2020 Oscars® Nominated Live Action, Animated and Documentary Shorts
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Monthly Archives: January 2020
2020 Oscars© Nominated Short Films, with ShortsTV Chief Executive, Carter Pilcher
For over a decade, ShortsTV has proudly brought the Oscar© 
Nominated Short Films to audiences across the globe. This exclusive release features the year’s most spectacular short films and for a limited time is available to watch on the big screen. Each nominee is released in one of three distinct feature-length compilations according to their category of nomination: Live Action, Animation or Documentary. The films go into theaters around the world shortly after nominations are announced and are not released anywhere else until a few days before the Oscars©, when they are also made available via on demand platforms, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play and Vimeo on Demand. The release ensures the greatest number of viewers can see all the nominees before the ceremony, while providing short filmmakers with an unprecedented opportunity to 
commercialize their movies. Carter Pilcher founded Shorts International in 2000. Coming from a background in both investment banking and law, Carter has made Shorts International the world’s leading short movie Entertainment Company, functioning as distributor, broadcaster and producer. Carter has extensive experience in short movie production and short movie entertainment. He is a voting member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and a member of the Short Film and Feature Animation Branch of The US Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) – the guys who pick the Oscars. For the last five years Carter Pilcher has been the highlight of Oscar season here on Film School. His insight, commitment and love of the short film format and the dedicated people who create them insures a lively and informative conversation on some of the best films you will see all year.
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For news and updates go to: shorts.tv/theoscarshorts
Social Media for the Oscar Shorts
facebook.com/ShortsTVUS
twitter.com/SHORTSTVUS
instagram.com/shortstvus
Social Media for the Oscars
facebook.com/TheAcademy
twitter.com/theacademy
instagram.com/theacademy
2020 Oscars© Nominated Animated Short FIlms
Daughter (Dcera), Director Daria Kashcheeva
In a hospital room, the Daughter recalls a childhood moment when as a 
little girl she tried to share her experience with an injured bird with her Father. A moment of misunderstanding and a lost embrace has stretched into many years all the way to this hospital room, until the moment when a window pane breaks under the impact of a little bird.
Director’s Biography: studies animated film at FaMU in Prague. her student films featured at many 
international festivals. Daria’s original to accept won the Nespresso talents 2017 film competition in Cannes. in DAUGHTER, her Bachelor’s puppet animation, Daria experiments with camera motion and explores the topic of father-daughter relationships.
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Awards:
Winner – Rome Independent Film Festival 2019 – Winner Student Academy Awards 2019
The 46th Student Academy Award – Gold Medal in International Animation film category
Annecy International Animated Film Festival (France) 2019 Cristal for the Best Student Film – Young Jury Award for the best Student film
Melbourne International Film Festival (Australia) 2019 – City Post Award for Best Animation Short Film
Fantoche International Animation Film Festival (Switzerland) 2019 – Best film of Fantoche
World Festival of Animated Film Varna (Bulgaria) 2019 – Best student film
Tirana International Film Festival (Albania) 2019 – Best Student film
Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival (USA) 2019 – Best Student Animation Award
Balkanima (Serbia) 2019 – Best Student film
Taichun International Animation Festival TIAF (Taiwan) 2019 – Grand Prix for the best Student Film
Animafilm (Azerbaijan) 2019 – Best Short Animated Film
Whistler Film Festival (USA) 2019 International – ShortWork Award and many more…
Kitbull, Director Rosana Sullivan and Producer Kathryn Hendrickson
‘KITBULL,’ directed by Rosana Sullivan and produced by Kathryn 
Hendrickson, reveals an unlikely connection that sparks between two creatures: a fiercely independent stray kitten and a pit bull. together, they experience friendship for the first time.
Director’s Biography: Rosana Sullivan joined pixar animation Studios in April 2011. She worked as a story artist on THE GOOD DINOSAUR, and the academy award®-winning feature film COCO. Sullivan also directed the SparkShorts film KITBULL that debuted in February 2019. As a story artist, Sullivan provides visual storytelling to a project’s script pages, utilizing compositional staging, environment, and character blocking. Each story board aims to 
maximize drama and entertainment, while making the story point clear as possible. Story artists have to draw characters acting, camera moves, and very limited effects animation to sell an idea or emotion.prior to Pixar, Sullivan attended the University of San Francisco before earning an internship with Pixar University. She later attended Academy of Art University, and worked for Kabam gaming studio in San Francisco. Born in Charleston, SC, Sullivan grew up in Texas and San Francisco.
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Awards:
Humanitas Award (Nominee)
Sister, Director Siqi Song
A man thinks back to his childhood memories of growing up with an 
annoying little sister in China in the 1990s. What would his life have been like if things had gone differently?
Directors Statement – The genesis of SISTER came from a question I get asked a lot throughout my childhood: What is it like to grow up with a sibling? As a “Little Sister” myself, I was born as the second child in my family at the height of China’s One Child Policy. At that time, it’s really hard to have a second child in one family. Luckily, my parents put in a lot of effort to keep me and raise me. Otherwise, I would not have existed and lived a 
life. Although many other “Second Child” in my generation never had a chance to get born. Therefore most of my friends don’t have siblings. Growing up with my brother has been a privilege and a bittersweet experience for me. Throughout my childhood, the question that had been asked a lot by friends is that, what is it like to grow up with a sibling? So, I have been telling stories about me and my brother since I was a kid. And I have heard stories of my friends and cousins could not have little sisters and brothers because of the one-child policy. The narrator of this film, for example, told me that he lost a younger sister when he was four years old. He always imagines how his life would be if his sister was ever born. So, I want to make a film to tell my friends what it is like to grow up with a sibling. More importantly, I also want to tell the stories of my friends, who would’ve had a different life if their siblings were born. This film is dedicated to this group memory. – Siqi Song
Director’s Biography – Siqi Song is a Chinese writer, director and animator, currently based in Los Angeles. Her animated films have been recognized internationally by Sundance, SXSW, BAFTA, and ASIFA-Hollywood. Siqi is an alumnus of California Institute of the Arts and China Central Academy of Fine Arts. She is named a Film Independent Directing Fellow in 2018 and BAFTA Los Angeles Newcomer in 2019.
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For news and updates go to: songsiqi.com/sister
Trailer for Sister: vimeo.com/260285746
For news and updates go to: songsiqi.com/sister
Twitter@siqi.song
facebook.com/siqisong.hello
AWARDS
Best Animated Short – 92nd Academy Award – Shortlist
Jury Award for Best Animation – Aspen Shortsfest, USA (Academy Award®-qualifying)
Light in Motion Award for Best Animation – Foyle Film Festival, Ireland (Academy Award®-qualifying)
Jury Award for Animated Short – Austin Film Festival, USA (Academy Award®-qualifying)
Best Short Animation – Hollyshorts Film Festival, USA (Academy Award®-qualifying)
Best in Show – SPARK Animation, Canada (Academy Award®-qualifying)
Jury’s Choice Award – The 7th China Independent Animation Film Forum, China
Jury Prize for Graduation Film – 20th Bucheon International Animation Film Festival, Korea
Jury Award for Narrative Short – Austin Asian American Film Festival, USA
Audience Award for Narrative Short – Austin Asian American Film Festival, USA
Audience Award – MONSTRA | Lisbon Animated Film Festival, Portugal
46th Annie Award – Nominated for Best Student Film
Hair Love, Co-directors, Matthew A. Cherry, Everette Downing Jr. and Bruce W. Smith
Tender and empowering, HAIR LOVE is an ode to loving your natural hair – and a 
celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere. It’s when it’s up to Daddy to give his daughter an extra-special hair style in this story of self-confidence and the love between fathers and daughters. Zuri knows her hair is beautiful, but it has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Mum always does Zuri’s hair just the way she likes it – so when Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES his Zuri, and he’ll do anything to make her – and her hair – happy.
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For news and updates go to: sonypicturesanimation Hair_Love
Directors Biographies:
MATTHEW A. CHERRY – in 2007, after retiring from the NFL, Matthew a. cherry moved to los angeles, and switched gears to begin work as a production assistant. 
after working on over forty commercials, he developed his skills as a director, transitioning from music videos to his first feature film (2012’s THE LAST FALL). in 2017, he launched a kickstarter campaign for an animated short about a black father’s struggle to learn how to style his young daughter’s hair. it became the most highly-funded short film campaign in the platform’s history, and was later released in theaters nationwide. Matthew was an executive at Jordan peele’s production company Monkeypaw productions, he served as an Executive producer on the Spike lee film BLACKKKLANSMAN, and has most recently directed on the aBc hit show BLACK•ISH.
EVERETT DOWNING JR. – is an animator, story artist and director living in the greater los angeles area. Everett began his career as a story artist at Big idea 
productions before making his break into feature film, animating at Blue Sky Studios on the original ICE AGE. he worked as an animator and story artist on 3 more features there (including ROBOTS, ICE AGE 2 and EPIC) before taking a position as an animator at pixar animation Studios. after animating on several award-winning feature films (every feature from RATATOUILLE to MONSTER’S UNIVERSITY), he transitioned back into story where he boarded on THE TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT and CARS 3. currently he’s working at Netflix animation where he just finished storyboarding on Jorge Gutierrez’s animated mini-series, MAYA AND THE THREE.
BRUCE W. SMITH – is a feature film director, animator and television producer. he is best known as the creator and executive producer of the Disney channel hit show 
THE PROUD FAMILY and for supervising the animation of the evil villain Dr. Facilier in the Walt Disney animated film THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG. Smith studied animation at California institute of the arts and later joined the Walt Disney Studios as an animator on WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Smith went on to direct the paramount pictures film BEBE’S KIDS and co-directed on the Warner Bros. live action/animated movie SPACE JAM before returning to Disney to supervise animation on TARZAN and THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE. Smith’s knack for unique character design led him into the visual development of other projects at the studio such as WRECK-IT RALPH and FROZEN. Smith is currently signed to an overall deal at Disney television animation.
Awards:
92nd Oscars – 2020 Nominated Best Animated Short Film
Black Reel Award Nomination – Outstanding Short Film
Festivals/Screenings:
American Black Film Festival
LightBox Animation Expo
Ottawa International Animation Festival Spark Animation Festival
Animation is Film Festival
Infinity Festival
Black Filmmaker Foundation Summit World Animation and VFX Summit
CTN Animation eXpo
Memorable, Director Bruno Collet
Recently, Louis, a painter, is experiencing strange events. his world 
seems to be mutating. Slowly, furniture, objects and people lose their realism. they are destructuring, sometimes disintegrating…
Director’s Biography: Born in 1965 in Saint-Brieuc, France, Bruno collet got his art Degree from the Rennes college of Fine arts in 1990. From 1993 he worked as a set designer on numerous productions in stop motion before starting his career as an author director in 2001 with LE DOS AU MUR, awarded at the cannes critic’s Week. THE LITTLE DRAGON, his stop-motion animated tribute to Bruce lee, won 48 awards and was selected at Sundance Film Fest. MEMORABLE is his sixth short film.
Awards:
Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Winner Cristal 2019
Best Short / Prix du Public au Festival International du Film d’Animation Annecy 2019
Audience award Anima Mundi Rio 2019
Best art direction Anima Mundi Rio 2019
Grand prix IAF Krok 2019
Best animated short COLCOA L.A. 2019
Audience award, Calgary Film Festival 2019
Audience award Cinanima Espinho 2019
Best film, Linoleum Film Festival Kiev 2019
Audience award Big Cartoon Moscow 2019
Best film Castelli Animati Roma 2019
Audience award Kaboom Festival Amsterdam 2019
Cristal for a short film, FIFA Annecy 2019
Audience award, FIFA Annecy 2019
Junior jury award for a short film, FIFA Annecy 2019
Best Art Direction award, Anima Mundi Rio 2019
Audience award Rio, Anima Mundi Rio 2019
Audience award Sào Paulo, Anima Mundi Rio 2019
Junior jury award, FMK Pordenone 2019
Best international film award, Linoleum animation festival Kiev 2019
Festivals/Screenings:
Festival Court-Métrange de Rennes 2019
Anima Mundi film Festival de Rio de Janeiro 2019 Festival Séquence Court Métrage de Toulouse 2019 Festival Imaginaria de Conversano 2019
Linoleum Film Festival de Moscou 2019
Bueu International Short Film Festival 2019
Oscar® Nominated Documentary (Short)
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) Director Carole Dysinger
In Afghanistan, many young girls are not able to participate in sports. cultural and 
religious norms, along with other factors such as safety concerns and years of warfare,have resulted in limited athletic and recreational opportunities for women and girls, especially those who come from impoverished neighborhoods. But there is a new generation of afghan girls who believe they can do anything. LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL) tells the story of young afghan girls learning to read, write – and skateboard – in Kabul.
Director’s Biography: Carol Dysinger is a filmmaker, writer, artist, and educator, whose contemporary work offers a counter-narrative to traditional stories of conflict. She is in the midst of a trilogy on Afghanistan and America post 9/11. Alternating between fiction and documentary storytelling practices throughout her career, she had made a lifelong inquiry into the mechanics of story and the role storytelling 
plays in what we come to believe is true. She began in the theatre as an actor, moved into editing music videos for the clash in New York, and has won many awards for her short narrative work. She then moved on to write screenplays for 20th Century Fox, Disney, and HBO independent and has edited feature-length narrative and documentary films. in 2005, she traveled solo to Afghanistan with camera in hand to make her feature directorial debut, camp Victory, Afghanistan, which screened at MOMA, SXSW, human Rights Watch and at the Hague. ONE BULLET AFGHANISTAN is the second in the trilogy about the human impact of international conflict post 9/11 currently being completed in Denmark. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018, a new work in multimedia installation, which draws from decades of memoirs and family history, footage shot over 15 years in Afghanistan, and brings it together to take down the veil between human experience, story, and history.
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Awards:
Nominee – Best British Short Film – BAFTA Awards 2020
Winner – Best Short – IDA Documentary Awards 2019
Best Documentary Short – Tribeca Film Festival 2019
Youth Vision Award – United Nations Association Film Festival 2019
Best Documentary Short – Flyway Film Festival 2019
Audience Choice Award For Best Documentary Short – Santa Fe Independent Film Festival 2019
Festivals/Screenings:
DOC NYC Shorts Shortlist
SFFILM Doc Stories
AFI Meet The Press Film Festival
Traverse City Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival
Film Independent The New Wave Screening Series Scad Savannah Film Festival
Social Justice Film Festival
Original Thinkers Festival
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Santa Fe Independent Film Festival
United Nations Assocation Film Festival Washington West Film Festival
Hamptons Doc Fest
Nevada City Film Festival
Paris Surf & Skateboard Festival
Chagrin Documentary Film Festival
Louisville’s International Festival Of Film
Flyway Film Festival
St. Louis Superman, Director Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
Bruce Franks Jr. is a 34-year-old battle rapper, Ferguson activist and 
state representative from St. Louis, Missouri. Known as Superman to his constituents, he is a political figure the likes of which you’ve never seen – full of contradictions and deep insights, who has overcome unspeakable loss to become one of the most exciting and unapologetic young leaders in the country. This short verité documentary follows Bruce at a critical juncture in his life, when he is forced to deal with the mental trauma he’s been carrying for the nearly 30 years since his 9-year-old brother was shot and killed in front of him, in order to find peace and truly fulfill his destiny as a leader for his community. Co- 
director Smriti Mundhra (Sami Khan) join us to talk about how a dynamic and charismatic man from a traumatized community took tragedy and turned into action.
About the filmmakers: Smriti Mundhra’s A SUITABLE GIRL premiered at Tribeca in 2017 and won the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director. KHOYA, Sami Khan’s feature debut, was selected for the Tribeca Film Institute’s Tribeca All Access® fellowship.
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Social Media:
twitter.com/smritimundhra
facebook.com/smriti.mundhra
facebook.com/SamiKhan
twitter.com/samikhanfilm
Awards Shortlists:
Cinema Eye Honors – Short Listed – Best Short
DOC NYC – Best Shorts Short List
WINNER AUDIENCE AWARD – BEST SHORT DOC – 2019 HOT DOCS FILM FESTIVAL – 2019 AFI DOCS FILM FESTIVAL – 2019 TRAVERSE CITY FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER – SPECIAL JURY AWARD – 2019 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER – BEST SHORT DOC – 2019 BIG SKY DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER – BEST DOCUMENTARY – HEARTLAND FILM’S 2019 INDYSHORTS FILM FESTIVAL
“Thank you Mr. Mundhra. The film is powerful and simple.” – Lapacazo Sandoval, Los Angeles Sentinel
Life Overtakes Me, Co-directors John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
LIFE OVERTAKES ME tells the story of traumatized children of the refugee diaspora who 
are in such profound despair that they withdraw into a coma-like state. in Sweden, over 400 refugee children have been afflicted with this life-threatening psychosomatic illness, and the film will accompany two of them and their families on their frightening odyssey through Resignation Syndrome.
Directors Biographies: Producers/Directors John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson make documentary essays. their films have addressed such disparate subjects as tourism in Paris, the Vietnam War, and homelessness, and have screened at festivals worldwide, from Sundance and San Francisco to Leipzig, Sao Paulo, and Seoul, and have appeared on PBS 
and at museums including NY MOMA. their recent film Tokyo Waka premiered theatrically at Film Forum in New York. their work has been supported by artist fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation, the Cité Internationale Des Arts in Paris, the Victoria College of Art in Melbourne, the Japan-U.S. Friendship commission, and the California Arts Council. Samuelson taught in the Documentary Film and Video M.F.A. program at Stanford University for thirty years, serving as program Director for ten years. She was nominated for an academy award for Arthur and Lillie and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Haptas is a freelance documentary editor.
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Awards: Full Frame Audience Award – Short
Festivals/Screenings: Sundance Film Festival, Full Frame Film Festival
In the Absence, Director Yi Sueng-Jun and Producer Gary Byung-Seok Kam
When the passenger ferry MV Sewol sank off the coast of South korea in 2014, 
over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from the national authorities.
Director’s Biography: Yi Seung-Jun’s work focuses on the life of unseen minorities, which has informed his signature style of filmmaking. he has directed several feature-length documentary films. CHILDREN OF GOD (2008) follows a group of siblings who eke out an existence on the sacred Bagmati River in Nepal. the feature made its rounds on the international film festival circuit, including hot Docs Festival and Jeonju Film Festival, where it won the NETPAC award. Yi received a Sundance institute grant and served as director, director of photography, and editor on his subsequent documentary, the critically 
lauded PLANET OF SNAIL (2011), which follows Young-chan, who has been deaf and blind since childhood, as he gently moves through life with his partner Soon-ho. PLANET OF SNAIL was a darling of the festival circuit, either receiving nominations or winning awards at Tribeca Film Festival, Amsterdam international Documentary Film Festival (Best Feature-length Documentary in 2011), Dubai international Film Festival, Silverdocs and Documenta Madrid, and others. his next film, WIND ON THE MOON (2014), which he wrote, directed, edited and served as director of photography, recounts the journey of a mother and her daughter, who was born deaf and blind, as they navigate the world. he received grants from the Sundance institute, Tribeca institute and Korean Film council to make the film. his feature documentary film, CROSSING BEYOND was the international Olympic committee’s official film of the Pyeongchang Winter Games and travelled to the Busan international Film Festival, Tokyo international Film Festival, Black Nights Film Festival (Tallinn), and more. Most recently, Yi directed SHADOW FLOWERS (2019), which premiered at international Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
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Awards:
Nominee – 2020 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject
Nominee – 2019 International Documentary Association Awards, Best Short Nominee – 2019 Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, Best Short Documentary Winner – 2018 DOC NYC, Short Jury Award
Winner – 2019 AFI DOCS, Grand Jury Prize for Short Film
Winner – 2019 World Press Photo Digital Storytelling Contest, Long Form – 1st Prize Winner – 2019 Indy Shorts, Documentary Audience Choice Award
Festivals/Screenings:
DOC NYC 2018 – World Premiere
International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2018 – International Premiere AFI DOCS 2019
Indy Shorts 2019
Meet The Press Film Festival with AFI 2019
Pittsburgh Shorts 2019
Walk Run Cha Cha, Director Laura Nix
WALK RUN CHA-CHA has been nominated for Documentary Short Subject at the 92nd 
Academy Awards®. Directed by Laura Nix, the film follows Paul and Millie Cao, who lost their youth to the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Forty years later, they have become successful professionals in Southern California-and are rediscovering themselves on the dance floor. WALK RUN CHA CHA is now streaming on New York Times Op-Docs.
About the Filmmaker: Director Laura Nix Laura Nix is an award-winning fiction and nonfiction filmmaker based in Los Angeles. WALK RUN CHA-CHA is adapted from a feature-length documentary in progress. It was produced by Concordia Studio for The New York Times Op-Docs and premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Laura’s work also includes other work includes her feature documentary INVENTING TOMORROW, about teenagers from around the globe tackling 
environmental issues through science, THE YES MEN ARE REVOLTING, a comedy about activism and climate change, the documentary THE LIGHT IN HER EYES, about a Syrian Qur’an school for women and she was a writer on the Emmy-nominated documentary CALIFORNIA STATE OF MIND: THE LEGACY OF PAT BROWN. In 2001, Nix co-founded the production company Automat Pictures, where she produced and/or directed over 100 presentations, including the feature documentary WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT: THE STORY OF HEDWIG, which played in over a dozen film festivals in the U.S. and worldwide. Previously she was a member of Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s production company Telling Pictures, where she was Associate Producer on THE CELLULOID CLOSET.
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For news and updates go to: feltfilms.com
Walk Run Cha Cha is now available at nytimes.com/Op-Docs
*** 2020 Oscar nomination for Best Documentary (Short) ***
Official Selection – Tribeca Film Festival 2019
Winner – Grand Jury Trống Đồng Award for Best Short – Viet Film Fest 2019
Official Selection – SFFILM Doc Stories 2019
Social Media
twitter.com/feltfilms
https://twitter.com/WalkRunChaCha
@feltfilms
“Laura Nix’s WALK RUN CHA-CHA is a moving, poignant portrait of two aging refugees who have endured a great deal, and who now face one of life’s biggest challenges: figuring out how to stay in love. Through them, Nix also evokes the textures, tastes, and sounds of Vietnamese refugee life, and mixes them in with everything that is good about the United States. Ultimately, WALK RUN CHA-CHA is an optimistic film about both love and hope—the hope that our country will continue to believe in welcoming strangers from other lands, who in the end are not that strange at all.” – Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer
2020 Oscars© Live Action Shorts
A Sister, Director Delphine Girard
A night. A car. Alie is in trouble. To get by she must make the most important call of her life. An emergency services dispatcher must tap into all her professional skills when she receives a call from a woman in a desperate situation.
About the filmmaker: Born in the heart of the French-Canadian winter, Delphine Girard moved to Belgium a few years later. after starting her studies as an actress, she transferred to the directing 
department at the iNSaS in Brussels. her graduation film, MONSTRE, won several awards in Belgium and around the world. after leaving the school, she worked on several films as an assistant director, children’s coach or casting director (“Our children” by Joachim Lafosse, “Mothers’ instinct” by Olivier Masset-Depasse) while writing and directing the short film CAVERNE, adapted from a short story by the American author holly Goddard Jones. A SISTER is her second short film. She is currently working on her first feature and a fiction series.
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For news and updates go to: A Sister/delphine-girard
Awards:
Jury Prize – Saguenay IFF (Canada)
Grand Prize Rhode Island IFF (USA)
Best International Short Film Sulmona IFF (Italy)
Grand Prize Jury SPASM Festival (Canada)
Best Short Film, Public Prize, Be tv Prize, University of Namur Prize – Namur Film Festival (Belgium) Public Prize & Special mention by press – BSFF (Belgium)
Brotherhood, Director Meryam Joobeur
Mohamed is a hardened shepherd living in rural Tunisia with his wife and two 
sons. Mohamed is deeply shaken when his oldest son Malik returns home after a long journey with a mysterious new wife. tension between father and son rises over three days until reaching a breaking point.
Director’s Biography: Tunisian-
American writer/director Meryam Joobeur is a graduate of Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montréal. She is currently developing three feature films including the feature version of BROTHERHOOD and has participated in the Berlinale Talent Lab (2016) TiFF Talent Lab (2016) and the Rawi Screenwriter’s Lab (2016).
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** 2020 Academy Award nomination – Best Live Action Short **
Awards:
Short Cuts Award for the Best Canadian Short – Toronto Int. Film Festival, 2018
Best Canadian Short Film, Audience Award – Festival du Nouveau Cinema, 2018
Tanit d’Or for the Best Fiction Short – Carthage Film Festival, 2018
ZBK Audience Award – Winterthur Int. Short Film Festival, 2018
Audience Award – Festival Images en Vues, 2018
Methexis Award for Best Short Film – MedFilm Festival, 2018
Best Canadian Short Film – Festival Int. du Film Francophone en Acadie, 2018
Canadian Short Work Award, AWFJ Best Female Directed Short Award – Whistler Film Festival, 2018
Jury’s Mention, Audience Mention – Regard Saguenay Int. Short Film Festival, 2019
Best Int. Short Film Award – Int. Film Festival of Uruguay, 2019
Saria, Director Bryan Buckley
SARIA explores the unimaginable hardships faced by young female orphans at the Virgen de La Asuncion Safe Home in Guatemala, leading up to the tragic fire which claimed 41 of their lives in 2017. We follow the story of two inseparable orphaned sisters – Saria 12, and her sister Ximena 14, as they fight against mounting daily physical abuse at the very institution designed to protect them. In the sisters’ desperation for survival, they devise a daring plan of escape for all the orphans to find freedom in America. SARIA is premiering at the 2020 Oscar Shorts.
Director’s Biography: the New York times has dubbed Oscar-Nominee Bryan Buckley the “king of the Super Bowl,” having directed over 60 commercials for the big game since 2000. in 2013, Buckley wrote and directed the short film ASAD, which received an academy award nomination for “Best live action Short Film” and was cited by archbishop 
Desmund Tutu in a speech as having helped stem xenophobia in his country. Buckley then followed up his short with two feature films – the 2015 Sundance Film Festival opener, THE BRONZE, and THE PIRATES OF SOMALIA, which had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. A 2010 Adweek Readers Poll named Buckley the commercial Director of the Decade – he was also named one of the 50 best Creative Minds in the last 25 years by Creativity Magazine. Buckley is an esteemed recipient of the DGA award, multiple Emmys, and over 50 Cannes lions. Most recently, he won the 2019 Cannes Grand prix for his work on MARCH FOR OUR LIVES “GENERATION LOCKDOWN,” done in support of the S.42 Background Check Expansion Act.
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For news and updates go to: sariafilm.com
NEFTA Football Club, Director Yves Piat
Two young brothers come across a donkey in the desert. Strangely, the animal is wearing headphones over its ears.
Director’s Biography: Yves Piat discovered the world of 
cinema through his technician work as a decorator and studio manager on set. he developed the Nefta Football club story by mixing a personal experience coming from his childhood and his observations after several journeys in South Morocco.
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Awards:
Cinemed, Festival Cinéma Méditerranéen Montpellier – Prix du Public La Gazette – France (2018)
Cinemed, Festival Cinéma Méditerranéen Montpellier – Mention Spéciale – France (2018)
Bucharest Short Film Festival – Best Screenplay – Romania (2018)
Un poing c’est court, Festival du Film Court Francophone de Vaulx-en-Velin – Prix des Jeunes – France (2019)
Festival international du court métrage de Clermont-Ferrand – Prix du Public – France (2019)
11mm – Int. Football Film Festival Berlin – Best Short Film Award – Germany (2019)
Festival Européen du Court-Métrage de Bordeaux – Prix SensCritique – France (2019)
Festival Européen du Court-Métrage de Bordeaux – Prix du Jury Étudiants – France (2019)
Aspen Shortsfest – Best Comedy – USA (2019)
Aspen Shortsfest – Public Prize – USA (2019)
Ce n’est pas la taille qui compte – Prix du Public – FRANCE (2019)
Florida Film Festival – Audience Award – USA (2019)
Cyprus Comic Con Film Festival – International Prize – Cyprus (2019)
The Neighbors’ Window, Director Marshall Curry
THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW tells the story of Alli (Maria Dizzia), a mother of young children 
who has grown frustrated with her daily routine and husband (Greg eller). But her life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street and she discovers that she can see into their apartment. Inspired by a true story, the film was written and directed by three-time Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, Marshall curry. Starring tony-nominated Maria Dizzia (Orange is the New Black, 13 Reasons Why, White We’re Young); Greg Keller (Law and Order); and Juliana Canfield (Succession).
About the filmmaker: Marshall Curry is a three-time academy award nominated documentary director, cinematographer, and editor. his films cover a wide range of interests and include STREET FIGHT, about Cory Booker’s first run for mayor of Newark, N.J.; 
RACING DREAMS, which tells the story of two boys and a girl who dream of becoming NASAR drivers; IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT, which chronicles a radical environmental group; POINT AND SHOOT, about an American who leaves home to join the Libyan revolution; and A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN, about a Nazi rally that filled Madison Square Garden in 1939. his films have won top honors at Sundance and Tribeca, played in theaters and on television around the world, and earned two Emmy nominations and two Writers Guild of America nominations. curry also Executive produced and helped to edit MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS, a comedy documentary about the indie rock band, the National.
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For news and updates go to: theneighborswindow.com
For more about the work of Marshall Curry go to: marshallcurry.com
Watch: The Neighbors’ Window
Social Media
twitter.com/marshallcurry
twitter.com/neighbrswindow
Awards: (Partial List)
Palm Springs Shorts Fest – Audience Award, Best Live Action Short
Traverse City Film Festival – Audience Award, Best Fiction Short
Rhode Island Film Festival – First Prize, Best Live Action Short
Woodstock Film Festival – Best Short Film
Port Townsend Film Festival – Jury Award, Best Narrative Short
Port Townsend Film Festival – Audience Award, Best Narrative Short
Santa Fe Film Festival – Audience Award, Best Narrative Short
Washington West Film Festival – Best Narrative Short
Washington West Film Festival – Best Short Film Director
Kinematic Shorts – Audience Award
Coronado Film Festival – Audience Award
Short Shorts Film Festival – Best International Actress, Maria Dizzia
Sulmona International Film Festival – Best Editing
Atlanta Shortsfest – Best Cinematography, Wolfgang Held
Island of the Hungry Ghosts, Director Gabrielle Brady
ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS takes place off the coast of Indonesia, in the 
Australian territory of Christmas Island, inhabited by migratory crabs traveling in their millions from the jungle towards the ocean, in a movement that has been provoked by the full moon for hundreds of thousands of years. Poh Lin Lee is a “trauma therapist” who lives with her family in this seemingly idyllic paradise. Every day, she talks with the asylum seekers held indefinitely in a high-security detention centre hidden in the island’s core, attempting to support them in a situation that is 
as unbearable as its outcome is uncertain. As Poh Lin and her family explore the island’s beautiful yet threatening landscape, the local islanders carry out their “hungry ghost” rituals for the spirits of those who died on the island without a burial. They make offerings to appease the lost souls who are said to be 
wandering the jungles at night looking for home. ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS is a hybrid documentary that moves between the natural migration and the chaotic and tragic migration of the humans, which is in constant metamorphoses by the unseen decision-making structures. Director Gabrielle Brady joins us to talk about her beautiful and quietly powerful tale of desperate people trapped in a place of pervasive uncertainty and a woman trying to help them cope.
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For news, screenings and updates go to: christmasislandfilm.com
** 2020 Spirit Award nominee for Best Documentary **
Tribeca Film Festival – Award for best documentary film
Mumbai International Film Festival – Grand Jury Prize for best film
IDFA – Human rights award
Adelaide international Film Festival – Winner best documentary film
Social Media
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twitter.com/hashtag/islandofthehungryghosts
instagram.com/islandofthehungryghosts
#islandofthehungryghosts
facebook.com/filmindependent
twitter.com/filmindependent
instagram.com/filmindependent
#spiritawards
“ Island of the Hungry Ghosts is one of the year’s most impressively made documentaries, a film that’s as occasionally surreal as it is persistently moving. Island of the Hungry Ghosts is a true discovery.” – JOSHUA BRUNSTING, CRITERION CAST
“A documentary overflowing with empathy, poetry, and elemental power.” – HUBERT VIGILLA, FLIXIST
“Hauntingly beautiful Island of the Hungry Ghosts combines multiple narratives…into one glorious whole… A mesmerizing work of visual wonder, the breathtaking images forming an evocative setting for a vital discussion of human rights… A stunning, visceral first feature, announcing the director as a major talent to watch” – CHRISTOPHER LLEWELLYN REED, FILM FESTIVAL TODAY
“The best documentary award goes to a film that demonstrates extraordinary mastery of the full symphonic range of cinematic tools: cinematography, editing, score, sound design and, perhaps greatest of all, an exquisite use of metaphor. To a film that moved us deeply, impressed us immensely and made us feel we were witnessing nothing less than the emergence, fully formed, of a major new cinematic talent” – TRIBECA JURY
Slamdance Film Festival – Bastards’ Road, Director Brian Morrison
BASTARDS’ ROAD tells the story of the many combat veterans, like Jon Hancock who 
are navigating the complicated transition back to civilian life. After years of struggling, Jon decided to take an epic journey across the country – on foot. Walking nearly 6,000 
miles alone, Jon confronts the demons that had overtaken his life. Visiting his fellow 2/4 Marines – known as the The Magnificent Bastards – and families of their fallen along the way, Jon finds a mission greater than his own redemption. Veterans everywhere are struggling with PTSD. They are taking their own lives at an alarming rate – 50% higher than non-veterans. With remarkable honesty, insight and humor, Jon’s journey is uniquely positive. It’s about changing the ways one relates to traumatic memories. It’s about beginning the healing process. Director Brian Morrison joins us to talk about the raw emotions and the deep pain of men and woman who have done what their country asked them to do.
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For news and updates go to: bastardsroad.com
Social Media
facebook.com/bastardsroad
instagram.com/bastardsroadmovie
Competition Documentary Feature Film
Premiere: Sunday, January 26th at 1pm in the Ballroom Screening Room
Second Screening: Thursday, January 30th at 6pm in the Gallery Screening Room
Slamdance Film Festival Headquarters
Treasure Mountain Inn
255 Main St.
Park City, UT
Veteran Suicide Statistics
More than 60,000 Veterans died by suicide from 2008-2017.
The suicide rate for Veterans is 50% higher than it is for non-veterans.
The suicide rate among Veterans aged 18-34 increased 76% from 2005-2017.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT – Why would somebody walk that far, for so long? That’s what I asked myself after seeing a news story on TV about somebody I went to high school with. I didn’t know him back then, but we shared many mutual friends. When I first contacted Jon on his walk I knew nothing about what he’d been through. The military was a foreign world to me. 
None of my family or friends had served. All I had to go on was that he was a Marine and had PTSD. But I was immediately drawn to his story and we quickly took steps to organize a trip for me to follow him for a few days. Over the course of the last 8 months of Jon’s walk, I was able to make a handful of trips to capture pieces of his journey. We became great friends. Most days it was just him and I, but I was lucky enough to meet many guys Jon served with, as well as several Gold Star families of their fallen. It was eye-opening to see Jon’s transformation in their presence. He smiled brighter, laughed harder and cried less. It’s like they kept the best versions of themselves for each other. I learned about the tremendous weight they carry day after day, the scars of war that will never heal, the lost brothers whose ultimate sacrifices they never stop thinking about. But I also learned about strength and selflessness that goes way beyond what most of us as civilians can comprehend. Together, they reminded each other how important it is that they are still here. – Brian Morrison
Slamdance Film Festival, Co-founder and President Peter Baxter
It all began when a group of cheerful, subversive filmmakers weren’t accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. Unwilling to take “no” for an answer, they instead started their own event – Slamdance: Anarchy in Utah. 26 years later, Slamdance has become a year-round organization fostering the development of unique and innovative filmmakers. The organization now consists of the Film Festival, Screenplay Competition and Slamdance Studios. It has also created Slamdance On The Road, a traveling theatrical showcase that brings popular Slamdance films to audiences that otherwise would not have the opportunity to see them. Dan Mirvish, Jon Fitzgerald, Shane Kuhn and Peter Baxter are the founding forefathers who, along with co-conspirator Paul Rachman, fought for truly independent filmmakers by giving them a voice in 1995 at the very first Slamdance Film Festival. Since then, the festival takes place every January in the breathtakingly stunning, snow-capped mountains of Park City, Utah at the exact same time as the Sundance Film 
Festival, to provide a more authentic representation of independent filmmaking. Up-and-coming writers, directors and producers, alongside seasoned veterans and film lovers, converge for the weeklong celebration of independent cinema, realizing that Slamdance is a great place to find those next, great, visionary films. Slamdance lives and bleeds by its mantra By Filmmakers For Filmmakers. No other film festival in the world is entirely run and organized by the creative force that can only be found in filmmakers. Slamdance adamantly supports self-governance amongst independents, and exists to deliver what filmmakers go to festivals for – a chance to show their work and a platform to launch their careers. The festival has earned a solid reputation for premiering films by first-time writers and directors working within the creative confines of limited budgets. Co-founder and President Peter Baxter joins us to talk about this year’s Slamdance, the groundbreaking films and the innovative new distribution and digital initiatives being launched by Slamdance.
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For news and updates go to: slamdance.com
Check out the film schedule at slamdance 2020 schedule
Slamdance Film Festival – January 24-30 at the Treasure Mountain Hotel in Park City, Utah
Social Media:
facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival
twitter.com/Slamdance
instagram.com/slamogram
Disturbing the Peace, Director York Alec Shackleton
A small-town marshal who hasn’t carried a gun since he left the Texas Rangers 
after a tragic shooting must pick up his gun again. This time to do battle with a gang of outlaw bikers that has invaded the town to pull off a brazen and violent heist. DISTURBING THE PEACE features Guy Pearce (Memento, L.A. Confidential), Devon Sawa (The Fanatic, Final Destination) and Barbie Blank (“WWE Raw”, “Clash Time”.) The film is written by Chuck Hustmyer (End of a Gun, House of the Rising Sun) and directed by York Alec Shackleton (211, Kush). Director, writer and producer York Alec Shackleton joins us to talk about his heist gone wrong film thriller.
About the director: York Alec Shackleton is a filmmaker and former professional snowboarder, widely known for his early films dealing with edgy real-life tales of troubled youth and lives gone wrong. A direct descendant of famed arctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, York was born and raised in Southern California. His father, Richard, was best known as the 
writer for much of Lenny Bruce’s comedy material and served as tour manager. Growing up around these types of artists instilled a keen sense of creativity and inspired a yearning to be in the entertainment business from the very beginning. His films, past and future include the documentary LAS PARADITAS, which explores the rampant violence and exposing the corruption that surrounds the prostitutes of Tijuana, Mexico. Followed by the thriller PRETTY PERFECT, starring Sarah Sutherland in her first feature film and Christopher McDonald, about a man dealing with paranoid schizophrenia and delusional behavior. York’s other work includes producing and editing the 2008 feature DOCUMENTARY URBAN STRUGGLE: THE BATTLE OF THE CUCKOO’S NEST, exposing the burgeoning days of the punk scene at the now infamous Cuckoo’s Nest club, in Southern California. In 2012 he followed this by producing and editing and the documentary CLOCKWORK ORANGE COUNTY, featuring early concert clips from Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and the Circle Jerks among others.
For news and updates go to momentumpictures.net/films
Social Media
twitter.com/Momentum_Pics
twitter.com/disturbingthepeace
#DisturbingThePeace
Two films by Director Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam
Chez Jolie Coiffure
In Rosine Mbakam’s loving and intimate documentary we get to know shop 
owner, businesswoman Sabine. Recruited by a Lebanese maid agency, Sabine leaves Cameroon and embarks for Lebanon. After many years of servitude, she escapes to Belgium, but her arrival there is complicated by the fact that she enters illegally, by way of Greece and Syria. She settles in Matonge, the African quarter, where she becomes the manager of the beauty salon Chez Jolie Coiffure. Sabine attaches a hair weave and gets to work. Her hands move quickly and precisely, as she tightly braids the hair in front of the sign in her salon promising African, European, and American-style coiffure. Sabine is a larger than-
life personality crammed into a tiny, glassed-in shop in the largely immigrant Brussels district of Matonge. Here, she and her employees fit extensions and glue on lashes while watching soaps, dishing romantic advice, sharing rumors about government programs to legalize migrants, and talking about people back home in West Africa. Patrons, many of them undocumented immigrants, are not only be made to feel beautiful but can also escape the daily difficulties and harsh realities of their lives.
For news, screenings and updates go to: icarusfilms.com/if-chez
“Critic’s Pick! Rosine Mbakam makes a remarkable debut; demonstrates a mastery of perspective, a rare ability to include the camera in community.” —The New York Times
“Intense vulnerability makes the film emotionally gripping; the contrast between a public storefront and intimate confessions makes it engrossing… Unequivocally extracts a powerful sense of empathy—and urgency.” —Vox Magazine
“Immersive, provacative; a warm, appealing portrait. Mbakam’s portrait is knit as tightly as the braids Sabine weaves.” —Film International
“A must-see! Highly revealing, an atypical and timely portrait of the intersection between the immigrant experience and female identity.” —IndieWire
“An original filmmaker of exquisite sensibility; one of the foremost filmmakers of creative nonfiction working right now.” —The New Yorker
Chez Jolie Coiffure and The Two Faces of a Bamileke Woman are also available at ovid.tv
Social Media
twitter.com/hashtag/RosineMbakam
twitter.com/IcarusFilms
twitter.com/OVIDtv
The Two Faces of a Bamileke Woman
Filmmaker Rosine Mbakam left Cameroon at 27 to live in Belgium. Seven years 
later—having studied film and married a European—she returns to make what she calls a journey into darkness—to the village of her birth, and later to the capital city of Yaoundé, where her mother now lives most of the year. In the village of Tonga, her mother, Mâ Brêh, shares memories of the horrors of the war against French colonizers, and of daily life for a Cameroonian woman in an arranged marriage—a fate Rosine herself barely escaped, leaving the family of an angry ex-fiance behind. As she spends more time with her mother and the women around her, Rosine reveals the strength of their solidarity and their ability to face adversity.
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For news, screenings and updates go to: icarusfilms.com/if-bamil
“Critic’s Pick! Mbakam demonstrates a mastery of perspective, a rare ability to include the camera in community.” —Teo Bugbee, The New York Times
“Wrought with bliss and wonder; an exciting contribution to the canon of contemporary African cinema.” —Alexandra M. Thomas, Yale University, in the journal H-Black Europe
“An honest, captivating documentary essay.” —Jagoda Murczyńska, AfryKamera
“Touching; Mbakam is a cinematic artist… Reveals much about gender and family relations in postcolonial Africa.” —Carmela Garritano, Texas A&M University, in the journal African Studies Review
“Extraordinary in substance and style. An original filmmaker of exquisite sensibility; one of the foremost filmmakers of creative nonfiction working right now.” —Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Limerence, Director Tammy Minoff
LIMERENCE cleverly tips the scales on Hollywood’s approach to a romantic comedy. 
Women get to see themselves in female lead Rosemary—as complex, independent and real, breaking the stereotypes society has fed us. Rosemary (Tammy Minoff), an aspiring painter and free spirit, moves to Venice where she hooks up with Tom (Matthew Del Negro), a local gallery director. Their intense chemistry quickly and unexpectedly evolves into a serious relationship. This passionate romance is juxtaposed with Tom’s best friends, May (Jennifer Lafleur) and Donald (Evan Arnold), dealing with the monotony of their long marriage and the possibility of starting a family. Complicating everything is Leo, Rosemary’s oft inappropriate yet earnest best friend from high school Leo (Billy Aaron Brown). All their feelings 
about the nature of love will put their relationship choices to the test and the answers aren’t always black and white. LIMERENCE world premiered at the Other Venice Film Festival, winning Best Audience Award, before going on to win Best Feature at the SOHO International Film Festival. LIMERENCE will make its global VOD/Digital & DVD release across platforms everywhere on January 7th, 2020 through Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company. Director, producer, writer and lead actor Tammy Minoff joins us for a conversation on her honest and engaging look into romance, love, expectations and walking your own path.
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Social Media
facebook.com/pg/limerencethemovie
instagram.com/tamzersmin
twitter.com/tamzers