Independent Shorts Awards

In the darker side of a tumultuous pandemonium, four wanted men are hunted down by an infamous assassin.
Directed by Bharath Raj Kartha (India)

Ye-Sul, a Korean American college student, decides to host a Korean graduation party out of desperation for returning to the Korean community once her Student Visa has expired. When she gets humiliated by one of her peers, Hyun-Shik, she decides to take vengeance against him in the pettiest way possible.
Directed by Hyunseung Hahn (South Korea)

Put yourself in another’s shoes as we explore core social issues that plague today’s society.
Directed by Ian Stack (USA)

“La Débutante” journeys into the life of a 56-year-old trans woman who realizes it’s either transition or death.
Directed by Lena Tosta (Brazil)

“More Women Leaders Needed Everywhere” is a call for and celebration of women’s leadership. It’s been almost 100 years since women got the right to vote – but this right wasn’t granted to all women (initially only to white women). It took an additional four decades for this right to include women of color. Furthermore, the right to vote didn’t grant women a place at the table or as decision makers. As we enter a new wave of the women’s movement, we have the opportunity to transform and heal our racist and sexist roots and look deeper than simply replacing men leaders with women. “More Women Leaders Needed Everywhere” shines a spotlight on women from diverse backgrounds and experiences to explore women’s rights and leadership from intersectional, multi-generational and multi-racial perspectives. We went into the field and asked women at the Oakland Women’s march – what kind of women do you want to see in leadership? What are the values you want to see reflected? How can we be the ones we have been waiting for?
Directed by Kirthi Nath (USA)

Seven-year-old Béa’s world changes as her young mother tries to reconnect with her estranged aunt in this love-letter to misunderstanding.
Directed by José Esteban Pavlovich Salido (Mexico)

An aspiring musician struggles to look for inspiration while coping with change.
Directed by Ishan Parikh (USA)

24 hours in Salar de Uyuni: A man, all alone by himself. Not a single soul around. He wants to be alone, with his thoughts. Just him, his mind and a surreal environment. Until another human being breaks the silence and interrupts this chosen loneliness.
Directed by Markus Stoll (Germany)

What will happen when you develop a strange condition which leads to insomnia? This silent short film is a story of a woman who has difficulty sleeping; find out how she gets what she wants most in her life — The Sound Sleep!
Directed by Bharathkumar Balemane (USA)

How much is a promise worth these days? An aspiring fashion designer finds out when she has to choose between fulfilling her promise and realizing her dream.
Directed by Michael Wong (China)

Under a dictatorship that has banned music, a man hides a recording until he is caught and imprisoned. Whilst paying for his crimes he stumbles across a repository of confiscated items, leading to a series of events that will forever change the city.
Directed by Marc Adamson (UK)

A backpacker awakes at dawn in a rice paddy field outside Siem Reap… with no knowledge of how he got there, what happened the night before – or where his girlfriend is.
Directed by Leanne Mangan (Australia)

Researchers believe that if no solution is found for the water crisis of Iran, a big part of the seven-thousand-year-old county will be unlivable within twenty years because of drought…
Directed by Alireza Dehghan (Iran)

A failed writer is found by a producer for a big project. However, things are not what they seem.
Written by Daniel Nogueira Gandra (Portugal)