Film Winners 

Grand Prize

Oklahoma Breakdown by Christopher Charles Fitzpatrick

Oklahoma Breakdown (USA 1:31:36) Mike Hosty is a comedic one-man band legend who can do things on stage that few entertainers could pull off in a live setting.

Best Feature Film 

Shadows and Lies, by Joseph Graves 

Shadows and Lies (China 1:18:04) Set in Beijing, China, SHADOWS, AND LIES is a dark comedy concerning an aging vampire hunter, Sonny Ray Briggs, from Blanchard Springs, Arkansas, who seeks revenge on the vampires who murdered his wife. Chasing the “long tooths” from Arkansas to Beijing, Sonny Ray is assisted in his sanguinary quest for retaliation by Bobo Lin. This blue-haired, 20-something Beijing girl has devoted her life to “killing evil” and Serenity, a mute man with a penchant for eating bugs.

Best Female Filmmaker 

Margot Bruce – Harbor

Harbor (USA 19:20) This is a queer, modern Celtic/ Norse fairy tale and “ghost” story about living in the in-between.

Audience Award Winner

The Drive To Sing, by Bryce Denney and Kathryn Denney

The Drive To Sing (USA 1:16:15) When choir singing became dangerous, even deadly, in COVID-19, some musicians turned to “car choirs” in parking lots to keep their music alive. See how it began, spread, and gained international attention. Feel how it touched singers and audiences during this time of fear and isolation. 

Best Documentary Feature Film (tie)

Frank Bey: All My Dues Are Paid by Thomas Daniel Dwyer and Lisa Palattella

FRANK BEY: ALL MY DUES ARE PAID (USA:1:28:00) IN 1977, SOUL-BLUES SINGER FRANK BEY QUIT SINGING AFTER A DEAL WENT WRONG WITH JAMES BROWN. FORTY YEARS LATER, FRANK WAS INVITED TO RECORD A CD IN NASHVILLE WITH BUDDY GUY’S RECORD PRODUCER, FULFILLING THE DREAM OF HIS LIFETIME. 

Best Documentary Feature Film

80 Years Later, by Celine Parreñas Shimizu

80 YEARS LATER (USA 50:00) This film explores the racial inheritance of Japanese American family incarceration during World War II through multigenerational conversations with survivors and their descendants.

Best Documentary Short Film (tie)

Bacon ‘N’ Laces by Stephen Michael Simon

Bacon ‘N’ Laces (USA 19:20) A single dad of three boys manages a diner. But there’s more to John than meets the eye.

Best Documentary Short Film (tie)

Dear Lily, Love Patrick, by Jennifer Bartels

Dear Lily, Love Patrick (USA 16:34) Dear Lily, Love Patrick is a poignant look at the power of true connection, a young life ended by the tragedy at the onset of the AIDS epidemic, and a love that is still enduring.

Best Short Film 

Get It On Jones, by Herman “Jr.” Johnson

Get It On, Jones (USA 19:44) A small town Private Investigator in the 1970s works to keep his home safe.

Best Short Film – Honorable Mention

The Candy Tin by Shane Butler 

The Candy Tin (USA 14:30) An Irish immigrant picks up a gleaming “Ruth’s Home Run” candy tin in a general store in 1920s America. From the rocking 50s to the dour 2000s to The Future, the candy tin travels through modern America. The Future is The Past.

Best LGBTQ Short Film

Static Space by John Klein and Kate Black-Spence

Static Space (USA 28:43) A young woman struggling to figure out her place and identity inadvertently stumbles across a frequency on her ham radio. She makes contact with an astronaut currently orbiting Earth. The two women are presented with the opportunity to find meaningful connections, even while worlds apart.

International Awards

Best International Feature Film 

Shadows and Lies, by Joseph Graves 

Shadows and Lies (China 1:18:04) Set in Beijing, China, SHADOWS, AND LIES is a dark comedy concerning an aging vampire hunter, Sonny Ray Briggs, from Blanchard Springs, Arkansas, who seeks revenge on the vampires who murdered his wife. Chasing the “long tooths” from Arkansas to Beijing, Sonny Ray is assisted in his sanguinary quest for retaliation by Bobo Lin. This blue-haired, 20-something Beijing girl has devoted her life to “killing evil” and Serenity, a mute man with a penchant for eating bugs.

Best International Short Film 

Far From the Sun, by Javier Prato 

Far From the Sun (Argentina 15:00) Amid an economic crisis in Argentina, Roberto, a small neighborhood grocer, goes to Los Angeles with his wife, his child with Down syndrome, and his grandmother, who does not travel.

Best International Short Film – Honorable Mention 

Shaking A Singapore Spear by Hannes Rall

Shaking A Singapore Spear (Germany 16:57) An animated documentary about the relevance of Shakespeare’s classical works for digital natives in Singapore: Live action and animation.

Film Accessible Winners

Best Film Accessible Feature Film 

Sign The Show by Cat Brewer

Sign The Show (USA 1:35:38) Sign the Show: Deaf Culture, Access & Entertainment brings together entertainers, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HOH) community, and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to discuss accessibility at live performances in a humorous, heartfelt, and insightful way.

Best Film Accessible Short Film 

I/O by Carl Hansen 

I/O (USA 5:33) A man struggles to tell his girlfriend he’s dating her through his robot.

Best Film Accessible Short Film – Honorable Mention 

Carrots, by Karren Kennedy

CARROTS  (USA 5:45) A LOCAL NEWSCASTER, BEFRIENDS A BLIND WOMAN AT THE PLASTIC SURGEON’S OFFICE.

Indigenous Film Winners

Best Indigenous Short Film (tie)

I am the Warrior, by Tara Audibert

I Am The Warrior (Canada 7:52) A Residential School Story. A mother and daughter Fox have a poor relationship. The daughter wants to right the residential schools’ wrongs and is committed to making her mother this way. She becomes the Warrior in her thoughts to save the young version of her mother, only to find her mother is the true Warrior after surviving Residential School.

The Old Man Next Door, by Aidan Otene Dickens

The Old Man Next Door (New Zealand 15:00) Matiu, a war veteran who struggles with PTSD and agoraphobia, cannot leave the safety of his home since his wife’s passing. Shy student Yvonne from next door, his only visitor in self-imposed isolation, struggles with her mental health. Distraught when her boyfriend leaves her, she stops taking her medication and soon spirals out of control. Matiu is the only witness to her descent into madness, threatening her life. He must find the strength to cross the threshold and save her or remain a prisoner of his fear.