A select group of films has qualified for Academy Award consideration after winning prizes at the 27th LA Shorts Film Festival, the longest-running shorts festival in the movie capital.
Nowhere, directed by L.A.-based filmmaker Gavin Hovannisian, won the Best of Fest Award at a ceremony Sunday night. In the 11-minute narrative short, set in the fictional city of Nowhere, the protagonists are shadows that “dream of a life without their human masters.”
Also qualifying for Oscar consideration was It Takes a Village…, winner of Best International Film. Director Ophelia Harutyunyan’s drama “tells the story of Mariam, who lives in an Armenian Village where there are no men. On her birthday, her hopes of a reunited family are shattered, when she must put aside her own crushed dreams and help her friend Anush as she embarks into motherhood.”
Both Nowhere and It Takes a Village… are Armenian films. Scroll for the full list of LA Shorts Film Festival winners.
The Brave Locomotive, directed by Andrew Pierce Chesworth, won Best Animation. The Noble Guardian, from director Anna Coren, claimed the honor as Best Documentary. The winners in those four categories not only qualify for the Academy Awards, but for the BAFTAs (from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts), the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television ACCT Canadian Screen Awards, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Spain Goya Awards.
LA Shorts Film Festival
More than five dozen LA Shorts filmmakers have earned Academy Award nominations, the festival notes, with 17 going on to win the Oscar. The festival screens over 500 films and attracts 10,000 attendees each year “including Hollywood industry professionals and emerging undiscovered independent filmmakers.” Screenings were held at L.A. LIVE Regal Cinemas in downtown Los Angeles and at the Laemmle NoHo Theatres in North Hollywood.
This is the full list of winners:
Best of Fest
Nowhere – (Armenia) Director: Garin Hovannisian
Best International
It Takes a Village… (Armenia) Director: Ophelia Harutyunyan
Best Drama
The Kill Floor – Director: Carlos Avila
Best Comedy
The Avon Lady – Director: Carolina Espiro
Best Animation
The Brave Locomotive – Director: Andrew Pierce Chesworth
Best Experimental
Red Man – Director/Writer: Xinhao Lu
Best Documentary
The Noble Guardian – Director Anna Coren
Best Sci-Fi
Dream Maker (Turkey) – Director: Mohsen Mehri Darouei, Milad Kiaei
Best Horror
Get Away – Director: Michael Gabriele
Best Music Video
Pronto – Light Light (Switzerland) Director Maximilian Speidel
Best Web Series
Space Rats (Australia) – Directors Darwin Schulze, Basil Scott-Mitchell
Best High School Film
Sharing the Floor – Director/Writer Lily Brooks O’ Briant
Best Actor
Dusan Brown (All In)
Best Actress
Janessa St. Pierre (Hair or No Hair)
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