BEST FILM

Street poet (2021)

Director: Samgar Rakhym

Country: Kazakhstan

Duration: 29:21

Synopsis: Tanjaryq is a traditional national poet. He hopes that the national culture will continue to be passed on to thenext generation of Kazakhs. He wants to train more young people to inherit the national identity, but he can’t find pupils. One day he discovers that his son is a rapper. He realizes that rap and national poetry have a lot of similarities, so he decides to train his son to succeed him. But Tanjaryq’s plan does’t quite work out…

BEST DIRECTOR

The Kid (2021)

Director: Damir Miftakhov

Country: Russian Federation

Duration: 28:40

Synopsis: Fourteen year old teenager, who is in love with young pretty karate trainer, he has a crush on her. His older brother trying to help him but in a way Timur is not willing to go.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Treading Water (2021)

Director: Régis Granet

Country: France

Duration: 21:35

Synopsis: Maxime is a young woman who divides her life between a small job and the custody of her brother Gauthier, a mental patient who does not speak. When she loses her job at a florist, she must quickly find a solution to ensure daily life. One morning, while shopping in a supermarket, Maxime understood that his brother’s behavior could be useful to them.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

TONE (2021)

Cinematographer: Jonny Clarke

Director: Dan Winters

Country: United States

Duration: 33:29

Synopsis: Two broken souls living in a crumbling future society struggle to move on from their scarred pasts.

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FILM

LEAVE TO REMAIN (2021)

Director: Rémy Bazerque

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 10:45

Synopsis: Things get wild at the ‘VISA and immigration services’ when Karim, a young Iranian father living in the UK is mistakenly threatened with deportation.

BEST STUDENT SHORT FILM

I Used to Live Here (2021)

Director: Asaad Abboud

Country: Russian Federation

Duration: 21:33

Synopsis: Camille comes to his hometown for a day to visit his mother’s grave. He gets beaten and robbed. Destiny brings him to his former apartment where now lives Maria, a single mom. She raises a son, defends herself against drunken men and waits for her husband to be released from prison. They have one night to try living another life.  

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

Sigurimi (2021)

Director: Luigjina Shkupa

Country: Germany

Duration: 28:50

Synopsis: From 1944 to 1990 Albania suffered from the dictatorship of Hoxha, which turned Albania into an extremely isolationist, Stalinist, anti-revisionist and communist state. At that time, the communists, currently three million people, built 750,000 bunkers. The bunkers are everywhere: in cities, yards, cemeteries and playgrounds across the country. After communism, the bunkers were used in different ways by the albanian citizens: they became pizzerias, bars, museums and hostels.  The bunkers are used symbolically in the film, to report  what is left of the communist dictatorship. 

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

Vasily. Poster. Druzhba. (2019)

Director: SERGEY MOSKVIN

Country: Russian Federation

Duration: 10:40

Synopsis: Story about russian artist from small town, who draws posters in retro soviet style for local cinema – “Druzhba”.     

BEST ANIMATION SHORT FILM

Death and the Winemaker (2021)

Director: Victor Jaquier

Country: Switzerland

Duration: 18:59

Synopsis: A young winemaker devotes himself to creating the best wine in the world, to win the hand of his beloved Mathilde – the daughter of his rich neighbour. He creates a wine so exquisite, that even Death demands to taste it. As he learns the awful truth about Mathilde’s fate, he captures Death in a barrel, ignoring the consequences on the natural order of things.

BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM

TONE (2021)

Director: Dan Winters

Country: United States

Duration: 33:29

Synopsis: Two broken souls living in a crumbling future society struggle to move on from their scarred pasts.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

Bi-2 — We don’t need a hero (2021)

Director: Max Shishkin

Country: Russian Federation

Duration: 04:39

Synopsis: An Ancient organization throughout human history killed the heroes to keep a society under uncompromising control. “Nowadays” members of the organization create the illusion of fighting for freedom’s sake: they kill national hero and then resurrect him. He assembles followers to take the organization’s headquarters by storm, but intentional punishment is waiting for them. Will evil prevails or is there still hope for freedom?