Independent Shorts Awards

An lonely widowed older woman who lives by the sea finds and adopts an abandoned baby otter on her property. The relationship that develops transforms her life.
Directed by Barbara Mones (USA)

A Nepali woman tosses flowers into a lake before she goes into it herself.
Directed by Brittney Thaxton (USA)

In a dark room, we find two men forehead to forehead, sitting on the floor, heads connected by a helmet with an organic look. They are surrounded by silhouettes motionless and tense. In parallel in a sanitized white space, these two men face each other at a distance. They seem to have the power to influence the behavior of the other. Their violent and fierce manipulations quickly blow them to the limit of the knockout. This struggle has the effect of animating the individuals around them in the dark space. Alain Chamfort is the link between these two spaces. He is the witness and the narrator. He walks in the dark towards a ray of light. In the air there are particles that gradually draw a yellow landscape, a chaotic exterior that indicates a post-apocalyptic era. A child appears in the distance through the yellowish fog. He walks in the midst of a group of women and men of all ages walking in the same direction, looking out at the horizon of a new land.

Note
The duo evokes the contradictions of a single individual facing himself, he also represents humanity. The clip shows a dark face that gradually evolves towards sharing, listening, understanding. It is a form of rebirth by setting off dust in an animal movement that is humanized. The spaces of protection, the different closed spaces, the charged and colored air, indicate an unbreathable exterior, but it is not the nothingness … The fact that the frozen bodies come back to life during the evolution of the duel, suggests the influence of our actions on everything around us and that man would have the power to reverse the course of things, the possibility of a second chance. The dust brings back to a primitive side, to the stars, to the universe.

Choreography
The choreography and its setting in space leave a static state, the register of the intimate evolving towards bodies in full effusion. There are two distinct choreographies, that of the duo of dancers where the fight evolves towards a form of harmony, and this same duo immobile in another space with dancers (r) all around, linked to each other in a circle who eventually relax and become animated. Impulses, uncontrolled gestures begin to emerge. The dance is inspired by trances, rituals, traditional dances and martial arts.
Directed by Niki Noves (France)

An ex-gangster member who becomes a PE teacher in a high school is dragged back into a bloody gang war in order to protect a troubled schoolgirl.
Directed by Qiyu Zhou (USA)

A mockumentary set in an alternate world where humans reproduce through body wide division that follows one man’s journey through his reproduction process.
Directed by Jonathan Reser (USA)

A twenty-something man who doesn’t feel that he fits into this world meets a mysterious young woman at a party, only for her to lead him on an unimaginable journey through strange new realities. Along the way, he learns who he really is and finds his way home.
Directed by Cameron Elmore (USA)

The story of a 20 years old gay boy who creates a fabulous mask to shield all his insecurities.
Directed by Ludovico Torri (USA)

A third date does not go as expected when Amy’s lifelong friend Bucky confronts her date Peter.
Directed by Geoffrey Gould (USA)

A man confronts his demons head-on in a journey toward a unique recovery through the five steps of the “Grieving Process”.
Directed by Ty Brueilly (USA)

A Veteran Magician finds a magic ring that contains the memory of her and her lover at the ruin of her old studio.
Directed by Daun Han (South Korea)