Take a look below for the full list of this year’s winners.
Blazing Sun (2015) – BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
Director: Fred Castadot
Country: Belgium; Running Time: 24 min
Under the leaden sky of a summer day, Eric goes to work to defend a great issue. But, blinded by stress, Eric is forgetting the most important thing…
BOOKER WRIGHT’S MASHUP (2016) – SPECIAL JURY MENTION – MUSIC VIDEO
Director: George Gross
Country: USA, Running Time: 2:50 min
A musical video mashup of Booker Wright’s infamous 1966 monologue on NBC News’ TV documentary, Mississippi: A Self Portrait.
Children of the Arctic (2015) – Best Documentary FEATURE FILM
Director: Nick Brandestini
Country: Switzerland, Running Time: 93 min
Children of the Arctic is a portrait of Native Alaskan teenagers coming of age at America’s northernmost edge. As their climate and culture undergo profound changes, they strive to be both modern American kids and the inheritors of an ancient whaling culture.
cyberGenesis (2015) – BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
Director: André Silva
Country: USA, Running Time: 13 min
CYBERGENESIS is a fantastical, animated journey (segments of which have been creatively crowd-sourced) that imagines a future creation myth, crafted by cyber consciousness from bits and pieces of humanity’s online legacy.
Embers (2015) – BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM
Director: Claire Carré
Country: USA, Running Time: 85 min
After a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory. Five interwoven stories explore how we might learn, love and communicate in a future that has no past.
Fallen Star (2016) – BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Director: Clay Hardwick
Country: USA, Running Time: 8 min
FALLEN STAR is what happens when you make it to the top. This music video combines three original songs into a cinematic narrative, following AJC into a world of bitter famedom. Of course, making a deal at the crossroads has its costs.
FINDING CLEVELAND (2016) – BEST MISSISSIPPI DOCUMENTARY FILM
Director: Larissa Lam
Country: USA, Running Time 12:24 min
Finding Cleveland is a documentary short film that follows Charles Chiu and his family on an emotional journey as they take a trip to Cleveland, Mississippi to visit the grave site of Charles’ father, KC Lou.
Fitting the Description in North Portland (2015) – SPECIAL JURY CITATION FOR SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE
Director: Jarratt Taylor
Country: USA, Running Time: 25:44
Recently, the students of Roosevelt High School received a wake up call after a fellow student was tased by the police in the St. John’s neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. The stories they had been hearing about police violence weren’t just news stories from another town about people they didn’t know. These events were now happening in their backyard.
The Gift (2016) – BEST MISSISSIPPPI NARRATIVE FILM
Director: Gabriel Robertson
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:48 min
To celebrate his eleventh birthday, a young boy selects his gift – little knowing that his choice will change the world.
THE HOUSE IS INNOCENT (2015) – BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Director: Nicholas Coles
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:15 min
Meet Tom and Barbara, the proud new owners of a serial killer’s house — the most infamous residence in Sacramento, California. The middle-age couple soon realizes it’s going to take more than a fresh coat of paint to whitewash their home’s macabre history.
THE SEAFARER AND THE MOONLIGHT (2015) – BEST ANIMATION
Director: James Dastoli
Country: USA, Running Time: 2:30 min
An ancient mariner does battle with a behemoth from the deep.
THE SINKING OF SOZOPOL (2015) – BEST DIRECTOR
Director: Kostadin Bonev
Country: Bulgaria, Running Time: 100 min
An aging man goes back to Sozopol and brings along his memories and ten bottles of vodka. It is clear that when the vodka is over, something must happen. Something that will change his life forever. Because when hope is gone, a miracle is the last resort.
Swallowed Whole (2015) – SPECIAL JURY MENTION – EXPERIMENTAL
Director: Heidi Kumao
Country: USA, Running Time: 4:06 min
Swallowed Whole is a somber, animated, experimental film about surviving extreme isolation and physical limitations as a result of traumatic injury.
THEY CRAWL AMONG US! (2015) – SPECIAL JURY MENTION – ANIMATION
Director: Sihanouk Mariona
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:30 min
A stop-motion documentary about life in New York City — as told by its pests!
THREE FINGERS (2015) – SPECIAL JURY CITATION FOR SOUTHERN SPIRIT
Director: Paul D. Hart
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:30 min
A young female Marine war veteran navigates her disintegrating life until there is nothing left but to make a choice.
VIOLA: A MOTHER’S STORY OF JUVENILE JUSTICE (2015) – BEST EDITING (Christopher Reyes)
Directors: Sarah Fleming, Joann Self Selvidge
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:55 min
A mother shares personal stories about her life and her struggles with her son Edward, who has been involved with the juvenile justice system in Memphis, Tennessee.
THE WEEK (2015) – BEST CAST
Directors: John W. Mann, Jon Gunn
Country: USA, Running Time: 97 min
Dick Romans is a washed up TV host whose wife leaves him the day before their ten-year anniversary celebration. Alone with his thoughts, his dog, and a ton of booze, Dick decides to go through with the week-long party… by himself. The seven event-filled days become his reluctant vision quest, filled with odd characters, awkward romance, and some long-overdue self-examination.
WEST OF ELVIS (2015) – AUDIENCE AWARDS WINNER
Director: Louis Bourgeois
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:05 min
West of Elvis is the last documentary made of Paul MacLeod, the curator of Graceland Too, arguably the largest and strangest collection of Elvis memorabilia in the world.
YALO (2015) – RON TIBBETT AUDIENCE AWARD
Director: Alison Fast
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
A small town craft brewery hits it big, producing bold new tastes like Miss-iss-IPA, River Ale and small-batch, bourbon barrel-aged stout, in what is formerly a dry county. YALO showcases the persistent rise of creative entrepreneurs in Water Valley, and the importance of small businesses to revitalize Main Street.
