Best U.S. Short -Winner receiveda $1,000 cash prize.
Jury: Horatio Baltz (Director), Steve Pond (TheWrap), Amanda Salazar (SFFILM)
My Hero (USA), Directed by Logan Jackson
As last-minute plans for a babysitter fall apart, eight-year-old Brandon is left alone to oversee his younger brother Mason.
Jury statement: “The jury found this to be a technically proficient, emotionally charged film by a director who has a respect for filmmaking language and an ability to use it in service of a unique vision.”
Special Mention (for Stylistic Vision and Emerging Talent):
Pharmacopeia (USA), Directed by Tania Taiwo
The story of a quirky, Black Pharmacist drowning in student loan debt, who rebels against the system and becomes the drug dealer Pharmacy School never taught her.
GoE Bridging the Borders Award – Winner received a $2,500 courtesy of Go Energistics.
Jury: Bambadjan Bamba (Actor), Rodrigo Garcia (Director), Michael Franck (Documentarian), Marcy Garriott (Documentarian), Susan Morgan Cooper (Director), Daria Mashouf (MOZAIK), Chale Nafus (Austin Film Society), Adam Shepherd (Go Energistics), Bijan Tehrani (Cinema Without Borders)
The Present (Palestine), Directed by Farah Nabulsi
On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his daughter, Yasmine, set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between the soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping?
Jury statement: https://youtu.be/52i6hZtavDw
Special Mention:
Container (Greece/USA), Directed by Daphne Maziariaki
A strong friendship is formed between five unaccompanied refugee boys who live inside a shipping container in a refugee camp in Greece.
Local Jury Award – Winner received a $1,000 cash prize.
Jury: Roxanna Garcia, Diane P. Hagga, Ph.D, Liza Ivins, Raymond Johnson
Welcome Strangers (USA), Directed by Dia Sokol Savage
Every night at 6pm, detained immigrants are legally released from a for-profit ICE facility onto unfriendly, industrial streets near Denver, Colorado. The men and women, most of them asylum-seekers, have little idea where they are and have nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Sarah Jackson, a young woman, searches the streets for these immigrants and invites them into her home.
Jury statement: “Welcome Strangers is a testament to the power of community, a film whose subject is a beacon, lifeline and bridge to the immigration process. This honest, relevant and inspiring story is a reminder of the human spirit and the importance of “loving thy neighbor.””
Special Mention:
Sundays at the Triple Nickel (USA), Directed by Jess Colquhoun
On Edgecombe Avenue in Sugar Hill, Harlem, Marjorie Eliot is making sure her apartment building’s iconic jazz legacy lives on. Marjorie and her son have been hosting jazz concerts in her apartment every Sunday for the past 26 years, a pursuit of overcoming grief through music.
Vimeo Staff Pick Award – Selected by Vimeo curators. Winner received a $2,500 cash prize.
Give Up the Ghost (Jordan/Germany/Sweden), Directed by Zain Duraie
Salam’s dream of becoming a mother shatters when she finds out that she is unable to have children with her husband. As she searches for the silver lining, she finds herself in a battle to save her marriage. A lifetime of convictions and beliefs are put to the test as Salam realizes she must make a choice.
Young Cineastes Award – Winner received a $1,000 cash prize.
Jury: Shelby Armor (17, Palm Valley School), Graham Bennett (17, Joshua Tree), Angie Carroll (16, Xavier College Prep High School), Chase Carroll (17, Palm Desert), Lindsay Frazer (15, Palm Desert), William Harris (17, Palm Springs High School), Daniel Lorette (17, Yucca Valley High School), Leo Milmet (17, Palm Valley School), Daniela Uribe (17, La Quinta)
Colette (USA/France/Germany), Directed by Anthony Giacchino
World War II. Not all warriors wore uniforms. Not all warriors were men. Meet ninety-year-old Colette Catherine who, as a young girl, fought the Nazis as a member of the French Resistance. Now she’s about to re-open old wounds, re-visting the terrors of that time. Some nightmares are too terrible to remember. But also, too dangerous to forget.
Jury statement: “One film in particular stuck with us and had a profound, lasting effect. Colette creates a pathway connecting a history of loss through an unexpected connection transcending generations. The relationship between the two women ultimately provides a vulnerable and honest look into grief and memory. Every member of the jury was affected in one way or another by this film.”
Special Mention:
Gold Plated (Belgium), Directed by Chloé Léonil
Inès, 16 years old, is determined to find a job when she meets Martin, a boy from the nice neighborhoods of Brussels. Feeling something between shame and fascination, she becomes brutally aware of social injustice.
Jury statement: “This film was able to touch the hearts of all us on the jury, even if we didn’t relate to it personally. The experiences and mindset of the main character were rooted in universal human emotions that felt universally applicable and made for an emotionally compelling story. The grounded nature in which this narrative and character were shaped not only made for a film that was emotionally moving, but also one that followed jury members and stayed in their hearts and minds far after the credits rolled.”
