Animated Winners at Palm Springs ShortsFest

Monday, June 29, 2009
By: Thomas J. Mclean

Philip Hunt’s short film Lost and Found took home the audience favorite animation short award — one of several animated winners — at the Palm Springs International ShortFest and Short Film Market.

The festival, which screened more than 300 shot films, gave out awards in 27 categories as it wrapped up Sunday night.

Other animated winners include Cages, a short from Mexico directed by Juan Jose Medina that won first place in the Best Animated Short honors. Juiced and Jazzed, from Justin Webber, took second place.

In the student category, Chris Perry’s The Incident at Tower 37, won first place in the Best Student Animated Short, with The Incredible Story of My Great Grandmother Olive, directed by Alberto Rodriguez from the United Kingdom, won second place.

The Best of Festival Award went to the Hungarian live-action film, The Dinner (Vacsora), directed by Karchi Perlmann.

The full list of winners follows:

JURY AWARDS
BEST OF FESTIVAL AWARD - The Dinner (Vacsora) (Hungary), Karchi Perlmann
FUTURE FILMMAKER AWARD - Katie Wolfe, This is Her (New Zealand)
PANAVISION GRAND JURY AWARD – Jonathan's Home (Japan/Singapore), Nathanael Carton

AUDIENCE AWARDS
AUDIENCE FAVORITE LIVE ACTION SHORT - Dandelion Dharma (USA), Veronica DiPippo
AUDIENCE FAVORITE DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial (USA), Jonathan Joiner, Robert H. Martin
AUDIENCE FAVORITE ANIMATION SHORT - Lost and Found (UK), Philip Hunt

JURY CATEGORY AWARDS
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT UNDER 15 MINUTES: First Place – The Stars Don't Twinkle in Outer Space (UK), Peter Thwaites; Second Place – The Man Inside (Ireland), Rory Bresnihan

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT OVER 15 MINUTES: First Place – The Taxidermist (UK), Bert & Bertie; Second Place – Love Hate (UK), Dylan Ritson, Blake Ritson

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: First Place – Cages (Mexico), Juan José Medina; Second Place – Juiced and Jazzed (USA), Justin Webber

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: First Place – Irene (Scotland), Lindsay Goodall; Second Place – Naming Pluto (UK), Ginita Jimenez

STUDENT CATEGORIES
BEST STUDENT LIVE ACTION SHORT UNDER 15 MINUTES: First Place – Cigarette Candy (USA), Lauren Wolkstein; Second Place – My Four Inch Precious (USA), Sou Yun Sim

BEST STUDENT LIVE ACTION SHORT OVER 15 MINUTES: First Place – The Lunch Box (USA), Lubomir Mihailo Kocka; Second Place – Gloria & Eric (USA), Nicolas Calzada

BEST STUDENT ANIMATED SHORT: First Place – The Incident at Tower 37 (USA), Chris Perry; Second Place – The Incredible Story of My Great Grandmother Olive (UK), Alberto Rodriguez

BEST STUDENT DOCUMENTARY SHORT: First Place – Waiting for Women (Esperando Mujeres) (UK), Estephan Wagner; Second Place – Nutkin's Last Stand (USA), Nicholas Berger

SPECIAL AWARDS
KODAK AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT CINEMATOGRAPHY: First Place - Alexa Caravia (cinematographer), Rare Fish (Indonesia); Second Place - Nathan Levine-Heaney (cinematographer), My Four Inch Precious (USA)

THE ALEXIS AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING STUDENT FILMMAKER: A Son's War (Czech Republic), Steven Edell; Special Mentions to Brotherhood (USA), Brooke Sebold, and Cigarette Candy (USA), Lauren Wolkstein.

THE HARD C HIGH FIVE TO LO FI AWARD FOR MOST ENTERTAINING LOW BUDGET SHORT: Marry, F***, Kill (USA), directed by Douglas Lamore.

THE CINEMA WITHOUT BORDERS BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM AWARD: Kingsland #1 The Dreamer (UK), directed by Tony Grisoni.

Reader Comments

• Andy Norton : Freelancer :

  Tuesday, June 30, 2009

  I\'m glad to see Lost and Found getting some recognition there, mainly because it was one of my animation highlights over the British Christmas TV schedule, and it was quite a charming little short.
  I really would like to see more animated shorts in the future, so I might stumble on the others whilst I am looking for them on-line.