This year was even bigger, with three feature films produced locally in addition to 49 short films from around the world and a great turnout from our 48-Hour challengers!
Award Winners
Champion
Best Picture
Award sponsored by Servus Credit Union
Director: Måns Berthas
Nominees: Dem Dem!, The Circle
Jury: Lorna James, Robin Thibodeau, Angel Willmont, Scott Lepp, Matt Watterworth
Audience Choice
Thousand Yard Stare
Director: Aaron Kurmey
Best Performance
Izhak Pekker (One More Experiment)
Nominees: Lena Strömdahl (Champion), Adam Munro (Thousand Yard Stare)
Jury: Joe-Norman Shaw, Ryan Kennedy
Best Cinematography
Simone Hart (Mission Accomplished)
Nominees: Sandro De Frino (Birthday), Christophe Rolin (Dem Dem!)
Jury: Wes Doyle, Doug Munro, Aaron Bernakevitch
Best Editing
David Alderson (MANSON: The Final Words)
Nominees: Jhonathan Mathew (Thousand Yard Stare), K. Spencer Jones (The Human Project)
Jury: Neshe Delici, Sarah Taylor
Best Art Direction
Andrea Schmidlin and Katharina Meier (Cloud Rider)
Nominees: Costantino Ciminiello and Mitchell Slan (Balloon), Nia Fausset (Outside)
Jury: KJ Gallagher, Chantal Beaulne
Best Animation
Light Sight
Director: Seyed M Tabatabaei
Nominees: The Man Who Made the Night Light, Hope
Jury: Chantal Beaulne, Thomas van Kampen, Carol Beecher
Best Overall Sound
Henrik Lindström (Pipe Dream)
Nominees: Rachel Soong, Orthicon and Valerie Siu (The Perfect Man), Shahin Peimani, Alireza Mahmoud Zadeh and Mahboube Karimi Nezhad (Sasism)
Jury: Alex Mitchell, David Heacock
Best Screenplay
David Beatty (The Human Project)
Nominees: Rosario Capozzolo (Peggie), Alfred Thomas Catalfo (Split Ticket)
Jury: Kevin Doree, Mark Haroun
48-Hour Challenge Winners
Audience Choice
Princess Cotton Candy Rainbow Sparkle's Last Stand
Award sponsored by William F. White
Team: Damfinos
Best Picture
IBBC 1987
Award sponsored by William F. White
Team: Burning Sneakers
Best Use of Prop
Princess Cotton Candy Rainbow Sparkle's Last Stand
Award sponsored by Rhoda’s Elegance
Team: Damfinos
Best Use of Line
Surface Tension
Award sponsored by Pace Setters
Team: Isometric Films
Best Use of Genre
Chasing Bubbles
Award sponsored by The Emporium of Impossible Things
Team: Team Eagle
Feature Films
Ice Blue
Okotoks
Director: Sandi Somers
When home-schooled Arielle’s long-estranged mother mysteriously returns to their isolated family farm, it drives a wedge into her seemingly-perfect relationship with her father and reveals a chilling, dark past.
Filmed in Okotoks and the surrounding area this critically acclaimed film is a must-see. Starring Sophia Lauchlin Hirt, Michelle Morgan, Billy MacLellan, and Charlie Kerr. The Film had its world premier to a sold-out audience at the Calgary International Film Festival. Based in small town Alberta, see if you can recognize our very own Elizabeth Street.
Ice Blue and Somers won Best Feature Director at LA Femme Film Festival and has 7 Nominations at this year’s AMPIA Rosie Awards. Sandie Somers has also received the 2018 Doug & Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artists Award.
MANSON: The Final Words
Okotoks
Director: James Day
Nomination: Best Editing (David Alderson)
James Day spent a year interviewing CHARLES MANSON by phone from his cell in California State Prison. The production tracked down members of the so-called MANSON FAMILY, many who have been in hiding since the early seventies. These compelling new interviews reveal never-before-heard details that unveil the motives behind the murder spree. How could a no-account drifter and ex-con become a charismatic leader of what prosecutors called a diabolical murder cult? Why did the killers target the home of a Hollywood sex symbol? And where did the prosecution come up with the theory that CHARLES MANSON aimed to start a race war called Helter Skelter based on the music of THE BEATLES? Some have proposed that the prosecution made up the race war theory in order to more easily convict CHARLES MANSON through a sensational conspiracy narrative. If the prosecution did construct the Helter Skelter Theory, is convicting a man like CHARLES MANSON so essential that any means of achieving it is acceptable? MANSON: THE FINAL WORDS is an explosive documentary that will change the conversation about CHARLES MANSON and the notorious “MANSON FAMILY” murders.
Thousand Yard Stare
Okotoks
Director: Aaron Kurmey
Nomination: Best Editing (Jhonathan Mathew), Best Performance (Adam Munro)
During World War II, German forces crush the Americans at the ‘Battle of Kasserine Pass’. A lone Sergeant, Roland Rothach, is separated from his platoon in the North Africa deserts. Captured by German soldiers, he’s forced to face his worst fears. Fears that haunt him long after the war ends. Back home he struggles with flashbacks of the horrors and trauma he experienced, a failing marriage, and the emptiness of isolation.
Edmonton director, Aaron Kurmey, brings us this amazing story shot completely in Alberta. Challenging the abilities of small budget work, the film brings production value and talent in droves. Thousand Yard Stare received 6 nominations at this years AMPIA Rosie Awards.
General Reels
Peggie
Italy
Director: Rosario Capozzolo
Nomination: Best Screenplay (Rosario Capozzolo)
Inspired by true events, the film addresses the theme of dementia as a way to travel through time.
Fatal Rhapsody
Vancouver
Director: Javier Badillo
A pizza deliveryman’s quest to win back his ex is thwarted when he’s pulled into the turmoil of two deranged criminals with their own relationship woes.
Short But Sweet
Netherlands
Director: Junaid Chundrigar
A young hero must embark on an epic quest to save a princess, in an absurdly short amount of time.
One More Experiment
Israel
Director: Sergey Vlasov
Nomination: Best Performance (Izhak Pekker)
In the near future all actors have become computer generated characters and human actors are unemployed.
Wanderer
Newfoundland
Director: Mark O’Brien, Jake Wilkens
A young backpacker slowly makes his way across the desert. He sees an open gate leading to a vacation home.
Gustav
Ireland
Director: Ken Williams, Danis Fitzpatrick
A man wakes up with a strange tune in his head. But what is it? And how did it get there?
Little Voices - Fragments
Edmonton
Director: Justin Cauti
Little Voices is a project focusing on anxieties, insecurities, and the problems that weigh us down.
No Exit
Okotoks
Director: Dave Elder, Craig Nolin
Cursed to relive the same night over and over, unable to change their fate.
Split Ticket
United States
Director: Alfred Thomas Catalfo
Nomination: Best Screenplay (Alfred Thomas Catalfo)
A supernatural drama based on true events.
The Man Who Made the Night Light
United Kingdom
Director: Ryan Potter
Nomination: Best Animation
A short live action/animation hybrid about the life of a street lamplighter.
Suspended
Poland
Director: Aleksandra Hildebrandt
Trapped, a wooden boy is hopelessly watching and dreaming of the colorful world outside.
Death* (and Disco Fries)
United States
Director: Dennis Cahlo
After finding out he is dead, Charlie has a chance to make good on a past regret.
Cloud Rider
Switzerland
Director: Manuela Rüegg
Nomination: Best Art Direction (Andrea Schmidlin and Katharina Meier)
Maximilian loves daydreaming and escaping into his imaginary world where he goes on adventures.
Pipe Dream
Sweden
Director: Normann Bjorvand
Nomination: Best Sound (Henrik Lindström)
Richard Wagner Jr. III is a musician that cannot be contained.
The Breakup Cafe
Edmonton
Director: Nathan MacDonald
At the end of the trail, near the edge of the park, there’s a little place they call ‘The Breakup Cafe’.
Mission Accomplished
Austria
Director: Hanna Mathis
Nomination: Best Cinematography (Simone Hart)
Young Pol wants to go to the moon and seeks the help of a clever girl named Sophie to build a rocket.
The Perfect Man
Calgary
Director: Vicki Van Chau
Nomination: Best Sound (Rachel Soong, Orthicon, Valerie Siu)
A young woman has to figure out the perfect thing to say to a stranger she believes is the perfect man.
Exchange
Okotoks
Director: Maya Phov
Maya Phov recounts her travel adventures while an exchange student in Switzerland.
Winner of the ZOOOM Youth Film Festival
Never Been to War
Foothills
Director: Derek Selinger
A music video of gratitude afforded to us because of the sacrifices of our Armed Forces Service Members.
Redemption
Spain
Director: Vasni J. Ramos
What sense does it make to be a hero if you cannot save the one you love?
Champion
Sweden
Director: Måns Berthas
Nomination: Best Picture, Best Performance (Lena Strömdahl)
Harsh midwinter. A frozen marriage in a remote cabin. A man from the past returns.
In Your Hands
France
Director: Delphine Delannoy, Lisa Baillon, Tsu-Ning Lai, Atiyyah Lallmahomed, Gwenaël Renaud, Daphné Westelynck
One couple learns how difficult it can be to live this life when confronted with depression.
The Human Project
United States
Director: K. Spencer Jones
Nomination: Best Screenplay (David Beatty), Best Editing (K. Spencer Jones)
In the wake of their father’s death, two estranged siblings begin a journey of self discovery.
Outside
United Kingdom
Director: David Javid Zaidov
Nomination: Best Art Direction (Nia Fausset)
A short retelling of the final days of the British expedition to the South Pole in 1912.
The Promise
Vancouver
Director: Jason Karman
Two men dance in an open field, jumping from reality to dream as each follows his own path.
Dem Dem!
Senegal
Director: Pepe Bouname Lopy, Marc Recchia, Christophe Rolin
Nomination: Best Picture, Best Cinematography (Christophe Rolin)
Matar, a Senegalese fisherman, finds a Belgian passport on a beach in Dakar.
Methodic
Okotoks
Director: Colin Williams
Engrossed by his psychological state, a theatre actor blurs the line between reality and performance.
The Circle
United States
Director: Sheldon Schwartz
Nomination: Best Picture
A father and son travel town to town. The dad sketches portraits for locals to make a meager living.
Hope
Switzerland
Director: Michael Scherrer
Nomination: Best Animation
The story of a little boy, who is condemned to spend the time he has left in a prisoners’ camp.
TwistedReels
A Father's Day
United Kingdom
Director: Mat Johns
A father is unexpectedly reunited with his daughter amongst the ruins of the world they once knew.
Henna
Edmonton
Director: Fami Kaur Biji
An experimental short film symbolizing the struggle between darkness and light inside one woman’s mind.
Beary
Spain
Director: Coré Ruiz
Something terrible has happened at his home, and now Álvaro has to help his girlfriend to fix it.
Birthday
Italy
Director: Alberto Viavattene
Nomination: Best Cinematography (Sandro De Frino)
An abusive nurse wanders through the halls of a nursing home. The only thing she hates more than her job is old people.
I BEAT IT
Spain
Director: Ainhoa Menéndez
A dinner with friends. An innocent game. An unexpected end.
La Carnivore
Montreal
Director: Michael Treder
Karine keeps the wolf at the door.
Hell of a Day
Australia
Director: Evan Hughes
A lone survivor in a post-apocalyptic world finds herself trapped in a basement below a zombie infested Inn.
The Little Things
Okotoks
Director: Chris Friesen
Beautiful young serial killer Sam has one agenda: rid the world of really, really annoying people.
Balloon
United States
Director: Mitchell Slan
Nomination: Best Art Direction (Costantino Ciminiello, Mitchell Slan)
Penny and her therapist battle her phobia of balloons through psychological experimentation.
Eighteen
Spain
Director: Tonet Ferrer
It’s Jennifer’s 18th birthday. Menu: an eye soup, fingers in their sauce and fried knuckles. All very normal until … Happy birthday!
KinderReels
A Priori
Germany
Director: Maïté Schmitt
To protect his books, Albert, the young librarian, must put his prejudice aside and make friends with a bat
Rag Dolls
United States
Director: Justin & Kristin Schaack
Playtime turns into uncontrolled shenanigans when a child discovers rag dolls in an antique chest.
Raven Meets the Little Makers
Edmonton
Director: Daniel Foreman
Raven’s new friends invite him to their magical home.
Twin Islands
France
Director: Manon Sailly, Charlotte Sarfati, Christine Jaudoin, Lara Cochetel, Raphaël Hout, Fanny Teisson
Twin Island East and Twin Island West are two twin islands governed by two kings, where everything goes in twos.
Sasism
Iran
Director: Mahboube Karimi Nezhad
Nomination: Best Sound (Shahin Peimani, Alireza Mahmoud Zadeh, and Mahboube Karimi Nezhad)
A bedbug is suffering from sadism and acts viciously regardless of his small body.
Shellshock
Ireland
Director: Danilo Zambrano
A young boy develops a friendship with his breakfast.
The Go Cart
United States
Director: Kailyne R Waters
A lone shopping cart, injured and seized for scrap, breaks free.
Okatok
Okotoks
Director: Shawna Koski
The Blackfoot story of the Okotoks Erratic.
Nouvelle Cuisine
Spain
Director: Manuel Reyes Halaby
A chef that loves his job is preparing a very different menu for a peculiar group of clients.
Light Sight
Montreal
Director: Seyed M Tabatabaei
Nomination: Best Animation
M.E., the imprisoned character in a room, is attracted to a hanging light and tries to catch it.