2021
Award Winners
Portrait
Directed by Keir Siewert
Filmed in: United Kingdom
Completed: June 14, 2020
Run Time: 13 minutes 5 seconds
Language: English
Rhetta, an industrious model, sets up a shoot with a predatory photographer, notorious for his coercion tactics and aggressive actions. However, little does he realise that Rhetta has orchestrated this meeting as a sting to expose his inappropriate behaviour on an online video live stream. Winner of the Genera grant, Portrait is a tense drama built on research from interviews with 21 models about their experiences overcoming the abuse of power in the photography world.
Bulldog
Directed by Kieran Stringfellow
Filmed in: United Kingdom
Completed: May 1, 2020
Run Time: 6 minutes 30 seconds
Language: English
After spending the night in a cell, a rough sleeper has a score to settle.
HOME
Directed by Ben Craig
Completed: April 29, 2020
Run Time: 2 minutes
Language: English
HOME centers around one man recalling memories from his childhood. As the piece progresses we realise his recollections, in all their fond and sensory vividness, contain something more sinister. This is not just the memories of one man’s childhood, but of humankind’s memories of HOME.
EST
Directed by Antonio Pisu
Filmed in: Hungary, Italy, Romania
Completed: March 3, 2020
Run Time: 1 hour 43 minutes
Language: Italian (English subtitles)
1989. A few weeks before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Pago, Rice, and Bibi, leave the calm city of Cesena looking for adventure in Eastern Europe, in those places where the Soviet regime is still alive. As they get to Budapest, they meet Emil, a Romanian fleeing from the dictatorship in his country. The man is worried for his family that still lives in Romania, so he asks the three Italians for help. It’s an easy task: take a suitcase to his wife and daughter. Out of pity and looking for a thrill, the three friends head to Bucharest, in the heart of Ceausescu’s dictatorship. Without knowing what is waiting for them, in a journey beyond their imagination, Pago, Rice and Bibi will find themselves in a country under the dictatorial regime, involved in surreal situations and surrounded by unlikely characters that will seriously put their lives at risk.
I Am Vengeance: Retaliation
Directed by Ross Boyask
Filmed in: Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland
Completed: January 6, 2020
Run Time: 1 hour 22 minutes
Language: English
Former special-forces soldier John Gold is given the opportunity to bring Sean Teague – the man who betrayed his team on their final mission in Eastern Europe several years ago – to justice. Gold would cheerfully see Teague dead, but he is convinced to help transport him to a military prison to pay for his crimes. Along the way, Gold will have to fight off Teague’s team who are attempting to extract him, as well as a sniper seemingly hell-bent on killing Teague before he can be secured.
Alta Vista
Directed by Joe Clarke
Filmed in: United States
Completed: October 14, 2019
Run Time: November 1, 2020
Language: English
A screenwriter struggles to cope with the loss of his father, while getting himself entangled in Hollywood's underworld.
Buddha of the Chadar
Directed by Sean Whitaker
Filmed in: India
Completed: December 1, 2019
Run Time: 27 minutes 53 seconds
Language: English Subtitles
A father and son from the Indian Himalayas embark on a winter pilgrimage along an ancient way to deliver a heavy bronze Buddha statue to a remote mountain monastery. They follow a route called the Chadar along the frozen surface of the River Zanskar and through its deep gorges. The film is a celebration of the Chadar and an affirmation of the Buddhist faith, as well as an historical record of this ancient way, soon to be rendered obsolete by regional road-building schemes. The dialogue is in Ladakhi, with English subtitles.
Grandfather and Grandson
Directed by Ilija Piperkoski
Filmed in: Macedonia, Republic of North
Completed: December 6, 2019
Run Time: 1 hour 48 minutes
Language: Macedonian
Nicholas is a doctor. While on duty in the hospital, one child dies on the surgery table. After the tragic death, Nicola is disappointed, loses faith and doesn’t see the purpose in his life anymore. This unfortunate moment will be the last drop of a series of unhappy events: the relationship with his parents is going under some stress and he recently found out his fiancée was cheating on him. So he decides to take some time off and go to his grandfather village, hoping to find the answers and a new perspective.
Hong Kong - Ga Yau
Directed by Marco Di Noia
Filmed in: Hong Kong
Completed: February 14, 2020
Run Time: 50 minutes
Language: English
Hong Kong - Ga Yau is a documentary about the protest movement that has been shaking Hong Kong since June 2019. The movement was triggered by a proposed law that would have allowed the extraditions to mainland China of Hong Kong citizens, but soon it morphed into a larger revolt against China’s control over the semi-autonomous city.
Knives & Peaches
Directed by Adrian Botnariu
Filmed in: Germany
Completed: June 10, 2020
Run Time: 12 minutes 23 seconds
Language: German (English Subtitles)
After 20 years, a blind blacksmith is visited by an old friend. When a long repressed memory surfaces, it becomes clear that only one man will leave with his life.
Reflectivore
Directed by Kjell Kvanbeck
Filmed in: United States
Completed: August 2, 2020
Run Time: 31 minutes 8 seconds
Language: English
As we began the process of marrying image and sound we realized that there were many layers of symbolism and literalism that reached beyond the piece. While the film is about loss, it is even more about the journey of a beautiful, intelligent, caring and inspirational person that served as mother, wife, and friend to some involved in this project. A person with a rare approach to making the most of her time, no matter how limited it was.
Same People
Directed by Saskia Rowlands
Filmed in: United KIngdom
Completed: June 15, 2020
Run Time: 24 minutes
Language: English
Same People is a documentary which explores the lack of disability representation within the fashion industry. Based on my childhood friendship with Simone, who has Cerebral Palsy, and my subsequent frustration at the lack of disability awareness whilst studying fashion at university, the film follows my journey in search for answers. Featuring activists, icons and educators, Same People is a film about the social fragility of the disabled body within an industry obsessed with perfection, but ultimately, is a call to arms about the power of clothing to change people’s lives.
HUMN TRNDS
Directed by Charlie Luccini
Filmed in: France
Completed: December 31, 2020
Run Time: 50 seconds
Language: English
8 artists teamed up to create a poetic patchwork that explores what makes us socially human. They go by the name of THE SLINGSHOT EIGHT. The film is divided in chapters blending art film featuring different types of performances from dance, graphic and Fashion film made during the year 2020. A Fashion film that explores the impact in the social trends of our society during that year
Armpit!
Directed by Mathieu Nolhier
Filmed in: United KIngdom
Completed: July 125 2020
Run Time: 19 minutes 48 seconds
Language: English
In a rush to make the submission deadline for her dream school, an impulsive art student messes with the wrong telemarketer. In the span of one annoying cold call, her life as she knows it vanishes completely.
Condemned
Directed by Luis Ferrer
Country: United States
Length: 120 pages
Language: English
Freed from death row after 23 years, a sweet, slow-witted, 40-year-old, trying to rebuild what's left of his life, finds that he may have been safer in prison than back home in a small, Texas town where people don't easily forgive or forget.