WINNER
Andrew J. Lee // A Sparrow Cries At Night
“A child who repairs broken items searches for his brother who went missing in a town full of disappearances.”
RUNNER UP
Abijeet Achar // Mysore Magic
“It's the annual Mysore University Disco Dance Off. Premi's in the audience, and the Winner, Vasu, catches her eye. Mysore Magic is a coming-of-age/magical-realist adventure into an unlikely 1986 Indian romance that sheds light on social status, arranged marriages, and the caste system.”
RUNNER UP
Russell Hamilton // FANFARE
“The journey of an 8 piece high school tuba section encompasses the legacy of Southern marching band culture in the city of Atlanta.”
Antonio Garcia // Vessel
“Depression, exhaustion, or were his late mother's trinkets holding back something far worse? A pragmatic insurance broker fights through worsening exhaustion as he prepares his mother's house for market.”
Celeste Banks // Black Girls and Fairytales
“A black princess-for-hire gets a chance of a lifetime to be a real princess, but her ingrained colorism and insecurities hold her back from her crown.”
Naz Pankey // CANJI
“In one life he’s a bum. In the other a god. To reunite with the love of his life, he must lose everything.”
Gabriela McNicoll // Haint
“In the rural South, a nine-year-old girl builds a bottle-tree to catch whatever is haunting her neglectful mother.”
Kevin Daniel Lonano // Greetings From Atomic Beach
“A grieving mother returns to a rundown beach town known for its offshore atomic blasts.”
Malerie Grady & Skylar Denney // Pussy Planet
“An animated short exploring the wonder and vibrancy of one of the most common yet misunderstood creatures in the world: the pussy.”
Nathan Blankenship // The Final Touch
“A quarantined 30-year-old man, who is dying of AIDS in Atlanta in 1984, reflects on his life and grapples with his own mortality as his palliative care nurse struggles with safely providing care to a suffering young man yearning for physical comfort.”
