HollyShorts Film Festival Announces Winners of Oscar-Qualifying Film Festival

This year, Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed took the Live Action Short Film Oscar for their searing, frantic portrayal of violence, The Long Goodbye. That celebrated film qualified at the HollyShorts Film Festival, and this year’s fest concluded yesterday, and the winners were just announced. HollyShorts showed over 400 films across multiple genres, and I can attest to how many great films were shown. It couldn’t have been easy for the judges to make a decision.

Of note, Ben Proudfoot’s MINK! took home Best Documentary. The filmmaker has been nominated for back-to-back shorts in the Documentary Short category, and he won last year for The Queen of Basketball. Can he go three for three?

See below for the complete winners list.

Grand Prix Best Short : “Hallelujah,” Victor Gabriel (Oscar-Qualifying)
Best Live Action: “Mulaqat/Sandstorm,” Seemab Gul (Oscar-Qualifying)
Best Animation: “Scale,” Joseph Pierce (Oscar-Qualifying)
Best Director: “Sideral,” Carlos Segundo
Best Action: “Kickstart My Heart,” Kelsey Bollig
Best Comedy: “All I Ever Wanted,” Erin Lau
Best Costume Design: “Sauerdogs,” Carmen Granell
Best Drama: “Like the Ones I Used to Know,” Annie St-Pierre
Best Documentary: “Mink!,” Ben Proudfoot
Best Editing: “The Machine,” Rowan McKay
Best Female Screenplay Presented by BeCine: “Last Ship East,” Eris Qian
Best Horror: “Moshari,” Nuhash Humayun
Best International: “The Voice Actress,” Anna J. Takayama
Latinx Award Presented by Viacom International Studios: “Huella,” Gabriela Ortega
Best LGBTQIA+: “North Star,” P.J. Palmer starring Colman Domingo
Best Midnight Madness: “Homesick,” Will Seefried
Best Music Video: “Consensual,” Jeff Hilliard and Joey Danger
Best Producer: “Hallelujah,” Duran Jones
SAG Indie Winner: “My Jerome,” Adjani Salmon
Hawk Films Screenplay Award: “Mina Finds Her Edge!,” Robin Rose Singer
Best Sci-Fi: “Waltz of the Angels,” Braden Barton
Script Compass Screenplay Award: “In the Garden Of Tulips,” Ava Lalezarzadeh
Kodak Best Shot on Film: “North Pole,” Marija Apcevska
Kodak Shot on Film Super 8MM: “Deerwoods Deathtrap,” James P. Gannon
Kodak Shot on Film Honorable Mention: “Not the 80s,” Marleen Valien
Social Impact Award: “Stranger at the Gate,” Joshua Seftel
Best Student Film: “The Visit,” Ebele Tate
Best Thriller: “Wild Bitch,” Rebekka Johnson and Kate Nash
Best TV: “A Question of Service,” Erin Brown Thomas
Best TV Screenplay: “Forsyth County,” James Sasser
Best VFX: “Black Dragon” (“Rồng đen”)
Best Web Series: “Kura,” Vince McMillan
Women in Film Award: “Apart, Together,” Olivia Hang Zhou
ZEISS Presents: Hollyshorts Film Festival Achievement in Filmmaking and Cinematography: “Censor of Dreams,” Khalib Mohtaseb
ZEISS Presents: HollyShorts Film Festival Achievement in Filmmaking and Cinematography:  Nancy Schreiber