Audience Favorites (2021)

December 5, 2021 2021, News

Best Feature Narrative

Nightline

Directed by Robert Sedlacek (Czech Republic)

Genre: Feature Narrative Film, Crime, Thriller

Running Time:  1 hour 34 minutes

Synopsis:  A bittersweet tale around a live interview radio broadcast that changes the lives of several innocent people. After lying low in the USA for almost 20 years Radek makes a surprise visit to his home city of Prague. Tech savvy he manages to avoid revealing all forms of his identity and location to tell his story on a late night radio phone-in show hosted by ambitious young journalist Eva. Eva bends over backwards to accommodate him and becomes embroiled in his mission to track down a young mother called Eliska. Eva has no idea that she herself is part of his plot from an event two decades ago. Czech law gives a 20 year time limit for all crime, including murder. Detectives on the late shift hear the interview and start to build a case but they only have a few hours left before the crime is deemed unpunishable. A fierce struggle for time and justice begins.

Best Feature Length Documentary

Master Eddy

Directed by Ara Madzounian (United States)

Genre: Feature-Length Documentary Running Time:  1 hour 53 minutes Synopsis:  Eddy Yacoubian – an immigrant from Lebanon – has been mending shoes since the tender age of nine. “If Eddy can’t fix it, no one can” his patrons affirm. In the age of digital automation, Eddy’s artistry and humanity are a reminder of global cultural change. He accepts his reality with a certain discontent but also admits that luck has been a force majeure. Shot cinema verité, MASTER EDDY with deep existential simplicity, hammers away his story one nail at a time, keeping a pragmatic philosophy of life, much like his hands do.

Best Short Documentary

(equal votes)

My Name Is.

Directed by Tony Giroux (United Kingdom)

Genre: Short Documentary, Educational, Social Awareness, Interview, Postcolonialism

Running Time:  13 minutes 17 seconds

Synopsis:  A short documentary into experiences of individuals with non-western first names, its link to their identity, and how it correlates to pressures of conforming to westernized English norms.

Storgetnya

Directed by Hovig Hagopian (France)

Genre: Short Documentary

Running Time:  20 minutes

Synopsis:  March 2020, Yerevan, capital of Armenia. 230 meters underground, in the Avan salt mine, men and women walk to breathe easier. Physical activities and medical consultations set the rhythm of the timeless world of this underground clinic, where lives intersect and stories are told.

Best Short Film

Couple

Directed by Joohyun JEON (Korea, Republic of)

Genre: Short Film

Running Time:  10 minutes

Synopsis:  An ugly woman, a good looking man, a love story between them.

Best Music Video

Born With An Accordion

Directed by Pieter Wesley Whittington

Genre: Music Video

Running Time:  5 minutes 14 seconds

Best Animated Film

Little Adam Example

Directed by Ahou Alagha (United States)

Genre: Animation

Running Time:  19 minutes 40 seconds

Synopsis::  The desperate imagination of a child of war draws his arms equipped with guns but, the figure steps into reality to shape a new form of his being.