- Two-week online selection of movies sees awards handed out for the fifth annual Indy Film Library Student Short Showcase
- ‘Curve’ scores hat-trick of Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay for slow burning drama on LGBT+ life in China
- Short comedy ‘The Grate Director’ scoops Audience Choice garland
Since Monday 16th December 2024, Indy Film Library (IFL) has been streaming some of the best student short films it has received over the last year. All the films selected are still available to view via the IFL website. They will remain on the platform for free, until Monday 30th December 23:00 CET.
As the showcase prepares to draw to a close, however, IFL has announced the winners from the Student Short Showcase shortlist.
The list of accolades distributed sees Best Film handed to Curve – a film with a message, examining the rampant “campus bullying faced by LGBTQ+ students”. It also picked up Best Cinematography for its striking imagery, and Best Screenplay for the work of Zeng Dan– who won praise for “lifelike and compelling” dialogue.
Meanwhile, Menghao Li picked up Best Actor for his work on bitter-sweet lockdown drama Someone Around – who “grows beyond his initial timidness to be the emotional core of the film” in the film’s central performance of a reluctant host slowly realising something about himself through his strained interactions with a trapped guest during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Man Aman picked up Best Editing. The documentary follows the life of a migrant artist in America, as he struggles with a possibly life-threatening health condition, and tries to keep food on the table for his family.
Vestige won Best Director, for Yu-Hsuan Teng’s tireless efforts to create a beautiful 2D world. Produced as a living storyboard rather than a conventional animation, the film was praised as evidence of what the world risks losing if it prioritises the convenience of AI imagery over the invention of the young artists emerging into the industry.
Finally, ADHD comedy The Grate Director won a resounding victory in the Audience Choice Category. Samuel J. Punto’s latest effort won more than half of the overall vote.
IFL Chief Editor Jack Benjamin commented, “As always, I have to thank every single artist involved in the films, for helping make this year’s Student Short Showcase such a success. It is a privilege to be able to champion the next generation of film talent to new audiences around the world.
“Second, I must congratulate the winners. These filmmakers are the best of the best, and I am so excited to see what they go on to achieve in their future careers. In terms of the films themselves, I think it’s especially fitting that as we go into a new year, they tell stories of self-discovery, evaluating relationships which may or may not be healthy, and thinking about how their characters might try to change their behaviour and lives in the coming months.”