Award Winners 2022

 

International Award

It’s Raining Frogs Outside (dir. Maria Estela Paiso)

 

The jury of the 2022 Leiden Shorts International Competition would like to thank the festival for its selection of experimental, boundary-breaking short films that blend genres, styles, and filmmaking methods in a refreshing manner. We believe in the power of cinema as a unique audiovisual medium and celebrate films that push the limits of what cinema can achieve.

Honourable Mention

We give the special mention to a film with a unique visual language that distills the cinematic medium down to its essentials – image, movement and diegetic sound – to create a mesmerizing experience. The filmmaker expertly mixes elements from documentary and fiction to create a visual poem that conveys a grounded, urgent message.

The special mention goes to Under the Lake by Thanasis Trouboukis.

International Award

We give the International Award to a film that has created a shared visual language to convey the interiority of its protagonist. In a unique blend of live action, animation, visual effects, and archival footage, the film explores the boundaries between memory, nightmare, and reality. The film’s dive into a particular experience expands upon universal existential themes of loneliness, mental illness, trauma, and alienation. Both inspired by and able to transcend the covid pandemic, the filmmaker produces a haptic experience that explores the visceral horrors of the (female) body and its relation to being perceived.

The International Award goes to It’s Raining Frogs Outside (Ampangabagat nin talakba ha likol) by Maria Estela Paiso.

National Award

Minimal Sway While Starting My Way Up (dir. Stéphanie Lagarde)

 

The jury was pleasantly surprised by the quality of all films in this national competition. But in the end, it came to a unanimous decision.

This film takes a simple and narrow concept and then expands on it and expands on it until it reaches a global perspective. While doing this, the film never loses its initial concept, which the jury thought was very impressive. As a concept, it was almost done to perfection. Not to mention the esthetics and visuals of the film, which are all followed through, both supporting and embellishing the arc of the film.

The winner of the National Competition is: Minimal Sway While Starting My Way Up directed by Stéphanie Lagarde.

Student Award

Ob Scena (dir. Paloma Orlandini Castro)

 

Honourable Mention

Love, Dad is a sincere, affective, and yet not an overtly melodramatic movie. By a unique use of the medium of animation, it has created a climatic story about a daughter and father and the unanswered questions in the society where they live. It is an emotional, accessible but also a critical movie about the age-old structures of patriarchy. The movie speaks powerfully to its audience and at times disarms them through flawless use of animation. The creative use of animation techniques, like the witty paper cut-outs and camera motions, allows the audience to easily immerse in the narrative. It is a great story that explores the foundations of male-centred societies with a very personal and intimate tune. Without a doubt, Love, Dad has achieved to bring the personal to the societal through an impeccable artistic mastery.

Student Award

By revisiting the history of sexuality, Ob Scene creates a beguiling connection between psychiatry and the formulaic nature of the pornographic industry. It delivers a critical, yet artistically informed, reflection on constructions and misconceptions of sexuality. With a melange of captivating techniques, it teaches us about the mechanics of perception and the hapticity of vision. By juxtaposing autobiographical notes next to the history of representation, Paloma Orlandini Castro reclaims her past and overcomes the pre-established societal norms and boundaries. The development of the narrative, perfect plot and inventive use of diverse cinematic techniques have allowed the artist to touch upon the most serious questions/flaws in the history of sexuality. This masterful combination of personal inquiry and historical interrogation of sexuality makes Ob Scene a uniquely educational short with a high level of artistic aptitude.

Audience Award

From the Balcony (dir. Aris Kaplanidis)

 

Out of over 90 films in our official selection, our audience voted for their favourite films all throughout the festival. The public showed their variety of tastes through the choice of their favourite film. In the end, the following three films were picked as the audience’s favourites: 1). From the Balcony, 2). Freedom Swimmer, 3). Love, Dad, 4). The Trees, and 5). Foster.

 

The Jury

International Award Jury

Bianca Lucas

Of Polish and Australian origin, Bianca Lucas was born in 1989. She is a filmmaker and film programmer. She graduated from Goldsmiths College, the University of London in 2010 with a degree in Media and Communications and a specialisation in Film Studies. In 2017, she graduated from a three-year filmmaking course at the Film.Factory, Sarajevo Film Academy helmed by Hungarian director Béla Tarr in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Throughout her studies, she has been mentored by lauded Arthouse directors such as Carlos Reygadas, Gus Van Sant, Abel Ferrara, Pedro Costa, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Guy Maddin, Agnieszka Holland, Juliette Binoche, Gael Garcia Bernal, Tilda Swinton and many more. Her short films have been screened at festivals such as the International Film Festival Rotterdam, New Horizons International Film Festival, Premiers Plans d’Angers, and Winterthur Internationale Kurzfilmtage. In her capacity as programmer and department head, Bianca also works with the Sarajevo Film Festival and EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.

Roosje van der Kamp

Roosje van der Kamp (1995) is a philosopher, essayist, and journalist based in Amsterdam, specifically interested in the intersection of film and philosophy. Roosje is a film critic for the Amsterdam based Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool and an editor for the independent film magazine de Filmkrant.

Louis Hothothot

Louis Hothothot is a film artist, graphic designer and writer. In 2021, his film “Four Journeys” was the opening film at IDFA2021. In 2018, he received 3package Deal Young Talents in Amsterdam. He was trained as a graphic designer at China Central Academy of Fine Arts (2004-2008), as a video artist at Dutch Art Institute (2012-2014), and as a film artist in the Netherlands Film Academy (2015-2017). Louis Hothothot focuses his research on film narrative and cinematic language. His subjects are “body and movement”, “belonging, emotion, identity and politics”. His cinematic language research combines graphic design, video art, animation and performance. He regularly shows his art pieces in cinema, film festivals, museums, and theatres so on.

Student Award Jury

Yannis Sakaridis

Yannis’ career has spanned thirty years in film production. He is the director of “Amerika Square”, Greece’s official selection for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominations 2018 and he is Creative Director of Drama International Short Film Festival. Yannis lived in London for 18 years where he has directed and edited documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC and Cinema trailers. His debut feature film “Wild Duck” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013. “Amerika Square” was released in the USA, China, Spain, UK, HBO and was screened and awarded at a number of festivals.

Cyan Bae

Cyan Bae (1993, KR) is a visual artist, filmmaker and PhD candidate in International Political Sociology at the Institute of Political Science, Leiden University. Her research examines the role of affective computing in security politics, integrating methods from filmmaking, visual journalism, and graphic design. She holds a Master’s degree in Fine Art and Design with Distinction from the Non-Linear Narrative programme at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (NL), a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Design from Sungkyunkwan University (KR). Her film Dear Chaemin has been screened at inter/national film festivals and awarded Grand Prize at Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, National Award at Leiden Shorts, and Pandemic Chronicles Award at The Hague Film Festival.

Ali Shobeiri

Ali Shobeiri is Assistant Professor of Photographic Studies and Visual Arts Theory at Leiden University. His current research and publications are in the fields of photography theories, philosophy, visual and material culture, and human geography. He is the author of ‘Place: Towards a Geophilosophy of Photography’ (Leiden University Press, 2021) and co-editor of ‘Animation and Memory’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). His upcoming co-edited book is called: ‘Psychosomatic Imagery: Photographic Reflections on Mental Disorders’ (2022).

National Award Jury

Yannis Sakaridis

Yannis’ career has spanned thirty years in film production. He is the director of “Amerika Square”, Greece’s official selection for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominations 2018 and he is Creative Director of Drama International Short Film Festival. Yannis lived in London for 18 years where he has directed and edited documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC and Cinema trailers. His debut feature film “Wild Duck” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013. “Amerika Square” was released in the USA, China, Spain, UK, HBO and was screened and awarded at a number of festivals.

Patricia Werneck Ribas

Patricia Werneck Ribas (BR/NL) is an artist and filmmaker based in Amsterdam (NL). She has participated in several exhibitions and screenings in The Netherlands and abroad including: the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL); Museum De Pont, Tilburg (NL); Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht (NL); Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle (NL); Reykjavik International Film Festival (IS); National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik (IS); 29th dokumentART European Film Festival(DE); Tampere Film Festival (FI); Bideodromo (ES); Kansk Video Festival (RU).

Jasper Tonnon

Jasper Tonnon is an actor turned film journalist turned film critic based in Amsterdam. He has been working as a film journalist for over 10 years. He started out as an intern at VPRO Cinema and thereafter continued to work within the VPRO, keeping close ties with VPRO Cinema. After a couple of years, he began working as a film programmer for the NTR, programming movie nights on one of their channels. He also became head programmer for the Scenecs International Film Festival in Amersfoort and Hilversum. Three years later, he worked as an internal critic for Netflix for another three years. Then he returned to journalism and became the host of the VPRO Cinema Podcast. He is now a freelance journalist, touring festivals, and co-host of the oldest film podcast in The Netherlands, MovieInsiders. Jasper is a true film lover and spends most of his time in cinemas in Amsterdam or at festivals having drinks with colleagues.