finds himself battling inner and outer turmoil as we observe him on four days, over the course of one year.

► by: Johny Ritter
Best Music Video
Herd of the Huntress
This is a music documentary of a Wichita Kansas rock band that i followed for about 2 years, "Herd of the Huntress" . Sharing their style and passion for music.

►by: MIKE BRILEY
Best Experimental Film
Orion 1925
in February 1925, a storm broke suddenly at Halamid west of Iceland, two trawlers and two ufo's went under, causing the unlikely meeting of an Alien and a fisherman fighting for their lives

► by: Eva M. Ingolfsdottir
Best Animation
The Last Day
The old man has nightmares again. He wakes up by the sound of someone trying to play on his old and out of tunes piano. He knows that his time will soon be over. There is only one more thing he has to do…

► by: Margaret Emdal
Best Short Film
Best Student Film
My Friend Lucas
Valentina goes for a walk in the forest, and encounters an unexpected friend.

► by: Greta Irico
Best Short Film
Best Actress
Best Original Screenplay
Lily's - Sacred Journey
Lily is the granddaughter of a Holy Man who lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota. Since her childhood, she has been taught the old ways of the Sioux traditions by her grandfather, including the spirit of the Sacred White Wolf who is his constant companion when he climbs the mountain. He is gone sometimes for days to converse with the spirits of his people who were lost to violent wars and their way of life. Poverty is very prevalent on the reservation, and as a young child, her grandfather wanted her to understand that their people did not always live like this. Also during this time, the story centers around the disappearance of Native American women, an epidemic that has plagued the reservations for countless years. When she is older, her grandfather takes her to a ceremony on the mountain. It is here that her dreams and visions of the white wolf start to appear. However, her mother wants her to go to college and move off the reservation to have a better life for herself. When Lily reaches 21, she embarks on a journey to college where she befriends an African-American girl who also happens to be her roommate. She meets two other girls from different backgrounds as well, and the four of them become close as sisters. While in school, her dreams of the “white wolf” become more prevalent. However, she likes living off the reservation and has dreams of becoming a doctor. Her frustrations begin as she is torn from what she was told as a child, and does not want to live on the reservation again after college. It is only after a tragic incident occurs, that she is reunited with Dr. Steve and her fight to decide who she really is and what her destiny is coming into focus.

►by: JR Micheal
Best Short Film
Perfect Strangers
Uta Osanai is a high school student who lives a fulfilling life surrounded by friends in a rural town in Shizuoka. One day, when her father collapses due to illness, he confesses that "your mother is alive." Despite being confused, She heads to Tokyo alone to meet her mother. She is her first city for her. When she finally arrives at the bar where her mother works, she meets her mother and her long-cherished desire, but she is kicked out. Losing her place, Uta wanders around Shinjuku, meets a girl, and eventually discovers the secret of her mother.

► by: DAISUKE KAMIJYO
Best Adapted Screenplay
A Scottish Gem
This is a compelling, true story of Carole, a courageous young mother, often compared to a Scottish Gem. Despite the scars of childhood trauma triggered by their embittered, single-parenting mother, Carole eventually gives in to marrying her Prince Charming Richard aka Dick, giving birth to Kristy and Joseph, and moving into her dream house to live “happily ever after," or so she thought. On December 24, 1999, Dick shatters Carole’s world by telling her that he has a girlfriend and wants a divorce. Months later, tests about a lump in her breast go from “there is nothing to worry about” to “I need your permission to remove your right breast” marks the beginning of an unimaginable emotional roller coaster for many years to come. Carole makes the hard decision to keep it a secret from anyone for as long as she can.

► by: Yvonne Lucrezia Condrau
Best Experimental Film
Seven Ridges
In a desert by the sea, an ancient culture endures modernity. A grandmother and her granddaughter intertwine in estrangement over memory. The myth sheds controversy; time falls in dreams of sand, old songs and rock music. First full-length feature drama to be ever produced in Cmiique Iitom (Seri language)

► by: Antonio Coello
Best Experimental Film
Saint-Désir l'Exil
In the heart of Saint-Désir l'Exil there is a swimming pool. In the heart of the pool are the noxious bodies. Next to the pool, my mother lives her last moments under the sun.

►by: Natacha Nisic
Best Feature Documentary
KOFI'S DREAM
The film talks about the hopeful journey of an African refugee from Chad, who goes to Europe passing through the African desert and the Libyan coasts, in order to reach Europe and realize his dream.

► by: Francesca Stangoni
Best Experimental Film
Kairos
This is a film, with cinematographic language in an experimental style, which approaches the Kairós time, in the sense of lived time, showing that a thought can create experiences in different situations and in multiple different times. It exposes a woman immersed in the imagination of a dream, in which she watches temporal episodes that portray her existential loneliness, making a connection with time and space in its various experiential forms.

► by: JOSE LIVINO PINHEIRO LOPES
Best Feature Documentary
Searching for Halifax NP711
Seven crew members of the Royal Canadian Air Force were killed in a bombing raid over Germany on Feb. 21, 1945. The cause of the crash was a mystery. Their Halifax bomber was discovered 73 years later. We examine the crew's final hours, its flight path, the conclusions on why it crashed and the search for the wreckage.

► by: Rob Leicester Wagner
Best Web-Series
LOVING GRASSLANDS
Landholders and ecologists are working in Hume City Council's Green Wedge to restore and manage land in harmony with nature, saving critically-endangered grasslands from extinction.

►by: Brendan Joseph Guerin
Best Mobile Film
Best Student Film
Best Short Screenplay
Best Young Actress
Best Young Director
Option B
A tortured house worker named Zohra. She wants to run away from home. But she can not bring herself to do it because of her feelings of pity for the little kid in the house whom she raised from childhood. One day, she gets the chance to escape; can she overcome her feelings of pity for the little kid and run away, or will she stay and continue to suffer?

► by: Kabbo Kabir
Best Feature Screenplay
It's Only Life
Renounced by his father as a teenager, Jack Morris returns to care for him thirty years later and discovers there is more to life than the present. Based on true events.

►by: Joseph Stephen Meadows
Best Short Screenplay
St. Barts is a Happening Place
After her husband's funeral, a woman stops by the home of her best friend to ask why she didn't attend. Fond memories decay into regrets. Regrets decay into questions. Did he die of natural causes? Or was there a little help from the wife? Or maybe the friend? Either way, St. Barts is a happening place.

► by: Suzanne Birrell
Best Dance Video
Milk Tooth
Inspired by the Greek film "Dogtooth" in which parents keep their children isolated from the outside world, "Milk Tooth" reflects on social isolation and the means of enabling encounters, even at a distance. We create strategies to inhabit each other's questions and rebellions, to vibrate at the same frequency. We must cherish and nurture the bodies in isolation. Winner, Andromeda Film Festival 2022 Special Mention | Top 3 in Best Editing, Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival Nov 2022 Open Vision Film Fest 2022 Semi-finalist FIVC, INTERNATIONAL SCREENDANCE FESTIVAL OF CHILE 2022 Movie Rio 2022 Culture Cinema C2F2 2022 D’Olhar - Festival Itinerante de Dança e Vídeo 2022 Festival del Cinema di Cefalù 2022 Independent Video Film Festival of YouTube Art Club Pavlos Paraschakis, Greece 2022 Moovy Tanzfilmfestival 2022 Corpos em Perspectiva 2021

►by: Herika Reis, Maria Hermeto
Best Comedy Screenplay
Blood Money
Howard Swan, a doctor with a severe drinking problem, loses his medical license, his wife, his house, and is on the verge of losing his daughter as well. In a desperate act, he enlists the help of Caspar, his drug dealer brother, to make some easy money. After a deal goes wrong, Howard uses his medical expertise to save the life of Snake Eyes, a psychopathic drug kingpin. Howard and Caspar fall deeper into the world of organised crime than they ever intended, and they may not be able to make it back out.

► by: Dominic Flanagan
Best Experimental Film
The Day My Cat Saved My Life
Based on a true-life story of a severe psychotic episode which brings the narrator to the brink of suicide, where he is eventually found and saved by his cat.

►by: Kagan Goh, Co-Director: Susanna Uchatius
Best Feature Documentary
The Two Photojournalists : the witnesses of 5·18 Gwangju
On May 18, 1980, Gwangju, South Korea. two photojournalists witnessed the Democratization Uprising in Gwangju on camera. A documentary two living witnesses who are now old visit Gwangju again and look back on the history of Korean Democratic Movements in the 80s.

► by: EUNJU PARK
Best Producer
Best Sport Film
Ice hockey Orphans
A man who tragically never had the opportunity to play hockey as a youngster finds other people like him who 'are not good enough' to play with the regular boys.

►by: James Anthony McElligott
Best Experimental Film
Q 1
Moving mandala what I started with a simple circle . I was interested what are the possibilites of such simple basic programme as Windows paint . First picture I named Q by case ,subconsciously or * upconsciously* ,later found in literature that Q is letter Qof in Jewish alphabet ,represent the Sun ,number 19 in Tarot ...

► by: Silvano Perozic
Best Horror
Best Director
Best Actress
Final Gasp
Lindsay shares an apartment with two roommates. They’re both gone, yet she wonders if someone is watching her…

► by: David E. Teixeira
Best Short Documentary
We are voices
Experimental sound collage. Voice concert. Collective portrait of women of different ages and parts of the world who share ideas about who they are and the society that surrounds them during the year 2020.

► by: Rebeca Saavedra Gironás
Best Feature Screenplay
Pheromone City
"Pheromone City" Written by Bruno Starrs. Copyright 2023. Logline: An Aboriginal feminist academic’s career is threatened when a stripper secretly doses him with bio-hacked menstrual blood and urine, making him the target of an insane White Supremacist’s growing army of deadly Alpha Male cyborgs. Synopsis: A racist, sexist and utterly insane scientist known as Turtleneck is transforming the effete black men of Sydney into deadly Schwarzenegger-like cyborg soldiers. The White Supremacist madman’s amateur brain surgery, backed up by the remote-controlled depots of testosterone and methamphetamine he’s inserted under their skin, quickly turns kidnapped Beta Males into monsters.

► by: Bruno Starrs
Best Short Film
Abigail
Abigail spends her days by the lake, reading and thinking. One day, a mysterious man sits next to her. Where is he from? Who is he? Is he connected with her past?

► by: Claudio Cirri
Best Historical Film
Moving History
Look through the windows of the the first settlement home in the Crane Creek area of Melbourne, Florida, built by freed slaves, as many generations have done since the 1800s, until a small group of dedicated volunteers acted quickly to save this original, historical shotgun house from demolition and share its history surrounding it with the world.

► by: Jennifer East
Best Short Documentary
Living Years
Gale Williams had a happy, normal childhood in Santa Monica California. Then, in 1956, on the eve of his 18th birthday he crashed his car in a remote area of California and became a quadriplegic. In those days people with such severe injuries were only expected to live 10-15 years. To survive, mentally and physically, Gale set his mind to tackling small goals, focusing only on what he was able to do, and through a supportive family and church community, he rebuilt his life. He studied computer programming at UCLA in the 1960's, worked for an air defense company, married and adopted two children. After the disappointment of divorce and suffering discrimination by employers, Gale gradually became involved in disabled rights activism. He attended demonstrations in the 1970's to recognize the needs of the disabled community that were being neglected, and became state president of California's Association for Physically Handicapped. He remarried, had two more children, and continued to inspire and educate a new generation of young people, both disabled and able-bodied. At 82, and most likely the longest living quadriplegic, Gale's life story shows us that there are no limitations to what we can accomplish if we set our minds to it.

► by: Brenda Gillis
Best Horror
Murder of doubt
(Spoiler alert!) Anna is paranoia after breaking up with her boyfriend. Later on she helps save another girl. She ends up in a sanatorium and escapes to the beach.

►by: Arthur X
Best Feature Screenplay
The S.S. Robin
In middle-class Brooklyn in 1971 a mixed race family was simply not the norm. The S.S. Robin takes place in Brooklyn, New York in 1971. It tells the story of the DeLucas - a working-class Italian/American family who struggle with the turbulence of the early 70’s, while facing new and unexpected challenges stemming from the inclusion of a mixed race child into their home. The S.S. Robin opens with the unexpected arrival of Robin, a 3 year old Hispanic/black foster child into the DeLuca family. A child with a fully-formed personality who interacts with the family, develops a strong bond with each member and calls the DeLuca parents mommy and daddy as natural as if they were her own. The story spans 18 months where we watch the family celebrate birthdays and holidays, experience day-to-day family activities as playful as learning how to swim in the family pool to tension-filled, near violent arguments and dramas between neighbors and strangers and children and parents all of which could potentially alter relationships forever – many of those conflicts centering around Robin.

►by: Camille DeBiase
Best Feature Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
WHEN WE WERE GUYS
Los Angeles California 90’s; During a night spent with his gang formed by budding teen criminals and bullies, the leader John Connor fearless overbearing and aimless bully challenges a shy and awkward boy Michael Pain to join his gang. Michael secretly steals his father Donald Pain's car by driving at night towards Desert Beach, where they have arranged to meet, but this test is not enough for John because he wants much more than this. So, he decides to challenge Michael in a swimming competition in the rough ocean, putting Michael's car up for grabs. John is a skilled swimmer while Michael drowns that same evening. The gang runs away taking away Michael Pain's expensive car given to him by his father.

► by: Simone Izzo
Best Director
Wish You Well
The Boy and the Girl were in love. They led a plain yet loving life, sharing profound resonance with each other. The Girl loved the sea and they made a deal to travel to the sea someday. However, a sudden illness took the Girl's life. Before the Girl died, she had told the boy that the shadows of the two who are in love will move for one another, even when they are not physically together; and one’s longing for the loved one would send one’s shadow to the other. After the Girl was gone, the Boy was overwhelmed with longing and sadness. When brushing his teeth, he hears the juicer play a sad love song. When having breakfast, he sees the Girl crying silently in the clouds. When passing by a lake, he sees the Girl smiling in the water; As he lays in bed, he remembers what the Girl had told him before she left. He remembers that the Girl liked to have him scratch her back while they were in bed, so he scratches his back as well on the countless sleepless nights. The Boy went to the hospital for the scratches on his back. And the Doctor developed a special affection for the Boy, hoping to get closer to him. But the Boy, after losing the Girl, was already dead inside. That night, the Doctor had a long phone call with the Boy, where they told the stories of their lost loved ones, shared the haunting sadness, and mourned the losses in silence. This night, as the moonlight shines on the Boy's face, the Girl turns into a bird and flies over to the Boy. At that moment, the shadow of longings cast on the wall. It turns out that some lost ones are never really gone, as the love is always there.

►by: Nadia Guo
Best Feature Documentary
A Generation of Peaceful Warriors
Andy has been learning martial arts for his whole life, and it helped him managing his anger and emotions. He will soon compete in his first public fight and we follow his preparation, with the support of his family and friends.

► by: Bertrand Remaut
Best LGBTQ+ Film
Poly Andrew
Andrew and Trevor are a happy gay couple, until Andrew's secret girlfriend - who also happens to be Trevor's best friend - shows up, and Andrew is forced to come to terms with his sexual identity.

►by: Brad McDermott, Fred Kuhr
Best BLM Film
Rachel's Reason
Rachel invites her sisters, Rebecca and Rochelle, over to her place for a night of wining and laughing over their childhood and adulthood lives. Amidst the laughter, Rebecca and Rochelle discover a truth about Rachel. A night of fun turns into Rachel’s Reason.

► by: Dajour Ashwood
Best Feature Documentary
Handsome Sailor of Rock'n Roll
Erkut Taçkın is the first Rock'n Roll perfromer of Turkey and Athough he is 76, he still can perform on stage. 'Handsome Sailor Of Rock'n Roll' is the portrait of this extra ordinary entertainer

►by: Kagan Olgunturk
Best Short Film
Butterfly Cinema
Sometimes Butterfly…. Burn The purpose of this film is to show the human side of the artist and suffering… not lights, not fame, not red carpets.

► by: Ekramy Maher Bekhit
Best Costume Design
Silent Night
December 25th. A fire has broken out in Santa Claus' factory. Most of the elves have died and Santa is missing ... A few hours earlier. During his tour, Santa enters a house where he finds a mysterious gift for him ...

►by: Emmanuel Delabaere
Best Short Screenplay
Cause

► by: Samaneh Nouri
Best Short Documentary
Twilight Zone: The Worst Accident in Film History
Three people were killed during the Steven Spielberg production of Twilight Zone: The Movie, making it the worst accident in film history.

►by: Robert Jones
Best Feature Film
Butterscotch Chocolate
Roni is a beautiful and classy hot shot lawyer who seems to have it all together. However, her constant battle with a mental illness and sexual addiction causes her career and life to be altered in a way she never imagined.

► by: Dap Paxton
Best Director Debut
Meadows' Disturbance
A girl's going to see a friend of her in the country. Her road is made of different meetings.

► by: Antoine POUILLY
Best Feature Documentary
Logion 100 Episode 1 19.1.2023
Homeless alcohol, nicotine and drug addicts live under the S-Bahn bridge at Kottbusser Tor in Berlin. On the way to my fitness center, I saw them sleeping and using drugs there. As a filmmaker, I wanted to take a closer look at it and learn about the reasons why they lead such a life. One of my protagonists lives in the same house as me and has himself admitted to psychiatry. His apartment has been cleared and he is now being looked after by social workers after his treatment. It is a visual attempt to find out the reasons why the protagonists got into this difficult life situation. In addition, the recordings are permeated by the attempt to show spiritual connections with reference to the law of cause and effect. At the end of the documentary, almost all of the protagonists have disappeared and the place at Kottbuser Tor has been cleared. The reasons for this are not known and would be a topic for new documentation. They have broken up and contact with them is no longer possible. Today I assume that they have been accommodated and are well looked after. There are reasons for this assumption that are not dealt with in the documentation. It was not only my goal to make a documentary but also to make sure that they get help. At the moment it looks like I've succeeded. Since my films have only been known to my friends so far, I have now made the decision to bring the last of my films to the public. All films are aids to reflection, have a therapeutic effect and increase the ability to mentalize. Working on this documentation gave me several insights, among other things. The experience of emotions is considered to be the origin from which mentalization can ultimately grow. Based on the hypothesis that infants do have emotional expressions but do not have a differentiated awareness or experience of their emotional states, early affect mirroring is ascribed a central role. The ability to mentalize enables one to think about oneself and about the assumed inner life of other people. Different perspectives are recognized, and false beliefs are incorporated into oneself and other.

► by: Gerhard Muff
Best Short Film
I´m a pedophile
Petter is forced to face his siblings and tell them he is a pedophile after having lived with this in secret for many years. Questions about empathy and understanding are put to the test when he chooses to be honest for the first time.

►by: Johanna Ställberg
Best Dance Video
Delight
Go back in time with these youngsters who meet up with a fairy godmother, and are blessed by her magic wand as they dance around the Maypole, and enjoy the secrets woods they have discovered.

► by: Barbara Becker Holstein
Best Animation
ATLANTIS 1
This is a story of the Atlantisians in 9593 B.C. The people of Atlantis live desperately through the repeated wars and many earthquakes. Marissa who loves her hometown meets a scholar foretelling the ruin of the Atlantis. He says that he want to evacuate as many people as possible before it's too late. But, soon after that, he is arrested by the government of Atlantis and he is sentenced to death. Marissa and her childhood friend try to save him. This is the message from Atlantis beyond 10, 000 years.

►by: Misaki K. Asamie
Best No-Dialogue Film
Ruin
A tragic mythic love story

► by: André Melanson
Best Feature Documentary
Еcho of victory
"Echo of Victory" is a documentary film dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. Our film is a gratitude to our veterans for their heroism and for the fact that we live in peace. We keep the eternal memory of them, their history. Nobody is forgotten! Nothing is forgotten!

►by: Miras Zhumabekuly Kadyrov
Best Actress
OFFICER SIFIS KALPAKIS E6

► by: LEONARDO THIMO
Best Television Script
Dating Again
Six older adults struggle to find their place in the dating world.

►by: Alexandra Gatto
Best Drama
POEM
A master poet loses her muse but tries to pass on her art and craft to a young talented poet.

► by: Robert Fritz
Best Short Screenplay
Straw on the Camel
After ill-fated events, a burnout Psychic's actions towards a client resurfaces as she must face the consequences of her actions or seal her fate.

►by: Lacye A Brown
Best Feature Screenplay
The Shadow PPL
A group of college students struggle to uncover the reason they are being viciously picked off by dark beings.

► by: Lacye A Brown
Best Feature Screenplay
Brothers of Babylon
After their father’s death Nate Babylon is released from prison, and reunites with his older brother Daniel on their family’s ranch to find part of their land stolen by a corrupt sheriff, who’s created a drug empire with an outlaw biker gang. When Daniel’s pregnant wife is killed the Babylon brothers unleash their wrath, laying waste in an escalating fury of violence to save their family, town, and empire.

►by: Gabriel Womack
Best Feature Screenplay
Meeting Director Sam Peckinpah
One cold morning at the Apachieland saloon two men walked in and sat at the end of the bar to my right. One was a big fellow with wavy hair down to his shoulders, mustached and bearded---he looked like he’d seen better days. The other man was smaller, also bearded and mustached, and wore a bandanna on his head. I asked the big fella, ”What’s your name?” “Frank Kawaloski,” he smiled. “Are you guys with the film crew?” They nodded. I looked them over and said, “I hear the director is a Little Cesar and when he says jump, you ask how high?” The smaller man asked, “Do you want a shot of brandy in your coffee?” “Yes,” I replied, as it was freezing in the saloon. Frank asked if I was afraid, and I said, “NO! That guy better not try pushing me or…” and I raised my little fist and shook it. Frank looked at the smaller man and said, “Do you see that SAM? You better behave, or this little girl will part your hair!” “Really? I’m Sam Peckinpah.” We stared at each other for a bit then I said, “Gotta Go”, finished my coffee, jumped off the barstool, and skedaddled. When the film crew started working in town, I was an extra. Every time I turned around, I caught him looking at me. Understand, although people said I looked like Doris Day, I didn’t think so. I always had a weight problem and I didn’t like myself. I didn’t understand what was happening, as all my emotions were going crazy. Why this man? Why did I have these strong feelings for this old grizzly guy? I felt like I’d been hit by a truck, my heart hammered, and my head hurt. I wanted to run but needed the money, so worked and tried to keep my distance. The following day, Sam worked the crew from 8 AM to 3 AM. There was always tension on the set, but that night electricity was in the dry cold desert air. Sam looked at me and said, ”You walk by with that cowboy over there and be happy and gay.” “No, I’m tired, find somebody else.” Lucian Ballard looked at me pleadingly. “Ok”, I said, and picked a cowboy from our street shows, walked past the camera, turned, looked into the camera, and said, “Ha. Ha, Ha,” and kept walking. Sam softly said, “Cut… you, my dear are a rotten, rotten, Rotten actress!” “Do it again, Goddammit!” The second time I did do it perfectly. The next morning up at the barn standing near a beautiful black horse, I looked down the street and watched Sam standing in the middle of the road giving orders to the crew. You’ve heard of road rage, well, I had horse rage. Before I knew it, I was up on that black horse leaning down his neck and said, “You see that man? He called me a rotten, rotten, rotten actress. Let’s kill ‘em.” I kicked that horse and we thundered down the road hell-bent for leather. Sam saw us coming, didn’t move a muscle, and just stood there. Luckily the horse was smarter than me, sidestepped at the last instant so that my leg hit Sam’s arm, and twisted him into the direction we were going. Pulling up the horse, I looked back and saw Sam standing there looking at me with a Mona Lisa smirk on his face. The story is emotional, funny, and sad… The film ends with a mini-documentary...

► by: Nancee LaFayette
Best Young Director
The Eclipse
A mysterious solar eclipse takes place and people's behavior seems to change dramatically. A young man is trying to reach his girlfriend but he will be prevented by the violent people who have looked at the eclipse and try to make him look as well.

► by: Christos (Chris Prantza) Prantzalos
Best Music Video
All For Nothing
The gamblers sit at the table, the stakes are you and I. Anti-war film.

► by: Graham Pike
Best Feature Screenplay
CornStalkers
Jessica McDuffie’s world is upended when she learns she’s adopted and that her real father was just seventeen years old when he died. He was murdered by a dark arts practitioner named Tarantula, the leader of a notorious hot rod car club. With only a tattered album of photos, she follows leads to an abandoned corn maze but accidentally awakens a deadly paranormal energy in the doing. This haunted corn maze is where her newly-acquired grandfather, as payback, mysteriously drove Tarantula and her entire possie to their graves so many years ago on Halloween night! A perilous clearing ritual will have to be executed or this high-octane horror will continue to penetrate her and her friends’ lives, offing them one by one.

►by: Michael L Bayouth
Best Experimental Film
TUTOPIQUE #FOLAMOUR
Cosmic influencer of utopic tutorials, Alfa Wonk is forced to fight absurd human paradoxes to deal with hypocritical authorities. Presently, he explains how to lose an award while winning a defeat.

► by: Maurice Huvelin
Best Short Screenplay
Doors
Imani is awakened in a hallway full of locked doors. Trying to escape she notices different signage on each door. Which door is Imani's door?

►by: Natalie Tyler
Best Comedy
Mr. Box & Boogy's BattleBots Review
Mr. Box & Boogy Review Film, TV and Music along with their intuitive commentary, unique rating system and skits!

► by: Al Diaz
Best Short Film
Pulling Up Roots
Filmed in an abandoned housing project in Western Ireland, a woman confronts lies she has been telling herself for a long time. Her self-deceptions are like weeds, which have "taken root", making her life a "ruin". In the end, she moves through despair to elation.

►by: Cecelia Condit
Best Original Soundtrack
Against The Grain
The First Feature Film From Award Winning FilmMaker Greg L. Hines. The film is about three musicians dealing with career, family and all that goes with the pursuit happiness.

► by: Greg L. Hines
Best Thriller
Best No-Dialogue Film
Sugar In Darkness
Official Music Video For The 6 Hours Song "Sugar In Darkness"

►by: Gregory Hines
Best Short Film
Best Comedy
Cloud Wins
A Short Fiction Film Starring My Cat As He Faces His Greatest Foe...

► by: Greg L. Hines
Best Short Documentary
D-CYPL : Rhymes, Beats And Creation
A Documentary About The Career of Mc and Producer Christopher "D-Cypl" Collins

► by: Greg L. Hines
Best Feature Documentary
Emprendimiento Ciberpirata
En este documental se sigue la investigación del libro homónimo, donde el autor y director cuenta la historia de tres grupos de música latina y su relación con la autogestión tanto de la independencia de sus proyectos como de sus disqueras. Es un acercamiento a la estructuración del arte latinoamericano y sus organizaciones

► by: Daniel Cortázar Triana
Best Experimental Film
Haruan: The Snakehead
Do bad deeds always beget badness? A dark tale of a magical fish and its flawed human friends. 10-year old Ikan lives with his older sister Salomah and their stepfather Deris. Ikan adores his sister and loves all fish, especially his pet snakehead fish Haruan. Some snakeheads eat their young. Apparently, some humans do too. Like the snakeheads, hungry Deris has no natural predator. Like the snakeheads, Salomah is a survivor. Ikan and Haruan will do anything to save their beloved Salomah. Deris must be stopped, at whatever cost...

►by: Razli Dalan
Best Feature Documentary
RACE
A film of the "Worst Humanitarian Crisis" in East Asia, the "Rohingya incident". From Aug 25, 2017, almost 1 million Rohingya people were forced away from their homeland Myanmar and formed the "world largest refugee camp" next to the border in Bangladesh. Tens of thousands of children and women who failed to escape were killed, abused and raped. Although such ultra-violent act --- described as Genocide: "Ethnic Cleansing" by the UN, was executed, the official records deny such facts and what actually happened was veiled in mystery. Such occurred, because of media manipulation, cover-ups, and most significantly the particular way how "Race" matters for the Myanmar people. Succeeded to film and collect scenes from the restricted homelands and refugee camps, the documentary shows what actually did happen, is happening, and worsening, inside the darkest shadows of Asia. Originally planned to be released in 2020, but in vain, due to COVID19, completed in 2022. Original sound is 7.1ch. Production company is an Humanitarian NGO/NPO. And its first film production. Production method is Open Source Journalism and actual field gathering. Written, directed and edited by a single person. Director's name is Alias for security reasons, until certain situation clears. Full ending roll not included in submitted preview version.

► by: Sash Nakamoto
Best Music Video
Best Original Song
Emergency Musical Response
LOGLINE: Emergency Musical Response Team 421 responds to distress calls using music as a healing therapy (EMR Part 1). What is initially perceived as a routine service call devolves into an existential challenge where the very fate of pop music hangs in the balance (EMR Part 2). SYNOPSIS: Emergency Musical Responders, Sage and her partner Cosmo, provide emergency music as a service to those in need of music as medicine. Ride with EMR Unit 421 as they help people in distress on their journey to Netherworld.

►by: Cosmo Swevens
Best Student Film
We The People?
A person searches for his dream club, but a series of intense conversations makes him reflect on the purpose of his behavior and the faces of this world.

► by: Sai Man (Simon) Zhao
Best Dark Comedy
Garbage People: Trash Conspiracies + Trash Carnival
Double Feature, 2-for-1 episode! Trash Conspiracies Ever wonder what Garbage People eat? Or where the dead Trash go when they die? Patches and Peel know... but maybe it's just a Trash conspiracy. Trash Carnival Patches and Peel experience a day full of fun and follies at the annual Trash Carnival, that is, until they take a ride on 'Epidemic Alley' they won't soon forget. Don't miss the Garbage People in-episode 'ad' for the hottest new board game Trash your Neighbor! (It's a real game) Garbage People is an adult animated sitcom created by Brit Tobin. The series follows a jaded plush bunny, Patches, and a savage banana peel (Peel) through their madcap adventures in the dumpster town of Trash. -Remastered for 2023-

► by: Brit Tobin
Best Short Film
The Sunrise
A multi-genre experimental film depicting a tragedy, disguised as a comedy, disguised as a horror film. This is a story about age-old loneliness, unquenched thirst and waning abilities to sustain life.

► by: Mansoor Ahmed
Best Feature Screenplay
A Killer Hollywood Story
It’s been years since Iris Jones had “escaped” the clutches of the killer known as the Smiley Face killer stalking his victims around Los Angeles wearing a lit-up clown mask. The man behind the mask turned out to be a disturbed mild-mannered father named Harry Mayers. His polite and safe demeanor disarmed anyone who crossed his path but young impressionable young woman attached themselves to him the most. That trust and understanding enabled Harry to victimize those that trusted him. Harry took his own life before he could be tried and the deaths surrounding his spree have remained a mystery to this day. Now, years later, on the eve of Harry’s death, Smiley Face has returned. Those thought he died with Harry but that’s not the case. Who is under the mask? And why do they want to exact revenge on Iris? Agnes, a true-crime podcaster, and her amateur sleuth friends try to unravel the mystery surrounding the return of the Smiley Face killer. Not all is what it seems especially behind the mask of the killer.

►by: Robert Palmer
Best Television Script
BLOOD ON THE BOARDWALK - pitch, summary
Atlantic City, a seaside town, is filled with blood on the boardwalk. True crime, murders from Nucky Johnson to the four dead prostitutes.

► by: Dawn Brown
Best Feature Screenplay
CHIEF NIP
1969 Occupation of Alcatraz by Indians Of All Tribes. Ends with the standoff at Standing Rock. Involves NIXON, AIM, and the FBI, counterculture of hippies and drugs, too. Based on a true story. Script has inserts and original songs.

►by: Dawn Brown
Best Short Screenplay
Best Thriller
Limbo
After a personal tragedy, a young woman passes through her hometown in an effort to reforge her identity.

► by: Stanislav Kacar
Best Short Screenplay
Delvin
A new employee, Delvin, presents a challenge to train since he's borderline challenged and over eight feet tall.

► by: Terry Luke Podnar
Best Short Documentary
La Bi-Vencia
Drawing on images from a non-existent border between Santa Elena, Chihuahua, and Big Bend National Park in Texas. La Bi-vencia explores the reunion of a ghost town next to the Rio Grand that was abandoned after 9/11.

► by: Mariana Gongora, Analaura Cárdenas
Best Web-Series
Last Night I Dreamed of Michael Nesmith
When a famous persons dies, sometimes it affects you in ways you can't imagine.

►by: Cindy Lynn Carter
Best Drama
Nocturnal messages
A woman falls asleep, and in her dream, she turns into an addicted homeless. Her deepest fears arise from her subconsciousness. The shabby room she now finds herself in becomes a fateful encounter zone. A homeless male who has taken over the room as his sleeping quarter wants to get rid of her but is too drunk to do so. The next morning he realizes that she could be useful to him and sends her to work. Actually, she returns with a 2-liter bottle of wine she begged on the street. During her absence, the homeless man suffers abstinence symptoms. Delusions lead him to re-experience his mental breakdown. The homeless woman doesn't get any mental rest either, she in turn is tormented by a voice that wants to fight her. As in a kind of therapy, she develops a fighting style, the so-called elbow fight. She uses her elbows instead of her fists, thus reflecting the unfair fight of the others against her. She makes him laugh. A rapprochement takes place. In a kind of monologue, the homeless man opens up. He's sustained the loss of a partnership, his possessions, and subsequently himself as well. Now he loves only his freedom. Increasing alcohol consumption helps him to get to distance himself from his "weaker" self. He becomes more and more self-confident and pretends to be the experienced philosopher, for which he gets her appreciation. But when he hits his drinking limit, he's not far from binge drinking. When he accidentally blames her for her fate, she becomes extremely tired and falls asleep. The addicted woman did not find his mental breakdown sad at all, because it made her feel safe from sexual advances. Due to his being high on alcohol he stares at her butt and wants to penetrate her. He doesn't make it, he's too drunk to handle this. When he realizes what he is doing, he flees. Her defencelessness is being utilized by a roaming thug. He brutally beats her up and steals her last belongings. When the homeless man appears sober again, he sees the woman lying on the ground, bleeding. Knowing about the dark sides of people, he suffocates her to prevent her from further humiliation. He is feeling like a savior. In a melancholic state, he drags her body to a nearby river and takes her into the water. Both sink into the depths. On the way to eternity, their voices can be heard from the depths of the water. Both wonder whether it could be true that all people would meet again in eternity because that would just be a continuation of their miserable existence. They agree that eternity is not hell, because you can't go through hell twice, and eternity provides endless possibilities for them too. The sleeping woman, the originator of the dream, becomes visible again, she wakes up and feels very relieved to find out that this dream has come to an end.

► by: Gabriela Bruckner
Best Short Documentary
An Eye on Paris
An Eye on Paris looks at places that many visitors bypass: contemporary architecture and art, and places Parisians frequent, such as markets, public parks, and dancing by the Seine.

►by: Rick Meghiddo
Best Historical Film
Zevi - Our Story
"Zevi – Our Story" is a partially autobiographical view of Professor Bruno Zevi’s genius. It is meant to show how ideas and a rich cultural environment like that of Rome can impact the minds of young people, as they did to us.

► by: Rick Meghiddo
Best Experimental Film
Lost Images
This film is about a life left behind in a distant land, about a final departure, memory and loss, love and dead birds, visions and blindness. A visual poem also inspired by a drawing by Egon Schiele.

► by: Cesare Bedogne
Best Animation
Bowie and Geraldo Vs. the shadow monsters
A young boy is saved by a hairy creature after he is attacked by three mysterious shadow monsters.

► by: Brandon Manuel Werwa
Best Black & White Film
Best BLM Film
Best Director
Best Photography
A kidnapping on Asylum Hill
Plot summary/synopsis: In 1968 on the heels of the historic Tuskegee Syphilis Study, two white doctors, Bryce and Feldman launched a secret experiment to find a cure for white mental illness. However, tired of using rats as test subjects they decided to use Negro men instead. The premise was to see if negro's (who's brains were thought to be smaller than whites) had the same mental illness trait of whites. In order to find out they needed to perform labotomies on their subjects. The story is told from the point of view of Malcolm Wyatt, who's family had first hand knowledge of what was going on at Ole B.R.Y.C.E, as his brother Martin was one of the casualties of this shocking human experiment. It's not known whether or not this experiment was ordered by the federal government like the Tuskegee Experiment, or if the doctors took matters into their own hands. Whatever the case, the lives of Malcolm Wyatt and scores of other negros were forever changed.

►by: Eric Burton Ramsey
Best ECO work
As usual
It's beautiful isn't it ? The end of the world.

► by: Baptiste Darricarrère
Best Comedy
Grandad's Gift
As Sandra and her son, Billy, clear out her deceased father's house, Billy receives a rather unusal gift from his grandad...

► by: Jack Judd
Best Short Film
The Messenger * Hermes Remembers
Hermes, the most human-like of all the Olympian gods, is now old. On this day he remembers himself as a younger transgendered man, irrepressible but needy of his father Zeus and his aunt Aphrodite. He roams the world, on a quest for love and self-validation. He misbehaves it's true, but this is not a cautionary tale, he is after all a god and can do as he pleases. Remembering Hermes is also a 4th dimensional being so he views time via eternal recurrence. You see, TIME is circular and in layers for a 4th dimensional being. Memories are also seen both clear or hazy depending on their importance. In the beginning it was young Hermes quest to find a way to fully love himself inside the inter-related domains of earth, sky, fire and water, in order to be successful and be a fully realized Messenger of the Gods. Filmed in many wondrous locations around the globe since 1998, this story commingles the divine with the mundane across the vast spectrum of the imagination utilizing the five elements water, air, earth and fire & music; to arrive at it's quintessence. Note: My partner for the last 38 years, Producer Byron Ayanoglu who plays Zeus, and Paul William Roberts who plays Hermes Sr. have recently passed away during this past summer. May Lord Byron Ayanoglu and Paul William Roberts RIP! I am so devastated about having lost my partner Lord Byron and my best friend Paul William Robert who was an Oxford Scholar.


► by: Algis Kemezys
Best Mobile Film
Adrienne's Garden
Adrienne's Garden joins into one four short yoga-inspired movement videos featuring Adrienne Dornbusch meant to inspire and uplift mind, body and spirit.

►by: Richard Daniels
Best Covid-19 Film
The Pandemic Dances
It's lockdown - we cried, we laughed, we stressed, we cooked. A pandemic narrative is suggested in five short dance films: A Dance for A; Zooming; Nature Morte; Turbulence; and Test Kitchen. Employing at-hand technology - computers, iPhones, portable lighting, green screen - all films are shot in a single apartment. Awards: Best Quarantine Film; Best @home COVID-19 Short; Best New Media Dance Film; Best Experimental; Best Short; Best Director Cell Phone Films; Best Art Film and many more.

► by: Richard Daniels
Best Feature Screenplay
Duty
A young Father is haunted by the loss of his Wife and child. Now as Christmas and the season of goodwill approaches, strange happenings occur, and he investigates - only to set in motion a chain of events which uncover the truth of their deaths.

►by: Anthony Ford
Best Short Documentary
Flâneur
After a personal tragedy, a young woman passes through her hometown in an effort to reforge her identity.

► by: Davide Canali
Best No-Dialogue Film
RETARDATION
Short Synopsis: RETARDATION is the second short film in the Male Nature Studies series. ”The Great Acceleration” gained momentum in the 1950s with the Western man at the wheel. The growth curves turned sharply upwards and so did, and still do, the human impact on the biosphere. But what if this man begins to see himself as a small part of nature instead of striving to "conquer" it? What if he abandons the pursuit of status and the ever-expanding claims to power? What if he slows down and throws his paralyzing yoke? Is he still a Man then? In RETARDATION, Nils Agdler visualizes ideas of another future man – the resigned man, the regressed man, the liberated man, and possibly – the last man. Long synopsis: RETARDATION is the second short film in the Male Nature Studies series. The first film, REBIRTH, was produced in 2018. In these films, Nils Agdler examines alternative approaches to what is popularly called ”toxic masculinity”. In today's society, it has a great impact as a negative male role model, which could be expressed as a desire to constantly compete against and to dominate, both other people and the non-human. RETARDATION takes its starting point in the emerging research field "Ecological masculinities", which is influenced by masculinities politics, deep ecology, ecological feminism and feminist care theory. ”The Great Acceleration” gained momentum in the 1950s with the Western man at the wheel. The growth curves turned sharply upwards and so did, and still do, the human impact on the biosphere. But what if this man begins to see himself as a small part of nature instead of striving to "conquer" it? What if he abandons the pursuit of status and the ever-expanding claims to power? What if he slows down and throws his paralyzing yoke? Is he still a Man then? In RETARDATION, Nils Agdler visualizes ideas of another future man – the resigned man, the regressed man, the liberated man, and possibly – the last man.

►by: Nils Agdler
Best Original Score
Best Supporting Actress
Because the World Turns Very Slowly
As CEO of a successful construction company Emilia is on top of things. When she interviews a female applicant for an internship role she revisits the darkest moment of her past. And finally learns that even tough cookies must regret things from time to time.

► by: Joachim H. Böttcher
Best Short Documentary
Best Cinematography
The Spirit of Pioneers
A short aged girl discovers a forgotten world. The world of people who still flies as dis the air´s pioneers, more than one hundred years ago. The world of ultralight´s airplanes, the las reminiscence of the real Spirit of Pioneers.

►by: César Rozas
Best Director
When Buying a Fine Murder
Ronald Raynolds is an art dealer, but it's just a cover up job - he's actually a professional hitman. His new contract has a particular ask: he has to kill himself. The client is Walter Brandi, a rich Italian and powerful real estate magnate with whom Ronald has no connection. Why does that man want him dead? Maybe it's his own wife, Helen, or the digital art he trades, or it's a personal matter he needs to discover. He must take the job - he needs to find out why someone wants to kill him.

► by: Gabriele Tacchi
Best Director
WOOING
Yen wakes up every day from nightmares of high school teachers, classmates, girlfriends, and mother. After he grew up, he kept circulating on women with his charming appearance. He will cut off the woman's hair for his mother with burns all over the body and locked after having sex with them. Company female director Ji, college student Wen, and emerging female writer Fan are all victims of Yen. They even paid more than their hair. However, the mother with wheelchair in the secret room frequently refused the gift by her son. The mother hoped that her son would let him go. She expected her son to get out of the secret room that trapped himself.

►by: Yang Ju Chiang
Best Short Documentary
Mediumship of Songtian Temple in Taiwan
Queen Bone gets frustrated when she thinks everyone has forgotten her birthday!

► by: Hong Shiang En
Best Feature Documentary
10 ROUNDS
10 Rounds is a Documentary about the training of boxer Mike Esteves before his fight for a belt and a national title. For 2 months we followed the physical preparation as well as the daily life of this young boxer, for a French championship title super-bantamweight category. The subject of the film is to reveal a part of the backstage of the boxing. The sacrifices, the athlete/coach relationship, the sharing, the respect for the opponent.

►by: Jean-Christophe Gonon
Best Covid-19 Film
Best Mobile Film
Zoom With Me
The pandemic has left single mom Jackie feeling isolated, lonely, and like her life is slipping from her. She finds solace in the routine of running, and on her daily runs she passes the same man again and again. An invitation from him sets her into a panic, but her daughter encourages her to take a risk. Lies are told, but somehow Jackie may just find the connection we are all longing for.

► by: Vasile Flutur and John McEneny
Best Music Video
Omnipotent Resolution
This is a short film of the song, “Omnipotent Resolution”, from the band Uniqueness, with a conceptual theme called, reality in dreamscape.

► by: Uniqueness Heiress & Azia
Best Television Script
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ABRAM/ ABRAHAM
With heavenly signs marking the birth of Abram, danger and mysterious happenings follow him all the days of his life.

► by: James L Thornton
Best Feature Documentary
Biological Loneliness
The year of the first quarantine for Barcelona and Vilnius residents passed like one day. They are happy and crying because they don’t know what awaits them next. Prehistoric residents and animals come to the cities through quarantine.

►by: Karolis Jankus
Best Thriller
The Dark
A young woman finds herself being stalked and terrorized in this Horror/Suspense short film set on Halloween night.

► by: Randy Sage
Best Animation
The Witch from the Other World
A five year old girl teleport her illusion self by her dream.

►by: Frederick Church
Best Short Screenplay
Leaving Lily Lane
After a personal tragedy, a young woman passes through her hometown in an effort to reforge her identity.

► by: Stanislav Kacar
Best Historical Film
Searching for Camelot: The Queen of Camelot
In the dark days after President John F. Kennedy’s murder, did you ever wonder what was going on with Jackie and Robert as they grieved over the greatest murder mystery of our history? Our chorus of Millennials and Elders wants to know the answers and they express their memories and opinions of this tragic period. I also express my memories of this revolutionary period in our history. In this film we try to understand why Jackie used the Camelot mythology as a metaphor for her husband's presidency. We search for the reasons why Robert ran for the Presidency even when he knew 'there was a gun between me and the White House''. In our search for Camelot, we discover an epic time in our history full of blood, tears and a romance that will last forever

►by: Roger Paradiso
Best Drama
True Friend
When Mr. Walker comes into debt with the wrong kind of people, a lifelong friend steps in to repay them.

► by: Matthew J. Roch
Best Feature Screenplay
Little Things Mean a Lot
The truly unique story of "pretty" Kitty Kallen, including her rise from humble origins to most popular U.S. singer, is revealed in flashback amid news of her untimely death.

►by: Michael Monteith
Best Feature Documentary
Best Historical Film
Best Director
Seven Thousand Souls
Serbia alone had lost a third of its entire population in the Great War, almost half its men. This film talks about those that never returned home from the two biggest Austria-Hungarian prisoner camps on the territory of today's Czech Republic - Jindřichovice and Broumov. A film that I owed to my nation. SEVEN THOUSAND SOULS is a documentary - a feature film about the suffering of Serbian and Russian soldiers and interned civilians in Austro-Hungarian camps on the territory of today's Czech Republic, Jindrihovice and Broumov. The camps had about 500 facilities where there were about 60,000 prisoners of war. Extremely difficult working conditions, no food, no shoes and clothes, winter and infectious diseases, all this affected the fact that 7,100 Serbs did not survive the camps. There is a mausoleum in Jindrihovice where the remains are victims of these camps - 7100 Serbs and 189 Russians. It is the second largest Serbian tomb in the world. The film also contains memories of soldiers who survived the camps, writen by a Dutch journalist Henri Aber in 1919. The descendants of soldiers from Serbia also speak in the film. The topic of Serbian prisoners and internees from the First World War is a neglected topic and even today, during the first centenary of the end of the First World War, they are completely forgotten and this injustice has not been corrected. From the time of the war, it seems that they could not fit into that, say, warrior, liberation narrative, where, above all, a soldier with a rifle in his hand was valued. If you look at any Serbian military monument, it is usually a soldier holding a rifle that is raised high. We have only a couple of sculptures of Serb civilians who died ... there are no monuments or they are very rare that generally concern the role of civilians, let alone civilians who were in slavery. But, as defined by the military legislation, a prisoner is someone who, by force of circumstances, ended up in captivity and he continues to perform his military duty. We can say the same for the civilian internees, that they were citizens of the Kingdom of Serbia who remained to be citizens even though they were faced with these completely unexpected and terrible opportunities. It is very unfortunate that, practically, for a whole century, they remain outside the collective memory of the Serbian people, even though it is a very dramatic suffering. I just think that these people were unfairly marginalized and almost thrown out of our general perception of the First World War. The film stars Lordan Zafranović, Jelena Ćirić, priest Srdjan Jablanović, etc. and the narrator is Jim High (english version), Jan Kacer (czech version), Tihomir Stanic (serbian version), Mihal Fedorov (russian version). Duration 59 minutes. Director: Sanjin Mirić (born in Visoko, BiH, permanent residence in the Czech Republic) Production: RODOLJUB z.s. Czech-Serbian Friendship Association Prague

► by: Sanjin Miric
Best Animation
Saudade
The birth of a child brings happiness to a family. But fate changes everything overnight. Saudade is a word in the Portuguese language that means the feeling of missing.

►by: Alfredo Dias Gomes
Best Young Director
Queen Bone's Birthday
Queen Bone gets frustrated when she thinks everyone has forgotten her birthday!

► by: Eleanor Cooper
Best Young Director
A Day in the Life of a Pig
When three people are introduced to The Better Earth Program, they This pig has a regular 9 to 5 job! learn that one of them must make the ultimate sacrifice.

►by: Hannah A Collins
Best Experimental Film
Tears tears tears
"tears tears tears" is an experimental stop-motion animation made only of water and light… an homage for human heart and all the emotions that make it beat, subtle or dramatic, stubborn or volatile... The process of creating the film lasted for 6 months and for its author it was a long meditative amd therapeutic process. Words written with frozen letters were melting under the eye of the camera for about 30 minutes, while on the screen they appear for a few or a dozen seconds, sometimes disappear in the blink of an eye or stay longer, repeat and repeat themselves.

► by: Ewa Maria Wolska
Best Experimental Film
Something
A million moments in time of a relationship at a crossroads is juxtaposed with the question about the future of physics and the existence of a multiverse.

► by: Barbara Stepansky
Best Dance Video
Best No-Dialogue Film
Best Experimental Film
Best Symbolic Film
Aftermath
Filmed at beautiful Arcosanti, AZ, Aftermath is a contemporary cinema dance depicting the aftermath of sexual assault. Watch as the main character encounters rage, disgust, shame, and finally solidarity with other survivors.

► by: Levi Elizaga
Best Dance Video
Air Over New Skin
Figurative an Dance film utilizing tulle & industrial fans. The devolution of the elevated balletic movement to the grounded modern echoes the exposure and vulnerability of shedding old paradigms to build a new ideology. imated fantasy reflecting precarious inner states. We visit trauma and unease, yet also futuristic conjecture and whimsy.

►by: Megan Bradberry
Best Student Film
A Song of starless Skies
A Study of the Unknown and the individual Reaction to it.

► by: Jan Niederprüm
Best Comedy
Hector heat stroke
Hector and Marius are at the wedding of their sister Paulette; Hector is worried about his sister's departure from the family home; arrives late at the office and is forced to run to catch up with the procession but a great heat stroke wins him and decides to dive in the Adour to refresh itself ………!

►by: MICKE
Best Short Documentary
The talking ear
"Do you know what it's like not to hear anything, to be deaf? It's with me everywhere I go, at work, at school, with my friends." A film for listening to those who hear little or nothing. A film to better communicate with these endearing people!

► by: Anne Lakhdar, Hassan
Best Experimental Film
Precious Balance Walk
6 Nordic Performance Artists invited to perform in, and with water. Filmed in the waters of Öresund, at Ribergsborg city beach, Malmö, Sweden. "We are all water in the same Ocean" Yoko Ono

►by: Felicia Konrad, Johan Haugen
Best Thriller
Invasions
Episodic film that includes three stories concerning various types of invasion

► by: Francesco Maffei
Best Feature Documentary
Corona in the Congo - A diary of uncertain times
The documentary "Corona in the Congo - A diary of uncertain times" captures the significance of the Corona pandemic for the population of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and contrasts it with the privileged situation of the two Swiss filmmakers. They were in the eastern Congolese city of Goma in March 2020, when Corona reached the African continent. Immediately, they began documenting the worsening situation and their daily lives. At the same time, they were concerned with a possible return trip to Switzerland. Over 28 days, the film documents the measures taken to contain Covid-19 as well as the first cases in Goma, the fears surrounding a weak health system and the lack of economic security, but also activist efforts and creative personal initiative to contain the virus. The filmmakers accompany people around them who are feeling the effects of rising food prices, film awareness campaigns at markets, follow discussions on radio talk shows, accompany police enforcing nighttime curfews, or document the worsening water shortage. In the process, they incorporate original material such as videos by artists (e.g. rapped Covid news) or news broadcasts into the film.

►by: Guyslaine Aimée Thalmann, Maria-Theres Schuler
Best Television Script
The New Mexican
U.S. Marshal Marisol Albuquerque finds herself in New Mexico with no memory of events in the last 24 hours, only that something bad happened to cause her trauma.

► by: Doug Ellerbusch
Best Feature Screenplay
Child of the Disappeared
During Argentina’s infamous ‘Dirty War,’ a pregnant Maria de Quinto is dragged from her home, torn from the arms of her husband, imprisoned and brutally tortured. Separated during their detention, her husband soon becomes one of the 30,000 people who “Disappeared” under a harsh military junta. When Maria eventually goes into labor, her baby is literally snatched from her womb at the moment of its birth. Afterwards, no longer of use to her captures, she is left for dead. However, she survives, and now, 25 years later, as she forges a new life in the United States, she has never stopped searching for her stolen child. A child she never laid eyes upon, and who haunts her every waking and sleeping hour. In her unwavering quest to find her child, Maria faces the indignities of cancer for the second time, guilt for having survived while so many others perished and her waning faith in God. She begins to lose all hope, and wonders if she has the strength or will to continue, or if she even wants to continue, the fight to live. Maria delays life saving treatment and begins to alienate those closest to her, until a friend’s intervention breathes new life into a stagnant search. Through recently undisclosed records, she finally learns the terrible fate of her late husband and discovers a tentative trail that may eventually lead to her child. This gives her a reason to live. Although reluctant to revisit to her home country, Maria nevertheless returns to Argentina to face the ghosts of her past and to find the child she has never known. In this task, she unknowingly solicits the help of a man who had once been participated in the country's past abuses and who now hopes to find a path towards redemption. As they follow a trail of scattered records, it eventually leads to her child and Maria must face her hardest challenge yet. She must confront the child with the truth of his past and the knowledge that Maria is his mother, but to do so would mean the young man would have to accept that his past was based upon a lie. And that the parents who raised and loved him were not of his blood. Although Maria’s journey was long and fraught with tragedy, in the end, her determination and the truth reunite a separated mother and child. In doing so, she not only makes peace with the past, but she also rediscovers her faith in a God who never left her side throughout her long ordeal.

►by: Michael Thomas Holliday
Best Feature Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
The Missing Link
“The Missing Link” An action-adventure/drama by Mark Mc Quown Synopsis On the Eastern side of the country of Chad, in Northern Africa, Dr. Ingles and his archeological team have uncovered the complete skull and some pelvis bones belonging to a hominoid of some six million years of age. This event happens on the day the entire company was about to leave the dig site. Simultaneously, in Chicago, the largest publishing firm in the United States is making an announcement about their new book, “The Science of Creationism”. This announcement declares this textbook to be predicted as the best seller of any book since modern printing has begun, including the Bible and “Harry Potter”. Amile Ambrose, President, and CEO of Ambrose Publishing are made aware that a new find in Chad is just being broadcast worldwide. In order to protect his publishing empire, Amile sends his own Head of Security, Texas Tom Mc Gregor, to make sure the fossils are never returned to any country for examination. Texas Tom is assigned to be the leader of a group organized by one of the Intelligence Agencies in our government. Included on his crew is Jason Allan, a High School Biology teacher who was at one time a US Marine attached to the Marine’s Intelligence Division where he worked in super-secret operations. The archeological team packs up its find and begins a long treck towards a city with an airport. In the first few hundred miles, the caravan of trucks and jeeps is stopped at an illegal checkpoint in Chad and forced to turn around and flee with the entire caravan of diggers. The team eventually breaks up to only Dr. Ingles, Jonathan, and Amanda. They alone are left to save the fossils in their single Land Rover. The trio of scientists is chased across the desert by insurgents, Texas Tom’s team and pirates and thieves all trying to steal these ancient bones. The small team ends up in Khartoum where they meet up with what is left of Tom Mc Gregor’ s team where they are all forced to high-jack an American UPS plane. The plane is forced to land at an abandoned airstrip in Chad and in the end, both teams are rescued by US Forces from a secret, near-by base. This, of course, is not the end but only the beginning of the battle between the ‘evolutionists’ and the ‘creationists’, a battle we are now seeing today in the courts of our own country. This battle will ultimately change the way our future generations understand where we came from as a species and what are all the possibilities.

► by: Mark Mc Quown
Best Short Film
For the Greater Good
When three people are introduced to The Better Earth Program, they learn that one of them must make the ultimate sacrifice.

►by: Michael Gavino
Best BLM Film
In a Whole New Way
Ensnaring almost four million Americans, probation has evolved from a second chance to avoid prison to a sanction actually feeding mass incarceration. Supported by neighborhood allies, some people of color set out in a whole new way to change all this—equipped only with cameras.

► by: Jonathan Fisher
Best Animation
Seaper Powers Mystery of the Blue Pearls Film
Emma works for NOAA as a diver and researcher. She is put on a mission to find mysterious blue pearls in the deep Caribbean seas, but first, she needs to call upon her octopus and starfish (played by Vanilla Ice) friends, from the past, to help. During her dive, dangerous pirates plague her way to uncover a secret that only a few know about. She must find a way to protect the secret or risk destroying an underwater world which is vital to our oceans. Seaper Powers: Mystery of the Blue Pearls is the second in the Seaper Powers movie series and features an all-new, original soundtrack by John DePatie and Kim Cameron, the Billboard-charted duo behind hits such as "Not Into You." Inspired by Cameron's award-winning bok series (Purple Dragonfly Book Award, 2018), this film brings beloved characters to life through memorable songs and a captivating adventure. Popular among educators and the homeschool community, Kim Cameron's five-book Seaper Powers series is accompanied by an official Lesson Plan Guide. Likewise, Seaper Powers: Mystery of the Blue Pearls is the perfect introduction for young audiences to engage in fun learning activities about the ocean environment.

►by: Kim Cameron
Best Animation
Two Different Kinds of Love
A little girl is excited to discover more about her adoption story.

► by: Alyce Vest
Best Comedy Screenplay
MegaBall$
Oskar Salomonowitz, the 12-year-old son of filmmakers Anja Salomonowitz and Virgil Wid Log Line: When a computer geek, determined to prove he can predict winning lotto results, uncovers his plan has been bankrolled by the Mob, he struggles to beat the odds before his number’s up. rich, had drawn 206 frames of a flip book when he died in an accident. Using the remaining blank sheets, his father continued drawing the film. 228 festival screenings, winner of 67 international film awards!

► by: Marc Baron
Best Comedy Screenplay
Comeback in Vienna
Classic Hollywood meets classic Vienna in a romantic tale of reconciliation and forgiveness. While attending a Vienna tribute to her career, an aging movie star encounters her presumed-dead ex-husband ex-costar, who is determined to reunite with her on-screen and off.

► by: Marc Baron, Richard Wolf
Best No-Dialogue Film
Mood Circus
Figurative animated fantasy reflecting precarious inner states. We visit trauma and unease, yet also futuristic conjecture and whimsy.

►by: Eddy Falconer
Best Erotic Film
SQUID GODDESS
a suggestive trompe l'oeil delight

► by: Eddy Falconer
Best Comedy Screenplay
Best Feature Screenplay
Hazel the Viking
Last scene of an old marriage, show-window movie, example about simple happenings: A A young woman discovers that the Viking genes she inherited give her amazing powers in any confrontation, but threaten her ability to pursue a normal career and family life t the hard moments of life a rich company leader tells his wife the long past events.

►by: Jim Norman
Best Original Screenplay
It Really Is About Me

► by: Karen Mussette
Best Animation
Don't Cry
A Palestinian girl, a Palestinian man and an Israeli woman meet at a celestial lake, the meeting triggers a conflict between the man and the woman caused by previous encounter, the girl tries to mediate. Will she succeed? Would it be possible to bridge between them?

►by: Hisham Zreiq
Best Adapted Screenplay
Riding On Duke's Train-GGG
In 1936, Danny, an 11-year-old African-American boy is orphaned when his Granny dies. He heads north from Georgia and one moonlit night comes upon a silver train. Discovered as a stowaway, he is soon “adopted” by Duke Ellington and his band, and his adventure begins.

► by: Ken Kimmelman, Mick Carlon
Best Feature Screenplay
A S Y L U M
A former secret agent finds himself in an insane asylum in the present day. He befriends a nurse and attempts to unravel the mystery of his past and why he has been placed there before his time runs out to prevent the deka bombings.

►by: Ty Caudle
Best Short Documentary
WOLF WHISPERS
Surrounded by incomprehension, mystery and anger, I seek to enter into a relationship with my autistic brother; from the failure of speech to the humility of listening to reach the greatness of silence — where the borders of reality disappear, where the immensity of his inner being opens to the cosmos. Through wolves, a medium, and a cavern, his inner world is revealed; he invites us, like a relay, to another vision of the world.

► by: Chloé Belloc
Best Short Documentary
Buck Southworth: U.S. Air Force Flight Crew
The life story of Buck Southworth, a U.S. Air Force Flight Crew in the Vietnam War, told and narrated by his wife, Priscilla Southworth. This is a remarkable and touching documentary about bravery, mission, love and death by Agent Orange.

►by: Daniel Bernardi
Best Fantasy
The Protectors of Nature XP Transfer
Cycles follow one to another and sometimes leave traces of past times.

► by: Fabrizio MASINI
Best Television Script
Against His Will
After Will Sweet, a charming womanizer, unexpectedly falls in love with a mermaid, he runs away to the mermaids domain while his Shadow performs savage acts in the world.

► by: Steven Keith Bogart
Best Feature Screenplay
The Last Skywriter in the Universe
Triggered by her son's illness, a determined mother journeys through fantasy, dreams, and reality as she tries to save his young life.

► by: Steven Keith Bogart
Best Animation
There is exactly enough time
Oskar Salomonowitz, the 12-year-old son of filmmakers Anja Salomonowitz and Virgil Widrich, had drawn 206 frames of a flip book when he died in an accident. Using the remaining blank sheets, his father continued drawing the film. 228 festival screenings, winner of 67 international film awards!

► by: Oskar Salomonowitz
Best Experimental Film
Tx-reverse
What happens in a cinema when you reverse space and time? Originally shot in 10K resolution and 360° at the legendary Babylon Berlin. Winner of 34 international awards!

► by: Martin Reinhart, Virgil Widrich
Best Experimental Film
Light Matter
A black-and-white film that lets you see colors. Winner of 12 international film awards! Attention! This film contains flashing lights which may not be suitable for light-sensitive epilepsy. Initially barely noticeable, the first dim flashes of light become continuously brighter and more intense over a period of five minutes. Towards the end they become a staccato of light and dark stimuli that evoke psychedelic colour impressions in the audience. "Light Matter" takes advantage of a physiological phenomenon where the rapid change from light to dark triggers color perception in the brain without the detour via the receptors of color vision in the eye. For best results please view in darkness with maximum monitor brightness. Or in a cinema.

►by: Virgil Widrich
Best Feature Documentary
FOR WAAD
An archival film from Syria before the war dedicated to Waad Al Kateab, director of FOR SAMA.

► by: Manuela Morgaine
Best Short Film
Best Drama
SCROBIS
Last scene of an old marriage, show-window movie, example about simple happenings: At the hard moments of life a rich company leader tells his wife the long past events.

►by: Kaló-B. Péter
Best Short Film
God be with... Arthur
Arthur is a simple, ordinary young adult looking for his place in the society and goals in the hungarian reality, but unfortunately over time he recognizes that nothing promising is in front of him. He is lonely, struggling with misconceptions and in his final desperation turns to a modern hungarian social service which help to find a solution to his only most depressing and painful problem.

► by: Galkó Kata
Best Original Screenplay
SUMMER OF '69
A famous rock star relives special moments he and his high school buddies had in the summer of '69 and is haunted by decisions he made.

►by: Eric Sollars, Michael Sollars, Geoffrey Sollars
Best ECO work
Lucy Palustris: The Dinner Party
“I love him who works and invents to build a house for the Overhuman and prepare for it earth and animal and plant." "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" Friedrich Nietzsche The film creeps into issues of the Anthropocene while moving deeper into the psychological landscape of Lucy Palustris, the artist’s alter-ego. A solitary woman in the wetlands of southern Ontario, Lucy is a manifestation of our human psyche and our animal selves. Her role is ambiguous: Is she an agency of care, a psychologically (de)-stabilizing force or an intrusive presence? Illogical associations convey the strangeness and intensity of a dream. Disjuncture and incongruity colour the protagonist’s actions and costume within her surroundings, revealing the beauty and brutality of a degraded landscape and our transient existence within it. The film attempts to uncover something about who we are and how we have come to a tipping point of crisis. Fecundity, violence and death interweave. A call for restitution plays out like a Sisyphean gesture where tenacity and futility reign. A subplot speaks to notions of gender, race and class. Costume performance plays to the stereotype of the middle-class white woman, while simultaneously subverting it. Trying to make sense of Hollywood film stereotypes embodied by her mother’s generation, the character both subverts and holds to ‘norms’ of a seemingly bygone era, lingering in her consciousness and, more generally, remaining pervasive today. Writer/Director/Performance - Patricia Coates

► by: Patricia Coates
Best Feature Film
Best LGBTQ+ Film
UNION
A woman disguises herself as her dead brother, Henry, in order to survive in the Confederate ranks during the Civil War. With the help of Indians hiding in the mountains 'Henry' is reunited with the widow, Virginia, who saved his life at the battle of Antietam and marries her to rescue Virginia from an unfortunate arranged betrothal. They keep each others secrets and forge an unusual family. It is the alchemy of gratitude.

► by: Whitney Hamilton
Best Short Film
Best Short Screenplay
Best Director
Best Cinematography
Best Scenography
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Facing
Two men are sitting in a small room to talk about an accident. The younger one thinks it is the same old interrogation about the tragedy but after a while he starts to have a feeling it is something more personal. The other man acts like somebody who knows more than he is asking about. He is confident and knows all the answers.

► by: Viktor Szabados
Best Short Film
I'M HERE
Zoya returns from shopping to her grandmother's house. There she comes across one of the most natural and sure parts of life, which, however, always catches us unprepared. How will she react? A story about one of the thousands possible encounters with HER, the outcome of which is always unique.

►by: Vilma Kartalska
Best Short Film
Quiet
At home, Vida cares for her ailing father whose dementia gives way to long buried emontional conflicts Vida has spent her lifetime running from. When young Zaria is Vida’s office at school the next day, Vida immediately recognizes in the young girl the same telltale signs from her own childhood, but is it too late now for either of them — has the damage already been done?

► by: Barbara Zemljič
Best Short Screenplay
A Rather Lovely Thing
Mary Sweeny, a wife, and mother, turned vandal and cocaine addict is running amok through Wisconsin at the end of the 19th century. Frank Cooper, a local reporter, decides to capture Mary's story before she is committed to an asylum.

► by: Casey Mensing
Best Experimental Film
Migraine
It was a long time ago. A terrible headache. Such a one he could never forget. But let him tell us how it happened...

► by: Frédéric Roussel
Best Short Documentary
Border-Ball
Border-Ball chronicles Joel Tauber’s 40-day pilgrimage along the U.S. - Mexico border. He walks, repeatedly, from the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, along the Border Wall, to the Otay Mesa Detention Center—and back. People share their thoughts and stories, and Tauber wonders how we can be so cruel to so many immigrants and refugees. They play catch. They hug. Sometimes they even laugh, despite it all. And Tauber continues walking, praying that things will change.

► by: Joel Tauber
Best Scenography
Best Supporting Actress
Expedition Entity: Brodhead Manor The Second Floor
Season 3 of Expedition Entity starts off with our most intense investigation to date, the second floor of Brodhead Manor! Joined by our new team member Jenni Gill, and guest investigator Jenny Davis, we encounter a very overbearing spirit on the second floor that distinctly doesn't like women in his room.

► by: Larry Eissler III
Best Feature Film
Trouble Is My Business
Private Investigator Roland Drake falls for two sisters from the Montemar family. One woman is dead and the other wants to kill him. Starring Vernon Wells (Mad Max) and Brittney Powell (Xena) A dark tale of love and betrayal, told in the classic style of film noir. TROUBLE IS MY BUSINESS is a true, hard-boiled noir. Private Detective Roland Drake has fallen on hard times in a harsh world. Drake is being evicted from his office and disgraced by a missing persons case, which has ruined him in the public eye and with police officials. It seems like it's all over for him. Then, redemption walks in... with curves. The owner of those curves is a sexy, dark haired beauty named Katherine Montemar. She wants his help. The chemistry is immediate and her concern for the disappearance of her family members pulls him into her case... and into bed.

► by: Tom Konkle
Best Experimental Film
Best Composer
Man with Shadow
Genetic code forces people to reproduce. Infants have no choice: they become a part of this world without any will of their own, and as completely helpless beings they are subjected to training in the civilizational norms… Is anything else possible at all?

► by: Ema Kugler
Best Feature Documentary
Yschtoo- Get ready for the Carnival of Basle
Behind the scenes of the Carnival of Basle. In the course of one year, the camera accompanies several carnival societies during their preparations. Its lantern, mask and costume designers relate both their motivations and know-how. The balladeers, float societies and brass bands are also part of the film. In the end, the different artistic approaches and processes merge to create a multicoloured puzzle, the carnival. Original language Swiss german, subtitles avaible in english, german, french and italian

►by: Nicolas Joray
Best Short Film
Grazie
A young soccer player who aspires to turn his career professional must come to terms with an unfortunate reality.

► by: Daniel Calderone
Best Short Film
Lady of the Night
A broke young man desperate to help his abused girlfriend escape her dishonourable past seeks retribution on those he deems more privileged.

►by: Daniel Calderone
Best Feature Screenplay
GRANDMA 007
Inspired by the James Bond 007 movie, based on a real crime to older people spy movie mixed with comedy. The chief of police of district 10 in order to hire his friend's son fired Olivia, the older police officer (60+) with the excuse that she is old. Olivia during her last day on the job receives information that the elderly woman Ellie is seriously injured. Suddenly, she receives the assignment from A. (a mysterious person) to act and find the masked attacker Ethan. In addition, her appearance during the film is changing. From a careless old woman she becomes an attractive woman who wears expensive clothes and luxury hotels. And let's not forget about love. With the help of her friends Jasmine, Connor and Charlotte and her granddaughter Riley, as well as her police officer friend Daisy, are able to find out what the next plans of the attacker Ethan, wanted by Interpol, are. She receives an offer from Interpol to work as an undercover agent under the name ̈GRANDMA 007 ̈.

► by: OLGA IF, Kristin Fieseler
Best Thriller
Enter the Room
A young adult (Brian) is visited by his brother, Jeremy, who needs a place to stay as he settles into his new city. The two polar opposite personalities begin to clash as Jeremy's presence poses a threat to Brian's way of life. Brian's uptight personality and unreasonable living standards rub off on Jeremy, creating an incredible amount of tension. Bad blood, stemming from a traumatic past event reveals the shocking truth of the brothers' current situations, as Brian struggles to differentiate between reality and his worst nightmares.

►by: Harry Waldman
Best Short Documentary
The sky is the limit
The film, produced by the mother, is about the life of her 33 yrs old daughter Emma who has Down's Syndrome. Despite all social, physical and psychological adversities she is a symbol of success as a prolific artist and emanates positive energy with calm, humour and affection. She is a genuine star !
► by: Mirka Anderson
Best Music Video
A summer evening

►by: Cristiano Perazzolo
Best Animation
Being A Dog
Tim is longing for love. He’s a lonely human being who struggles with exclusion every day. Every time Tim feels different than others he transforms into a french bulldog. Ginger makes Tim feel human. Ginger is an old friend of Tim`s whom he was in love with, unrequited love. Tim collides with Ginger in the street, they talk and become friends again. After meeting Ginger Tim becomes a dog again. This time he chooses to enjoy being a dog and sees all the possibilities of a dog`s life. It’s good to be a human being but it’s good being a dog sometimes too.

► by: Felix Swahn
Best Comedy Screenplay
Rules of Hospitality
"Rules of Hospitality" is a comedy about Stelios and Gary, two friends who know each other since the time when they were classmates in acting academy. They live in different countries, different continents, and have made completely different career choices; Gary is a successful actor who lives and works in L.A., and Stelios struggles financially, which he never admits to his friend Gary. Even more so, for years Stelios has been lying to Gary about the successes of his acting career. What happens when Gary makes a short stop to visit Stelios? One lie suddenly creates an avalanche of new lies that Stelios is forced to make up just to keep his image, Gary’s respect and friendship.

►by: Konstantina Palli
Best Animation
Full Moon
Full Moon tells a story about a little girl and her big sister celebrating Halloween. The little girl wonders about the man who she believes lives on the moon, who she also believes might need her help. Her big sister helps the little girl carry out her well-intentioned deed. Logline: Love and imagination come together to make for a most memorable Halloween. Feedback from a Little Free Library recipient of the published story, Full Moon: "Just in time for Halloween, we were gifted a copy of ”Full Moon” from Facepaint Nonprofit! This adorable tale is Junior Steward approved so swing by today for a beautiful story about a little girl, the man in the moon, and how one act of love and kindness can inspire others."

► by: John Vo, Ken Yoffe, Ellen Weisberg
Best Covid-19 Film
2020: life and death of a virus
A critical, ironic and political overview of the world during the 2020 pandemic time ...

►by: Edo Tagliavini
Best Student Film
Best Young Director
ZENITH
A mysterious plane crash occurs and it's similar to an accident 7 years ago, through which a young journalist lost her brother. Using her past investigations, she strives to search for truthful answers beyond superficial explanations. Simultaneously, 3 teenagers wake up in an abandoned and obsolete world, which an acquaintance calls 'Zenith'. A radio connection occurs between the journalist and the teenagers, and they unravel the mysteries of the world in order to find their way out. For the journalist, this becomes her one chance to find out what really happened.

► by: Kelsey Junghye Kim
Best Short Film
The Door
Curiosity brews as two women are charged with pressing a button that leads to a mysterious nowhere. People enter but never leave. What is behind this door? For one, the unknown doesn't plague them in the slightest. For the other, the answer must be known, despite all risks. Would you dare to cross The Door?

►by: Pierre H. OLLIER
Best Original Song
I Wanna Be A Vampire
IIn the midst of World War II, a young soldier escapes from an enemy plane that has crashed in the Boso Peninsula. A woman who lives in an isolated cottage in the forest rescued the injured man. When the unconscious man wakes up, he sees a hand-made cello in the room. "My dead son made it," she says. He asks if he can play the cello. She brings the cell to him and he begins playing sarabande from Bach's Suite No. 3 with his wounded hands. The ghost of her dead son wanders in the forest and around his mother's cottage with a kettle to draw water, but only birds can see the ghost, not the mother. One day the mother hears the sound of a kettle.

► by: Joseph Messer
Best Action Movie
Best Director Debut
Bullets and Katanas
How would you react if you were a Martial Arts expert, had a Katana in your hands, and your daughter had just been kidnapped. Under this premise, Sensei Marín launches a race against time with Nacho, his best friend.

► by: Nacho Serapio
Best Romance
Et toi les amours?

► by: Brice Zephir, Damien Carré
Best Feature Documentary
Best Photography
Best Cinematography
THE RIVER OF SEVEN NAMES
Traveling with a river is like traveling with life. For nine months, photographer and mountain guide Sergi Ricart followed alone the Mekong river from the Tibetan plateaus, where he explored and climbed several virgin mountains, to the Delta in Vietnam, after cycling about 3000 km, living along the way the awesome metamorphosis of its nature and humanity. But he missed one chapter in that journey: reaching the sources. So, one year later, and this time with some friends, he went back to Tibet to try to close the circle. (English and Spanish versions available on FilmFreeway)

►by: Sergi Ricart
Best Animation
Arabian Nights
A Man searching for the secret of immortality falls in love with a Genie. The Genie takes him to her Land, where every day counts as one year on Earth. But the heart of the Man is restless, so he decides to leave and returns to his own world. Suddenly the Man grows very old and dies. The Genie chooses to follow him although she knows that she will die too. The Man and the Genie become the Sun and the Moon. Love is stronger than death.

► by: Alessandro Orlandi
Best Music Video
Best Symbolic Film
Best Original Song
In a Tamasic World
A dreamlike symbolic journey into the modern world. Anima – the human soul – is threatened by dark forces, who besiege her as hooded strangers. Hyperion – the mad sage, and Clotho – the Moira seamstress of fate who spins the thread of human life, measure up against infinity and fate. Maya – queen of fire and illusion, evokes the lifeforces needed to sustain Anima in the confrontation that awaits her. On the chessboard of good and evil, where the struggle is being fought with tamasic forces, Anima appears to capitulate – but the immortal current of life will prove stronger than everything else.

►by: Camilla Martini
Best Short Film
Blindsight
An aspiring musician’s heroic struggle with loss of vision uncovers a hidden truth as her life spirals around her.

► by: Amy Susan Guggenheim
Best Short Screenplay
In Sign of my Love
Francesco is a journalist, he is married to Serena and they have no children, in his free time he loves to walk along the beach with his dog, one morning during the walk the man finds a ring on the sand, it is a wedding ring, he comes home and shows the ring to his wife. Serena reads the names of the bride and groom and the date of their wedding and convinces Francesco to look for the rightful owner to return the lost ring. Together they will manage to find the people involved but, inevitably, they will also discover their bitter fate.

►by: EmanueleLa Placa
Best Historical Film
Apache Girl
"Apache Girl" is a tribute to the valiant, indigenous Apache women enduring acts of barbarity and whose heritage and lives were stolen. During the Apache War beginning from1861 and lasting until about 1924--the Americans battled the Apache warriors stretching from Southern Arizona to New Mexico. Amid the atrocities of both military and civilian Americans against the native Indians, two brave Apache women rise above their People-- Lozen and Dahteste. Dahteste accepts a daunting task from the Spiritual God -- to reach the high mountain and claim what belongs to their People. She is about twenty years younger than Lozen with a strong command of the English language. This skill enables her to serve as the interpreter in negotiations between the Apache tribes and the U.S. Government. Lozen, defies the role of a traditional female Apache. Instead of tending to her family with domesticated duties, she trains with the male Apaches to fight. Due to her deep brotherly love for Victorio and loyalty to her People, she joins him in many battles to defend the Apaches. The title "Shield to her People" becomes synonym to her name. After months of treacherous journey in the mountains of Chiricahua-- encountering inclement weather, venomous snakes and enemies -- Dahteste reaches the high mountain where she learns about the plight of her People. Lozen describes to her horrific massacre of Apaches at the battle of Tres Castillos including death of Victorio (Lozen's brother), their food rations and blankets stolen, and their People dying from the diseases of the white eyes (American). Subsequently, Lozen prays to Ussen in finding the enemy and her hands begin to shake and turns color signifying the enemy is close by. The Apaches feel their souls weaken as they get shipped out to a reservation in Florida, far away from their Native land. Can one say, “Perfidious acts of U.S. Government is to blame?”

► by: Richard A. Pines
Best Short Film
Kaliderson melody - Les dormeurs de Samhain
The samhain festival is approaching and Milona asks Kaliderson to be with her the next evening because her late brother, Milo, will be returning from the realm of the dead.

►by: Laurent COMBAZ
Best Feature Screenplay
Lunimetarius
On the night of May 10, 1944, Pietro, a literature professor and communist partisan, escapes from the Germans and fascists who are raking the Marsiliana scrub by taking refuge in a frantic run inside a ruin: it is what remains of the ancient Stachilagi fortress , immersed and hidden for centuries in the dark green of the Tuscan Maremma. There the protagonist finds a parchment, written in Latin and dating back to eight hundred years earlier. In it a friar recounts his unhappy fate of having been unjustly accused of heresy and for this reason walled up alive in the basement of a medieval abbey. The religious, friar Sabino, asks anyone who finds his writing to discover the truth about his miserable end. Peter will have to decipher his mysterious words: “Die plenae lunae, miser monachus monasterii Selvae, sub antiquo olivae arbore lacrimans, stabat in spelunca in conspectum Domini ante Cathedralis Sovanae Crucem”. And so, in a land that has just been freed from the Nazi-fascist delirium, while the wounded hearts of men try to heal with courage, the protagonist will walk backwards into the abyss of time. An ancient book that speaks of a Benedictine abbey and the eight friars who lived there; a painting hidden and forgotten under the dust of the centuries; and then others unforeseen events: all this will forcefully creep into Pietro's simple daily life, between the classrooms and the house where he now lives alone with his mother Norina. From the library of the town of Manciano to the darkness of the crypt of the church of Santa Fiora, from the austere cathedral of Sovana to the mighty tuff wall of Pitigliano: in the frame of the seasons that mark the days with their colours, each stage will add a tile to a mosaic paradoxically increasingly obscure. We will have to wait for the last piece so that the disturbing truth of Friar Sabino is finally revealed to the world, together with his tragic fate.

► by: Paola Fabiani
Best Short Documentary
Cartas de Amor a un Torero
España, años 1936 al 1942, hay varias historias que se juntan en este guión, hechos reales del entorno, con historias ficticias, amores ocultos, mujeres espías, baile y ganaderos de más de 50.000 cabezas de ganado! Toreros y poderío agrícola. Fabrica de Mantas para el ejercito, la mayor industria. Talladores de Diamantes y mujeres con metas fijas en la vida.

►by: Reyes Caballero
Best Short Documentary
Once upon a time in Watkins Glen Park
Watkins Glen State Park is a 778-acre park with a 400-foot-deep narrow gorge featuring 19 waterfalls over a span of less than two miles. It is considered a "flagship" park by the State of New York.

► by: Kostiantyn Mishchenko
Best Covid-19 Film
Error 404
This film is expressing the sadness and loneliness of people due to limitations caused by covid-19 pandemic.

►by: Mahsa Shakeri
Best Feature Film
FOREST ISLAND
IIn the midst of World War II, a young soldier escapes from an enemy plane that has crashed in the Boso Peninsula. A woman who lives in an isolated cottage in the forest rescued the injured man. When the unconscious man wakes up, he sees a hand-made cello in the room. "My dead son made it," she says. He asks if he can play the cello. She brings the cell to him and he begins playing sarabande from Bach's Suite No. 3 with his wounded hands. The ghost of her dead son wanders in the forest and around his mother's cottage with a kettle to draw water, but only birds can see the ghost, not the mother. One day the mother hears the sound of a kettle.

► by: Ryosuke Handa
Best Feature Documentary
THE CANVAS
Art requires concentration, most often solitude. This condition is essential for the painter Salvatore Garau. Yet the artist decides to question himself by taking a large white canvas (2mx5m) and sharing the creation of the work together with the inmates in the high security prison of Massama, Sardinia. He does not intend to teach prisoners how to paint, but to share creative energy with those who are not used to freedom, let alone creative freedom. On the canvas the prisoners can unleash their imagination that leads to wonder, and wonder is power. Power is openness without fear. The documentary "The canvas" follows this challenge, the surprising discoveries, the beginning and the development of a project that shows the power of art and speech, especially in shady and sad places like prison

► by: Salvatore Garau
Best Dance Video
Sum
Island is a silent piece that depicts the life in an Island. Using island as a place and a metaphor for life, I interpret my own life in a dance piece. Inspired by all the islands I have lived in my life- London, Manhattan, and Jeju Island, I use dance as means of communication and hope. Under the pandemic I felt the urge to create a piece that relates to the repeated daily life cycle but at the same time, Island as a cross concept of reality and fantasy/paradise. Set between the islands in three different countries, I compose the story of my journey to rediscover who I really am. In this deep and affecting journey of self-discovery, touching on issues of loneliness, isolation, and the perseverance of the human spirit. Island can be referred as a place of life and a journey, in which I have paradoxical feelings between relief and discomfort from being trapped between fantasy and reality in life. The dancer in this video looks for something constantly as if she will never find that tangible hope empowered by nature. Aesthetics of colour in the film relates to attitude towards an island. Colour of the costume- black and white dresses, emphasizing emotional instability that follows emotional engagement of the characters. Postures and movement with the sword depicts the character’s phycological state caused by the repressed and unconscious inner conflict ,in a living in an island. Through this film, I add my own voice to the dance and to all the people who are afraid to forget who they are, and where they come from while reflecting on what they may have lost along the way. This is a poem about the context of the film Island Dance along the wave I hear the shimmering of silver melody I am constantly looking for something I saw the waves in my dreams. They become mountains. Reality becomes shattered stones Sinking into the deep sea Storm surges I fainted A swarm of jellyfish wakes me up by placing tentacles all over the body and shaking Two swords in my hand are tools of healing repairing the crashing waves But my days of solitude are endless solitude making me a desperate orphan I can't breathe Fly up to the surface swing a dream Production context In my film, the same character is in two different screens where they depict her phycological journey in two different spaces and state of minds. It encapsulates symbolic means of life in land and island, patterns of everyday life, translating it into a movement and posture. At the time, It was during the pandemic lockdown where everyone was feeling helpless about the disease. I placed the framework of this film in one’s life but I hope the viewers will connect their own state of mind, bringing out repressed and unconscious inner conflicts caused by life events.

► by: Elly Cho
Best Actor
Available Position
It tells the story of a long-time unemployed man living in Turkey who has reached the end of his endurance while looking for a job with a suitable position. This film sheds light on the unemployment problem, brings the ruthless face of today’s bossyclass to the audience. Our character, who is stuck between hunger and the inhumaneworking conditions imposed on him, tossed around with helpless hope, and who is quite familiar with the injustices he has suffered, finds his way out by challenging life with his unique references!

►by: UMUT ULAS ER
Best Experimental Film
Wither With Her
Wither with her is an experimental short film, revolving around a couple, Ivan and Kayla, who are heroin addicts who have overdosed and died. The film follows them through their final days, blurring the lines between documentary and classic narrative, to create something uniquely surreal.

► by: Jason W Hammond
Best Original Screenplay
Ghost Warrior: Angel of Death
After a Search & Rescue Operation in Afghanistan Natasha & her brother have been captured, tortured & used as Terror Propaganda, after escaping her ordeal, she is discovered by US Special Forces wondering the Desert. Upon her mental & Physical recovery, she proves she is fit to serve again & is re-deployed to Afghanistan in a Support Role, secretly gathering Intelligence on the Taliban Fighters responsible for her Brother’s Death she wages a One-Woman War against the Haqqani Network whilst evading capture from her own Team-mates from the SAS, travelling from War-Torn Afghanistan, to Syria to Turkey, eventually being captured by the SAS, Natasha is tried by a British Court Martial explaining her side of the Story to clear her name of War Crime Accusations, after the MoD & Amnesty International failed to convict or capture the Taliban Fighters responsible for her Brother's execution.

►by: Michael John Chase
Best Feature Documentary
The Passion
A new grad in English gets a job teaching a writing workshop in socialist China. She has already read a 1960 book about the mission written by a priest, but she doesn't tell anyone.

► by: Susan E Pattishall
Best Detective
Best Feature Screenplay
Subvertgate
Logline: A would be physicist turned PI and her detective boss must stop aircraft saboteurs and thieves of her teaching journal who sold it to spies. Pitch: Skye Patterson, P.I. and researcher of air crash cases, finds the men who robbed her of a work intended for teaching, and everything falls into place. She knows what they were up to. Before the present is a lost lawsuit. In the present, she finds an appointment at Julian Spencer’s P.I. Firm. Julian and Skye are interested in the same closed cases on aircraft parts counterfeiting and each other. Soon Skye’s assignment will be over. Julian turns up the heat in their attraction with steamy kisses and stops her from taking a tampered with flight. She must tell him what she knows. The drama is heightened when Julian is caught filming subverts installing a counterfeit part into an aircraft on which Skye was to travel. Will she pull the trigger on a subvert getting a gun to go where Julian is trapped and the felon’s partner is wielding an assault gun? The B-story of a WWI diary found in a steamer trunk belonging to Skye’s US infantry musician grandfather is a story of men of character in WWI France. The correlation of the WWI B-story to the aircraft sabotage and robbery A-Story is that of finding her grandfather’s diary softens the terror of the lost journal with a found diary. In addition, it puts values Americans fought for in the foreground against the famous status of plagiarists for plagiarism and capitalism by treason.

►by: Susan E. Pattishall, George Smith
Best Feature Documentary
Brazilian Beats
Brazil is known around the world for being a musical country. Most people think that Bossa Nova is the essence of their music, but Brazil is continental, with multiple cultures, and the diversity of its rhythms and beats remains unknown. The movie Brazilian Beats proposes to take you on a journey through several Brazilian capitals, immersing yourself in different rhythms and cultures, both traditional and contemporary, and making you feel the true Brazilian soul.

► by: Tiago Arakilian
Best Photography
The Anthropocene
This series of sceneries and portraits display the time we live in. Simply my take on this era of a plastic world, where humanity is drowning in trash, competing against technology, living in their own bubble, not being able to see the forest for the trees. I'm pointing out some of the issues that made me do this projects although I think there is a lot of positives within these images. But I want you to find them yourself;)

►by: Kieran Sommerlad
Best Symbolic Film
Santa Guerra
A woman falls down into a timeless place where her subconscious tries to process the trauma that crushes her. While a part of herself is stucked in a ghostly mansion and her double wanders in an ancestral place, the woman will reach a painful awareness.

► by: Samantha Casella
Best Feature Documentary
Best Cinematography
Day of the Dead: a Celebration of Life
High in the mountains of Michoacán, Mexico, the Purépecha people have enjoyed the same way of life for hundreds of years Filmed in several small towns, each with a unique twist on the custom, Day of the Dead: a Celebration of Life, presents an introduction to an ancient culture by focusing on one of their most colorful traditions.


►by: Denise Richards
Best Feature Documentary
The Donbass children
This is a movie about the Donbas war, first-person stories. You will hear the stories of so-called "ordinary people". These people suffered from irrational from a military point of view strikes on civilian targets. They are victims of someone's desire to wage war on their territory at all costs. There are no author's comments in this movie and no censoring of the thoughts of the local people. This film was made especially for spectators in Europe, who do not know what is happening in Eastern Ukraine. The purpose of the film is to arouse interest in the ongoing six-year armed conflict and to make people to start to think about the responsibility of each of us for peace in Europe. Update from March 2022: The above was written in September 2019. Now the war is being waged throughout Ukraine and the fate of the people of Donbass is shared by many people in the country. But while the "democratic world" was aggressively indifferent to the lives of the people of Donbass, a wave of empathy has now broken out. Not bad, on the contrary, but there remains a bad taste of double standards. This large-scale war had to be stopped in its infancy, but apparently the interest in its expansion was too strong. We, the people who fought for peace during those eight years, have failed because our voices have been muffled. But we did what we could.

► by: Lubomir Dankov
Best Short Film
Let's Start Over
Homeless on the streets, Jackson has a chance encounter with a former acquaintance, who was partially responsible for his current fate. Moments after the encounter a mysterious stranger shows up, pausing to read Jackson’s beat up, cardboard sign. Rather than offering him money, this mysterious man in Shades offers him something far more valuable, the chance to start over. Placing him at a point of limbo between what is so and what is possible. Jackson now has to traverse through a world he doesn’t fully understand to change his fate for the better, or risk repeating his life all over again.

►by: Kent Bernhard
Best ECO work
ANWAR
Alex Txikon’s winter ascension on Manaslu, Nepal, is the seed of a story that will bring sustainable light to two very different places: Newton, Sierra Leone, and a special school in Diamer, Pakistan. Alpinism, solidarity and renewable energy are key to this story.

► by: Rosa García Loire
Best Photography
The World Around Us
Forging connections through art for conservation efforts.

►by: Christie Goldstein
Best Short Film
Best Fantasy Film
My Partner Giraffe
A bookstore that makes money in an unusual way A person notices this unusual business and asks the bookseller for a ransom in exchange for not revealing it. The bookseller and his wife decide to get rid of him. It should also be noted that the opening sequence of the film is a long take without a cut

► by: Salaheddin Noori
Best Educational Film
Best Closing Credits
Our Triumphant Holy Day
OUR TRIUMPHANT HOLY DAY chronicles filmmaker Greg Di Roma’s journey on a pilgrimage into the Holy Land in Israel and Palestine with 28 other pilgrims in January 2020. The film explores major sites of the Holy Land and their impact on Salvation History. The pilgrims follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ and discover the human side of His story that highlight the true meanings of Love, Faith and Suffering. Along the way, the trip leads to a deep conversion in Greg’s Catholic Faith and Life that he never thought possible. © GDR Films 2021. All rights reserved.

► by: Greg Di Roma
Best Short Film
Homemade Cookies
A little girl tries to live her daily life with quarantine as her companion. Her innocence shields her family from covid 19

► by: Nikolaos Kakonas, Calliopi Villy Kotoula
Best Short Film
PORFYRI LEMONIA
Lemonia wants to escape , from a traumatic, force of violence against her, that violates her right to life, as well as the right to enjoy life without discrimination. And she demands an end to a situation that tests and undermines democracy and culture.

►by: Dimitris Andjus
Best Experimental Film
The truth is not unreal
Truth meets fantasy But what happens in imagination is true.

► by: Vahid Mobasheri, Asma Darvishkhoob
Best Action Movie
Triggered, a Cinematic Superhero Fan Film
A brilliant madman known as The Director believes that Superheroes are a threat to humanity. With Captain Marvel and Blade in his clutches, their rivals Wolverine and Rogue must escape before they too are turned into one of his minions.

►by: Mario Ricardo Rodriguez, Marcus Nel-Jamal Hamm
Best Feature Documentary
Approaching the Book of Changes
The documentary“Approaching the book of changes” is a popular humanities documentary which analyzes the cultural phenomenon of the book of changes from all aspects and angles, and traces the inheritance and development of the book of changes with many historical celebrities, as well as with Confucianism, neo-confucianism and Sinology, from the angle of history, culture, philosophy, science and so on, this paper expounds the whole process of the origin, development, change and extension of the book of changes according to logic.

► by: Su Ting
Best Detective
Detective MJ: Our Nations' Capital

►by: Morris D. Small
Best Feature Film
Best Thriller
Best Actor
Zu den Sternen
Decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall Singer Marco Hoffmann has reached the height of his popularity. Suddenly, the ex-frontman of the East German rock combo DIE KOSMONAUTEN is accused of being by his former band colleague Volker Hinze, that "IM singer" who betrayed him to the Stasi at that time. Hinze demands a meeting, otherwise he threatens his evidence to the press and destroying Hoffmann's life like him destroyed his life. Although Hoffmann assures his innocence, he still relies on the conspiratorial Meet with Hinze. Between the former "blood brothers" a bill arises on life and Death.

► by: Nicolai Tegeler
Best Animation
Ethan Art Venture
Ethan’s Art-Venture is an animated, mixed with Live-Action, short film about an autistic, illustrator who on his 9th birthday, is given a gift that allows him access to a powerful, imaginative, inner realm: a completely animated world. Every year, Ethan represents the school at the National Art Conference. However, this year there is a new, skillful artist competing who Ethan sees as a threat to his title as “best artist.” With determination to prove his artistic abilities, he is armed with only his trusty pencil to help him reclaim his prize.

►by: Nuria Dixon
Best Supporting Actor
Best Poster
Pastiche
After a home invasion, a depressed father must save his family, or they'll be premiered in the prime time news.

► by: Shivaan Makker
Best Drama
Best Cinematography
Skydancer



►by: Chris Fx
Best Experimental Film
The Seventh Seal
Disillusioned Knight Antonius returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Antonius sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling player Mia and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives. But Death is always around the corner, biding his time. Knight Antonius cannot escape his fate, and the two begin their game.

► by: Jacek Krawczyk
Best Feature Screenplay
THE SWING
A risky childhood game, involving four boys, has tragic consequences for one of the boys, but reverberations for the next twenty years, for them and all of those connected, never let anyone off the hook. In the end The Swing claimed everyone.

►by: Joe Graham
Best Experimental Film
Best Short Screenplay
Dark Realities
An optimistic Goth librarian accidentally releases the angry, pessimistic Ghost of Edgar Allan Poe who demands she help him avenge his unjust murder by a jealous rival.

► by: Matthew Toffolo
Best Experimental Film
The photo
The life of a married couple is deeply disturbed when the man abandons his obligations because he believes that strange forces are going to destroy his home. The woman, meanwhile, takes refuge in contemplating a photo of her dead son and in writing.

►by: Alberto Martín-Aragón
Best Short Film
Anything for the ones we love
The indigenous and the white man united by the same fight. A poetic fresco on the state of the planet that depicts the First Nations man fleeing the ecological and humanitarian disaster since the conquest of the Americas. Anything for the Ones We Love is a musical film with INDIGENOUS pianist Salvador Chavajay as the messenger.

► by: Louise Marie Beauchamp
Best Black & White Film
Queen of the Dead
A female author retreats to her family home and discovers she is being watched by members of a cult that want to make her their leader.

► by: Justin Head
Best Web-Series
Fresno Chaffee Zoo's Illuminature
The Fresno Chaffee Zoo brought Christmas early for Central Valley Residents! Illuminature is a walking light event for everyone who enjoys being a night owl in a safe environment. This event lasts until January 22nd! Make sure to check it out!

► by: Stephanie Fernández
Best Feature Documentary
DEBT
Α tribute to friendship by a sinful angel. “Every person we meet in our lives is a journey and we often feel from the beginning whether we will travel with him first class, or without luggage and with empty pockets”. Alekos Zoukas is a much loved man, a reveler and at the same time a deeply thoughtful person. A man you can hardly forget once you meet him. In the film, Alekos’s travels with his friends and the film’s director in Pyrsogianni. His thouhts / alternate with his confessions about his experience with cancer. He is treated as a literary “hero”; this is not a biopic for Alekos.

►by: STAVROS PSILLAKIS
Best Feature Documentary
FAREWELL
FAREWELL The memory of the land.A documentary film by STAVROS PSILLAKIS, 88min, 2022 "Thousands of fighters around the world had given all they had for a cause that, as they believed, as they said, was greater than themselves; but in the end it turned out that they themselves were the greatness of that cause." Chris Marker 87-year-old persecuted and declared guerrilla Giannis Lionakis, in a farewell trip to the place that defined his life, tells us about a 14-years (1948-1962) incredible survival effort, which begins with the end of the Civil War in Crete. The backbone of the film is unpublished footage that was shot in 2007 as part of the documentary "THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY".

► by: STAVROS PSILLAKIS
Best Feature Film
Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture
A story about a painter who came back from France to Japan and settle in the City of Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

►by: Mitsuo Kuribara
Best Feature Film
Regional exchange center, IRISO
A female former singer and songwriter came back to her rural hometown to meet her family and a niece and find a new life there.

► by: Mitsuo Kurihara
Best Feature Film
The Haunted Jizo of Shimo-Mizuno, Sayama City
A story surrounding a statue built in 1600 called the Haunted Jizo. An evil ghost is eliminated by the power of the Haunted Jizo.


► by: Mitsuo Kurihara
Best Drama
Tom and Luce
A couple in crisis is about to renovate an apartment. The state of the walls is like the state of their relationship.

► by: Muxel Paule
Best Experimental Film
Paint On Paint # 1-8
Paint On Paint # 1-8 is an experimental animation film that brings together eight autonomous films, produced and made between March 2020 and October 2021, marked by the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and that follow some common structural principles: each film explores a different animation technique related to the use of color and digital brushes; each movie is 3 minutes and 33 seconds long; each film was set to music and sounded by a different young composer/sound designer, with the exception of nº8 which starts from a soundtrack created by Vasco Diogo himself, for which a montage was made using images from the previous films. As a whole, the film, with an eminently abstract character, expresses interior visions, concepts and perceptions linked to the ideas of contamination, recording emotions, freedom and enclosure, delirium and hope for a better world.

► by: Vasco Diogo
Best Short Film
Best Composer
Best Director Debut
Best Color Editing
Best Editing
My little big secrets
Film “My little big secrets” is a story about a woman who is cheated on by her partner with a younger girl. She is coming back to her childhood home to there find a lost piece of herself that she’s been looking for her whole adult life.


► by: Hanna (Hanka) Antonina Bondarenko
Best Feature Screenplay
SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE
A touching and funny comic drama about the growing friendship between two college students working together at a movie theatre in the 1970s, and the events that change their lives.

►by: Peter Hardy
Best Adapted Screenplay
A Poet's Childhood - Awakening to Consciousness - Elizabeth Martina Bishop
This documentary film details the creation of poems by Elizabeth Martina Bishop and how they link to the poet's biography.
Filmed in Dublin at Trinity College, an off-camera interview by Luke Daniel Holland introduces Elizabeth, born a poet. From childhood on she had astonishing insights into her talent for writing. This is a gem of a film which helps viewers understand the burgeoning of creative juices leading to poetic wit and an evocative outpouring uplifting viewers from all walks of life.



► by: Vibhas P A Kendzia, Elizabeth Martina Bishop
Best Sci-Fi
Best Feature Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Bad Love Tigers
It is New Year’s Eve, 1974, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the fun-loving and adventurous teens of the Bad Love Gang are ambushed by a Russian KGB agent. This propels them to use the White Hole Project Time Machine to time travel back to World War II. The gang meets with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who guides them on their mission to protect a mysterious alien spaceship and America’s top-secret Area 51.
On their perilous mission, the gang must deal with Russian, Chinese, and Indian espionage forces who stand in their path. Along the way, the gang encounters danger, intrigue, betrayal, and a little romance. Ultimately, the intrepid Bad Love Gang triumphs over their adversaries to protect the alien spaceship and maintain the security of Area 51. It's Stand by Me Meets Raiders of the Lost Ark.


►by: Kevin Schewe
Best Historical Film
Math Hildj
Good and evil, merge together to create a riveting story that takes place between past and present. Gubbio 1473 and London 1982. Mathilda (Math Hildj) will have a cold case to solve, something happened to her ancestor. An invisible line bind persons from the same bloodline, Mathilda has a gift that will come to her aid in giving meaning to her premonitions.


► by: Mary laura Santonocito
Best Short Film
Best Director
To be or not to be
Miguel, an adult with visual disability, already resigned, gives up his aspiration to be an architect, given society's refusal to give him a chance.

►by: Carlos Puig Mundó
Best Feature Screenplay
The Secret Codex
Upon the Pope's announcement of a celebration for the 2033rd anniversary of Christ's crucifixion, a branch of Amsterdam Templars pushes to be restated to their original role as the guardians of the church with blackmail by using an ancient secret codex. They must promote the apparent heir, the young son, with more interest in getting high and his hot girlfriend's completive drone racing.

►by: Kevin Pike, Hans Sluijter
Best Short Film
Best No-Dialogue Film
Apotheosis
An old woman, recognizing her limitations and mortality, creates offspring from a lifetime of memories. The progeny are battered and worn but she could not be more proud. In her world, perfection will not be tolerated.

►by: Jane Rosemont
Best Action Movie
Best Mobile Film
Best Opening Credits

Emerging from the Shadows

Takeda was forced to leave Asia after a tragic incident. He travelled but stayed close to the woods in order to remember his heart, but also to live a new life in Europe and tries to forget his past. After three years this peace is suddenly disturbed. While he goes running in the woods, Muto, an Italian gangster discovers suddenly an Asian man in the woods. Maybe this could be the killer his boss, Martello is looking for since many years. Karyudo, a powerful hunter who is also an excellent martial artist, was sent by his corrupt police chief to help the Italian gangster boss. He wants to know where Muto found this Asian man. They have a small issue to arrange and at the woods, Karyudo's sensitive instinct tells him his prey is there. Karyudo, who has a great sense of honour and justice, doesn't know the exact details of this hunting, but with the help of Muto, he will track this Asian man in the Italian woods. Doubt will grow in his mind. Martello's hate during these three years will finally find a reason to be. They will hunt this Asian man down and make him pay, no matter what. Takeda has no other choice than to rise from the shadows, confront his past and fight for his life.

► by: Mark Stas
Best Web-Series
Los Aspirantes -The Applicants-
It is a hilarious comedy set in an office called Holliwood where everything turns into a desaster. Every single person in the office is tempted into getting a better job and they compete with the applicants for that purpose. Most of the situations a really surrealistic and funny so you never know what is going to happen.The more jobs offered, more situations to laugh at. Who needs the job?.


► by: María Yolanda Brown Melián, Kevin Ramos Fernández
Best Black & White Film
Best No-Dialogue Film
Dreams of the Past
A film about peace, love and war. Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the end of the Civil War in Russia. The film takes place at the end of the summer of 1917, when Russia and the whole world were at a crossroads between two eras. None of the people could even imagine how much his life would change in the very near future. In a strange way, the atmosphere of the film echoes our current reality and what is happening in Russia today. According to the form of visualization, the film belongs to experimental mockumentary cinema. To give greater authenticity to what is happening on the screen, the shooting was carried out on black-and-white negatives of 16 and 35 mm, hand-operated cameras were used and the material was developed in manual spiral tanks. The documentary chronicle of the Kolchak army of 1919 and the White army in the Far East of 1922 is embedded in the finale of the film.ectorBiography - Dmitri Frolov


► by: Dmitri Frolov
Best Television Script
Pirandello's Wife
We know Luigi Pirandello's story: world-famous playwright, Nobel Prize Winner. But what of hers? Antonietta's? Hidden in the background, her life controlled by men, the last decades in an asylum for the insane. What is her story?


►by: Lynn Elliott
Best Feature Screenplay
Maiden Tower, The
There are two brothers who live in Ichari-Shahar (Old City). They are: Camil and Rafael. Camil is a sculptor, and his younger brother Rafael is a painter returning from Riga after 5 years’ education. Regardless of his elder brother’s order, Rafael has fallen in love with a girl named Maria as far back as in Riga.
Camil is also considered to be the chairman of the Community on the defense of Ichari Shahar. The problems concerning the preservation of old cities, as well as love to Rafael lead Maria to Baku. The purpose of her arrival is to familiarize with the state of affairs on the protection of city-reserve Ichari Shahar on the spot and to make a report for UNESCO.

► by: Shamil Yaveroghlu Aliyev
Best Feature Screenplay
CARPET, THE
The script reveals the story of the Carpet, the theme of spiritualized Love, the fusion of human souls and the people’s inevitable need in each other. Samed is the main character of the story, who lost his hearing and eyesight. His difficult fate is reflected by the events taking place.
Samed is a painter and a carpet maker. He knows and remembers the long-forgotten patterns and secrets of creating one of the ancient Oghuz carpets. The wicked enemies made him blind and deaf in retaliation for not being able to learn all his secrets.
Nazli is the painter's wife, who becomes his ears and eyes, his only hope and joy. Samed had to suspend weaving the carpet, but he hopes to continue creating this unique carpet with the help of Nazli.


►by: Shamil Aliyev
Best Web-Series
Whitey Web Series
Integrity has a slippery slope...

► by: Donald Watson
Best Feature Screenplay
John's Journey
PRIVATE JOHN WRAY (20s) is sheltering from artillery shells in a WW1 British trench when the SERGEANT (30s) tells him the Commanding Officer wants to see him.
The COMMANDING OFFICER (30s) orders John to go to Headquarters with a letter. He also orders him to take two men with him.
The Sergeant orders PRIVATES WALSH AND WHITE (20s) to go with John. He also puts John in charge of the group.
Shortly after, in conversation, John mentions his German friend Hans, whom he went to Cambridge University with. He confirms that he hasn’t seen him since the outbreak of the war.
A few hours later, they see two GERMAN SOLDIERS (20s) in the distance. They spot a ditch and run towards it.
From the ditch, John takes aim at one of the Germans and shoots him dead. The remaining German stabs Private Walsh in the leg with his bayonet before being killed by John.

► by: Paul Hodgson
Best Feature Documentary
Finding the Line - An Exploration of Structural Integration

Boulder Colorado and Esalen Institute USA 1960's & 1970’s:
Resulting from her studies Dr. Ida Rolf developed a program of postural re-patterning using fascial manipulation and movement education which she called Structural Integration and which is nowadays known in the public at large as ‘rolfing’.
Milano, Prague, Warszaw 2018 - 2022
This movie tells the story of an adventure - an adventure that will take the viewer into Ida Rolf's world of Structural Integration. At the heart of the movie are 8 students and their quest to understand Ida Rolf's philosophy during their 3 year Basic Trainings in Milano, Prague and Warsaw.
The movie also explains the basic ideas behind Structural Integration and discusses the most recent research into fascia.
Spoken Languages: English, Italian, Polish, Czech
Subtitles: English, German, Italian, Polish, Czech, Portuguese, French
The terms Rolfing® and Rolfer® are registered service marks of the ROLF INSTITUTE of Structural Integration in Boulder, Colorado (USA).


by: Aleš Urbanczik, Grzegorz Oleksa
Best Action Movie
Surplus
People fighting for their lives because of some other people started hunting on them in the forest.

► by: Hamid Y. Najafli
Best Comedy
La Zingara et Les Jeunes Gens
A cleaning lady warns employees of a company about the choices they make for the future. According the fable "Swallow and the small birds" by Jean de La Fontaine.

by: Julie Ducrocq
Best Feature Film
OLD BOYS
Following the funeral of their friend Dédé, two seventy-year-olds, Mister Paul and Bobby, find themselves in a neighborhood bistro where they remember the blessed era of their footballistic glory and their romantic adventures, especially with Lola, the owner of the establishment. Around them, a young waitress, Bibi, who looks furiously like this Lola, apparently absent: is the young woman the daughter of their ex-mistress and if so, could one of them not be her father? All this under the amused gaze of the deceased who comments on their improbable encounter, first from his coffin, then from Heaven !

► by: Jean-François Amiguet
Best Feature Screenplay
The Dead Ringer
Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the mistress of a London-based Chinese Triad boss, an illegal immigrant is trained by MI5 to infiltrate the gang and bring them down.


by: Suzanne Lutas

© All Rights Reserved. SIFF Inc.

starintfilmfest@gmail.com

This site was made on Tilda — a website builder that helps to create a website without any code
Create a website