2017 Fall
Best Narrative Short Film
Lisbon Bull Award
Elene (Turkey) by Sezen Kayhan
16-year-old Elene is a Georgian illegal immigrant who works at a tea plantation in Turkey. Feeling threatened by various encounters, she tries to be invisible in this foreign land. But it is not as easy as she thinks.
Best Narrative Feature Film
LOVERS (Italy) by Matteo Vicino
Lovers symmetrically approaches four stories where the five main characters, interpreting different roles, are all connected in a spiral driven by the reasons of love. Within this concentric and endless circle of lives ‘Lovers’ takes shape and creates a movie where love, comedy, doubt, suspicion and murder are constantly represented throughout the story.
Best Documentary Feature Film
When I Stutter (United States) by John Gomez
The primary goal of “When I Stutter” is to help bring greater understanding and empathy to a group of people that contend with an often misunderstood communication disorder. Over the course of 4.5 years, 19 people shared stories about how stuttering has impacted their lives. These stories run the gamut of human emotions… Some stories are dark, some are funny and others are triumphant! Interspersed throughout the documentary, are “educational vignettes” that help elucidate some of the mysteries and questions that surround stuttering. In addition to interviews and vignettes, a young man is followed on his journey through stuttering therapy. The relationship that he forms with the speech pathologist and the progress that he makes is truly heartwarming. “When I Stutter” is a documentary that reveals the humanity that can be found when we explore an often mysterious malady.
Best Documentary Short Film
Clean Hands (United States) by Lauren DeFilippo
The Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church has been offering services from the convenience of your car since 1953. The film structures itself around one Sunday morning service in the peak of the Florida summer heat. Parishioners are greeted with wine and communion packaged in Dixie cups as they enter the outdoor church and settle on a parking space. The camera roves over the vast lawn of worshippers as they find refuge, tuning into 88.5FM and watching Pastor Bob Kemp-Baird as he delivers his sermon from a balcony of an A-frame house. In a congregation where a honk is understood as an amen, this particular Sunday the pastor’s sermon centers on the threat technology poses to our spiritual lives and the divide it creates with our relationship to the external world.
Best Animated Short Film
Shine (Germany) by Johannes Flick
'Shine' brings a fresh perspective to the ageold story of men vying for the love of a beautiful woman, however in this instance, the men are two furry creatures who battle with the power of selfillumination. They are on fire... until one gets burned!
Best Experimental Film
Song Sotto Voce (France) by Pierre Bessette
A young woman wanders the deserted expanses with a rolling suitcase. A father appears on her skin like a tattoo. A journey between two distresses where poetry is the only salvation.
Best Underground Film
Dream Throat (United States) by Michael Arcos
You are in a room that has hosted numerous tenants. This room collects aggression, love, lust, and pain. The tenants change, while the taxidermy and rose wallpaper remain as viewers like yourself. You are invited to an in-depth and darkened view of what these roses' thorns have collected.
Best Portuguese Cinema Now
The Night is Calling (Portugal) by Francisco Morais, Miguel Pinto
Luís is a humble wool seller in the city of Vila Franca de Xira. He follows his daily routine, until this night.
