WINTER 2024 | Festival Laurels (all categories + nomination laurel + special mention laurel)
Jury Prize
Winners: A Place To Hide And Wait (tied), The Metamorphosis (tied)
“With A Place, we are presented with a series of characters who can’t help but jab at each other endlessly. The performances and the technical delivery of the film are unique, impressively done for an indie effort and memorable.”
“The Metamorphosis is violent here – and perfectly so. With an impressive lead performance, some ingenious editing and impressive voice acting, this project unfolds as a period-piece nightmare that one can only enjoy.”
Nominees: LAILA NADENE, INTERLOPERS, , Die in Seoul, The Bell Never Rings Again, Forgotten, Woodgrove, ARLO AND THE SEA
FILM
- Best Short Film made for less than $5,000
The Metamorphosis – Winner: Best Short Film made for less than $5,000, Nominated: Best Director, Winner: Best Editing, – “This grand adaptation is a beautiful old-school adaptation of the Kafka text. Really impressively delivered.”
Yolks – Nominated: Best Screenplay – “Sharp and witty. An important body image message is buried here.”
Woodgrove – Winner: Best Ensemble Cast, Nominated: Best Short Film made for less than $5,000, Nominated; Best Director, Nominated: Best Score – “Well balanced, and very well acted, this film boasts a great sense of suspense and awareness for genre.”
Barney – Nominated: Best Cinematography, Nominated: Best Genre Film – “The rich image of this short presents a new take on the Christmas film genre… but it is greatly elevated through its slick design.”
A Lovely Walk In The Woods – Nominated: Best Short Film made for less than $5,000, Winner: Best Actress (Demi Hylands) – “This expressive genre piece boasts a nice use of budget, a strong sense of style and drama… but above all – we’ve got a great scream queen performance from Hylands! – also some great camera work to make the situation feel very real.”
Breathe In – Nominated: Best Short Film made for less than $5,000, Nominated: Best Ensemble Performance – “This piece is very nicely balanced, bold with how it outlines its different characters and circumstances.”
Off-Kilter – Nominated: Best Genre Film – “A fun blast of a film, full of mist and colours and characters… it’s an exciting film to enjoy!”
Death Wishes – Nominated: Best Short Film made for less than $5,000, Nominated: Best Actress (Emily Eliette) – “Expressive, intimate and delicate. Death Wishes is an impressive piece with a strong lead performance from Emily Eliette.”
Margot Can’t Sleep – Nominated: Best Editing, Nominated: Best Score – “This film unpacks a very personal experience. It is the atmosphere and pace that really catches the audience’s attention here.”
Blankness – Winner: Best Director – “Almost as bold as a Roy Andersson film. High praise is due for this effort.”
ARLO AND THE SEA – Winner: Best Screenplay (tied), Nominated: Best Cinematography – “This great romantic effort has us melting.”
Forgotten – Nominated: Best Short Film made for less than $5,000, Nominated: Best Editing, Nominated: Best Actor (Richard Constable), Winner: Best Cinematography – “For its budget, the use of lenses and style is really impressive.”
Bay for Blood – Nominated: Best Genre Film, Nominated: Best Editing, Winner: Best Score – “Tense, moody and perfectly on point to put you on the edge of your seat.”
A Long Bite Goodnight – Nominated: Best Director, Nominated: Best Cinematography, Nominated: Best Ensemble Cast, Nominated: Best Score, Winner: Best Genre Film – “So spot on – it takes a bit of a bite out of you!”
Memories of Mother – Nominated: Best Actor (Armando Mieses), Nominated: Best Director, Winner: Best Screenplay (tied) – “Tender, and very well written. This project is an elevated drama with some impressive characters and strong dialogue.”
- Best Short Film made for between $5,000-$10,000
Hair Wraith – Nominated: Best Short Film made for between $5,000-$10,000, Nominated: Best Screenplay – “Trauma has officially found its most bizarre and rewarding concept.”
Slava – Winner: Best Short Film made for between $5,000-$10,000, Nominated: Best Actress (Veronica Bayeva), Nominated: Best Director – “Arriving in the form of a fully formed drama, this short unlocks many themes and interesting ideas… but it is its empathetic angle which provides such insight and feeling to audience members.”
- Best Short Film made for more than $10,000
The Bell Never Rings Again – Nominated: Best Actor (Tom Byrne), Winner: Best Short Film made for more than $10,000, Nominated: Best Director, Nominated: Best Score – “Charming, beautifully shot and undeniably stylish.”
GUM – Nominated: Best Genre Film, Nominated: Best Actress (Holly de Jong), Nominated: Best Screenplay – “This comedic take on facing our life choices is quite moving and memorable.”
Jinn – Chapter 1 – Nominated: Best Short Film made for more than $10,000, Nominated: Best Actor, Winner: Special Mention: Best VHX/SFX – “Genuinely blood chilling.”
- Best Feature Film made for less than $5,000
Die in Seoul – Winner: Best Feature Film made for less than $5,000, Nominated: Best Actress (Seo In Cho) – “This handheld opus gets up and close with its characters. The dialogue pops with realness and is often blunt and expressively good.”
Toga – Nominated: Best Feature Film made for less than $5,000 – “This documentary style film boasts a lot of personality with a near-to-no budget filmmaking approach. It is a personal film, one which has a lot of character.”
Lulu in Turin – Winner: Special Mention: Best Documentary – “This film memoir is very informative, and quite a great travel experience through time and film history.”
BODY COUNT – Nominated: Best Screenplay, Nominated: Best Genre Film – “This Gothic yarn has many twists and turns. It is a lot of fun and comically delivered by its cast.”
A Place To Hide And Wait – Nominated: Best Feature Film made for less than $5,000, Winner: Best Actor (James Lyon), Nominated: Best Actress (Luana Holtz de Diego), Nominated: Best Director, Nominated: Best Screenplay – “In total honesty, as indie films go… this flexes some smart moves in terms of cost cutting techniques, a solid script and a great performance form Mr. Lyon.”
- Feature Film made for between $5,000-$10,000
Carmilla Vive! – Nominated: Feature Film made for between $5,000-$10,000, Nominated: Best Cinematography – “This genre effort packs a lot of delights, but at its core it is a subtle film – which is very rewarding.”
INTERLOPERS – Nominated: Best Genre Film, Nominated: Best Cinematography, Nominated: Best Screenplay, Winner: Feature Film made for between $5,000-$10,000 – “An unusual effort for the zombie genre – smart, artistic and genuinely engaging on an emotional level.”
BUBBLER – Nominated: Feature Film made for between $5,000-$10,000, Nominated: Best Ensemble Cast, Nominated: Best Actor (Nicholas Callan Haubner), Nominated: Best Director – “Comedic and fun. For small budget films it is quite ambitious.”
- Feature Film made for more than $10,000
LAILA NADENE – Nominated: Best Cinematography, Nominated: Best Ensemble Cast, Nominated: Best Editing, Winner: Feature Film made for more than $10,000 – “This large set film boasts a lot of exciting visuals and tones. It is overall a very well executed film – something the team should be proud of.”
We Will Not Be Silenced – Nominated: Feature Film made for more than $10,000, Nominated: Best Editing – “The edit, which includes a lot of copyrighted content, is quite expressful and engaging… the legalities of the project might be a bit complicated for distribution, but it is very impressive all the same.”
- Web series
Winner: Best Web Series – Welcome to the Whimsical Desert! (Going Solo) – “A personal story, one clearly conscious of the locale and space being experienced, is shared with us. This is a treat for audiences looking for an experience.”
Nominated: Land Of Joy – “This noir styled show is great fun, but it suffers some technical issues (sound for one). The highlight though is the script and the consistency in the style.”
MUSIC VIDEO
Keysuna – About : Blank – Winner: Best Cinematography – “Slick black and white photography shines in this great video with some slick tracking shots.”
See No Light – Winner: Best Music Video – “A series of brilliantly choreographed dances unfold with some very colourful costumes. This video has a great vibrance about it.”
SCRIPT COMPETITION
- Best Concept
Winner: Echoes – “Personable and impressionable, this script excels in the areas of the heart.”
Nominated: Moses – “Intriguing and unusually bold for a TV script.”
- Best Character Arc
Winner: Cost – “Short, punchy and very well executed.”
Nominees:
Pigeon Boy – “With strong characterization and interactions between these characters, Pigeon Boy proves to be an endearing tale.”
Sirens of Silence – “The characters are a pure delight.”
- Best Genre Script
Winner: Sirens of Silence – “One of the best genre scripts we’ve ever had.”
Nominees:
SACRED SUN – “Full of energy, and science fiction delights, this project is a pleasure for an Art Department with budget.”
The Four Of Us Are Dying – “Wild, and sometimes even scary – this script punches many angles and is an exciting experience.”
- Best Micro Budget Script
Winner: Belly Issues – “As high school scripts go, with a touch of fantasy, this recalls the pleasures of Jennifer’s Body – only, it is on a reasonable indie budget!”
Nominees:
The main choise – “This delicate script proves that drama is sometimes very effective in a minimalistic setting.”
- Best Technique
Winner: Chocolate, Moose, and Tits – “Stylish, exciting, and a whole lot of fun!”
Nominees:
SACRED SUN – “With a strong understanding of genre and structure, Sacred Sun is a very carefully structured project.”
Death Becomes You – “There is some amazing dialogue in this one.”
The Four Of Us Are Dying – “Carefully designed and rewarding in equal measure.”
- Special Mention
Special Mention: Winner: Death Becomes You – “There is a very unique voice in this script.”