- Two-week online selection of avant-garde short films sees awards distributed for the second annual Indy Film Library Experimental Showcase
- Andreas Aicka Thomsen’s Nordic horror Miasma takes Best Cinematography and Best Score
- Intricate animation Silver Seeds claims Best Film wreath, while creator Kim Collmer takes Best Director
Since Monday 25th July 2022, Indy Film Library has been streaming some of the best experimental short films it has received for review over the last year. The films have been selected on the basis of both their storytelling and the technical skills exhibited by their cast and crew.
Now, as the showcase prepares to draw to a close on Monday 8th August, Indy Film Library has announced the winners from the Experimental Showcase shortlist.
The list of accolades distributed sees Best Film handed to Kim Collmer’s painstaking stop-motion film Silver Seeds, which follows two other-worldly beings on an existential voyage across an alien planet. In the IFL review of the film, it was lauded for delivering a “journey of creation, exploration, and self-discovery” on a budget of $200 and, in just 7 minutes, covering “all those bases more satisfactorily than the $130 million and 7 hours of Prometheus.”
Meanwhile, Collmer also picked up the Best Director award for her work on the film. Speaking on what it had been like to create Silver Seeds, the director told IFL, “When viewing your sets through the lens it IS like being in a new world and traveling – there is so much to see! Luckily, I was able to edit my experiments down and, hopefully, create a cohesive and enjoyable film!”
Elsewhere, Andreas Aicka Thomsen has scooped the wreath for Best Score, having provided a striking piece of sound design for his film Miasma. The short horror, which is shot amid the icy mountains of Norway, also won the Best Cinematography category, with the spectacular surroundings on camera blending with the foreboding music, to create an atmosphere “dripping in ancient Nordic terror”.
Speaking to IFL on his work, Andreas Aicka Thomsen said he chose the harsh terrain of the mountains specifically because of the challenges they would present. He added, “I wanted to get right into the tough parts, learning the hard way, not comfortable in a warm studio… I wanted to experience the force of nature and allow us to be influenced by it. To let it swallow us whole.”
Finally, split-screen drama COMPLEX claimed a tight victory in the Audience Choice category – receiving just under half of all the votes cast. According to directors Sando Heijnen and Charlotte Bernson, the piece is a “study of what meaning and atmosphere a constant split-screen, and therefore a constant juxtaposition of images can create.”
IFL Chief Editor Jack Brindelli commented, “I would like to congratulate all the winners of this year’s Experimental Showcase on their victories – and to thank all the filmmakers and our audience for their participation.
“This has been a truly exceptional showcase, featuring some of the very finest films Indy Film Library has ever received. It’s a privilege to present such imaginative and unapologetically strange films to our readers, helping to introduce so many people to a lot of incredible talent, which they might never otherwise have come across.”
All the films selected are still available to view for free until Monday August 8th 23:00 CET. The films can be accessed via the IFL website. Meanwhile, Indy Film Library is still open for its third year of submissions.
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