2016 Highlights

Grand Prize Winner: The Family Lamp

The Family Lamp

Director: Jack Perez
Country: US
Running time: 9:00
premiere!

A single camera, half hour pilot about the chaotic Lamp family and their slightly unbalanced friends and colleagues.

Category Winners 2016 A-Z

Best Animation: Unsung Hero

Director: Lynton Levengood
Country: South Africa
Running time: 4:50
premiere!

We all need a hero!

Best Digital Comics: Phallaina

Director: Marietta Ren
Country: France
Running time: 5:00

Phallaina tells the story of Audrey, a young girl who suffers from hallucinatory fits during which she sees whales. When she undergoes certain tests, a research scientist and neurologist discovers she has a physeter, an anomalous structure which enables its carriers to remain underwater for prolonged amounts of time.

Best Drone: Hello World

Director: Asa Hammond, Tarik Abdel-Gawad
Country: US
Running time: 1:34

A display of aerial precision -- animated light paintings with drones

Best Documentary: Pompei Eternal Emotion

Director: Pappi Corsicato
Country: Italy
Running time: 9:51
premiere!

It’s a documentary about the site of Pompeii, a site where life and death live together today as 2000 years ago.

Best LGBTQ+: Wedlocked

Director: Puppett
Country: US
Running time: 11:34

Wedlocked is a farcical comedy about the ridiculous laws governing gay divorce before the pivotal 2015 SCOTUS ruling in favor of marriage equality. Inspired by true stories, three women work their way out of a divorce triangle they never signed up for.

Best Machinima: The Adventures of The Rocket Ace

Director: John Carstarphen
Country: US
Running time: 5:00
premiere!

A cross between a steampunk adventure and Casablanca, about a female superhero with a dark past who battles the Nazis in 1941 in the Arabian desert.

Best Mobile: Dark Waves

Director: Sven D.Robot
Country: US
Running time: 3:56
premiere!

Official music video for the song 'Dark Waves' by Robot Koch featuring Delhia de France from the album Hypermoment. Shot an iPhone

Best Music Video: Fire Engine Red

Director: Jeff Coffman
Country: US
Running time: 7:26
premiere!

A narrative music video for the song "Fire Engine Red", by Robert Francis, staring Emma Bella Holley.

Best New Media: Criers of Medellín

Director: Ángela Carabalí and Thibault Durand
Country: Colombia
Running time: 1:59
premiere!

The interactive web documentary of the singing street vendors of Medellín - Colombia. A virtual journey to discover the world of those who have understood that in trade as in love, it is the voice that seduces.

Best Pilots: A Voice Louder Than Rock

Director: Valerie J Tucker
Country: US
Running time: 5:05
premiere!

Musician Caleb Quaye, a Rags To Riches To Rags To Redemption- Reaching the Fatherless with a message of hope and reconciliation.

Best Scripts: 20 Beautiful Women

Written by: Saba Tekle
Country: US
premiere!

A collection of personal short stories from 20 authors, speakers, and life coaches bonding together for the common goal of sisterhood, and to transform women from the inside out. The one thing that connects them all: they had the strength to heal from their devastating past, find their purpose through their pain and now passionately help others in the areas self-love, weight loss, career, spirituality, relationships, finances, and forgiveness.

Best Shorts: Super Sex

Director: Matthew Modine
Country: US
Running time: 8:19
premiere!

What kind of birthday present to you give the dad (Ed Asner) who has everything? His kids (Kevin Nealon and Elizabeth Perkins) decide on a gift they never before imagined!

Best Snipler: #FeedMe

Director: Alberto Guglielmi
Country: US
Running time: :30
premiere!

#Feedme is a reaction to the modern world of social media. The focus is shifted from the person who shares moments on social media, to the person whom we are sharing moments with.

Best : The Love To End All Love

Director: Konstantin Ferstl
Country: Germany
Running time: 5:00
premiere!

What to do when love ends? From a train ride through Siberia and North Korea, director Konstantin Ferstl returned home with a frozen left hand and this film poem on love and loss, heart tones of the Old World: The Love To End All Love.

Best SRC: The Trials of Spring - Bahrain: Our Oath

Director: Gini Reticker and Lauren Feeney
Country: US and Bahrain
Running time: 4:58

Tiny Bahrain was one of the few Gulf States to be swept up in the revolutionary fervor. But the government response was swift and brutal. Among those arrested in the crackdown were 50 medical professionals whose “crime” was helping injured protesters. Dr. Nada Dhaif was one of them. She was tortured in prison, and after her release, founded an organization that treats victims of torture and violence in Bahrain.

Best S.T.E.A.M: Years & Years: An Artificial Experience Music Motion Picture

Director: Brian Harrison
Country: USA, UK, Germany & Sweden
Running time: 3:53
premiere!

Man (Artist Years & Years) and machine (Artificial Intelligence chose the pictures and order for this project) now share the true psychedelic nature of consciousness and the imagination.

Best Student: Themes & Variations

Director: Ziye Liu
Country: US
Running time: 3:58
premiere!

A fully CG rendered short film based upon contemporary artworks from artists Yayoi Kusama and Ai Weiwei, exploring the infinite possibilities by using 3D digital art to create new “versions” of existing artworks.

Best 3D: We Built A Ship 3D

Director: Stefan Sargent
Country: US
Running time: 17:00
premiere!

In Sausalito, California, 150 volunteers are building a traditional wooden ship based on a 1891 brigantine design by local shipwright, Matthew Turner.

Best Trailers: Revolution

Director: Rob Stewart
Country: Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Ecuador, US, Mexico, Canada, Denmark, Australia
Running time: 2:00

Produced by Gus Van Sant, Revolution is a film about changing the world. The true-life adventure of Rob Stewart, this follow-up to his acclaimed Sharkwater documentary continues his remarkable journey; one that will take him through 15 countries over four years, and where he'll discover that it's not only sharks that are in grave danger – it's humanity itself. In an effort to uncover the truth and find the secret to saving the ecosystems we depend on for survival, Stewart embarks on a life-threatening adventure. From the coral reefs in Papua New Guinea and deforestation in Madagascar to the largest and most destructive environmental project in history in Alberta, Canada, he reveals that all of our actions are interconnected and that environmental degradation, species loss, ocean acidification, pollution and food/water scarcity are reducing the Earth's ability to house humans. How did this happen, and what will it take to change the course that humanity has set itself on?

Best Virtual Reality: Nobel's Nightmare

Director: Chamsy Sarkis
Country: Syria
Running time: 5:08
premiere!

Immersive reportage shot in VR, the journalist is embedded with the "White Helmets" - Syria's rescue teams. The movie transports the viewer in the daily life of those brave teams - recently been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize- rushing to sites of bombing to save lives.

Best Web Series: Spotlight California Ep 5

Director: Kohl Norville
Country: US
Running time: 7:15
premiere!

Comedian and filmmaker Kiran Deol as she investigates the side of the state we don't see on postcards - the side where some residents don't have access to water or clean air. Kiran takes us on a California road trip unlike any we've experienced.


Full Listings

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Animation

Best Animation: The Race

Director: Soyoon Kim
Country: South Korea
Running time: 4:25
premiere!

The race has begun. Time elapses, the environment alters, a relationship changes, and anxiety grows.But the race continues.The dance never ends.

Best Animation: Unsung Hero

Director: Lynton Levengood
Country: South Africa
Running time: 4:50
premiere!

We all need a hero!

Best Animation: Aurora

Director: Kenson Lee
Country: US
Running time: 5:34

Gowe unwraps his approach to music while intertwining elements of his youth as a visual foundation to the song. It is an 16-bit (8-bit) adventure through 90's culture of arcades, games, and animation.

Best Animation: Digital Romance

Director: Michael Helmuth Hansen
Country: Denmark
Running time: 10:11

Combining the old look of traditional hand drawn animation with the new look of 3D movies. See the artist behind the CGI; pulling the 3D out of the characters and the environment, giving it a more flat and illustrated look. The acting has to be simple and believable, referencing more to reality than existent animation.

Best Apps: Love Gov: From First Date to Mandate

Director: JOHN PAPOLA
Country: US
Running time: 1:01

The story of an independent, fun-loving, young woman, Alexis, and her boyfriend, Scott "Gov" Govinski, who is always there to help. Always, whether you like it or not.

Best Apps: Another Day With You Ep 3

Director: Gregory Van Horn
Country: US
Running time: 5:26

A web series chronicling the long, long marriage of Amy and Bob. In this episode, they try to determine if it's peri-menopause or just an excuse to drink scotch in the afternoon.

Best Apps: LA Picker Ep 10

Director: Rebecca Louisell
Country: US
Running time: 4:33
premiere!

A new web series about Sally, a go-getter trying to find the best vintage items at swap meets, estate sales, and garage sales for resale online. When rival Jonathan tries to throw Sally off her picking game, she discovers that success doesn't come at bargain-basement prices.

Best Apps: Not So Union Ep 3

Director: Michael Steger
Country: US
Running time: 8:40

A web series about six non-union actor friends who are living in Hollywood and aspiring to be working actors. The diverse group of friends are new to the competitive entertainment industry and are overly dedicated to their prestigious acting teacher who ridiculously leads these friends to triumph one rejection at a time.

Best Apps: Dominatrix Breakroom Ep 6

Director: Scott Bowers
Country: US
Running time: 1:20
premiere!

A comedy web series about what goes on in the breakroom of a Manhattan dungeon. Even mistresses need a break.

Best Apps: Dog Moms

Director: Ryan Lagod
Country: US
Running time: 2:32
premiere!

A comedic parody web series. All of the drama, big hair, nails and sabotage you'd expect from Dance Moms, plus fur, tails and wet noses.

Best Apps: Three's A Pain Ep P

Director: Kenneth Garner
Country: US
Running time: 6:51
premiere!

A news reporter and her OCD house mate gets an unexpected visit from her slacker unemployed brother who decides to crash at her house.

Best Apps: The Stranger Ep7

Director: Miguel Coyula
Country: Cuba
Running time: 2:07
premiere!

The 1st Web Series from Cuba. A poem about endurance and eventual alienation throughout the ravages of time. This is the 7th episode of the webseries about banned Cuban poet Rafael Alcides.

Best Digital Comics: Phoenix Run

Director: TJ Walker, Rick Walters
Country: US
Running time: :43
premiere!

Phoenix Run is a SciFi New Media Series that tells a story through it's digital comic, web series and Virtual Reality cinematic experience.

Best Digital Comics: Phallaina

Director: Marietta Ren
Country: France
Running time: 5:00

Phallaina tells the story of Audrey, a young girl who suffers from hallucinatory fits during which she sees whales. When she undergoes certain tests, a research scientist and neurologist discovers she has a physeter, an anomalous structure which enables its carriers to remain underwater for prolonged amounts of time.

Best Drone: Controlled Burn

Director: Robert D. Frye
Country: US
Running time: 2:12
premiere!

This film shows what’s known as a “U.S.D.A. Prescribed Controlled Burn” of “Conservation Reserve Ground”. Such a prescribed burn help eliminate undesirable plants, resulting in a more lush growth of more desirable native grasses.

Best Drone: Hello World

Director: Asa Hammond, Tarik Abdel-Gawad
Country: US
Running time: 1:34

A display of aerial precision -- animated light paintings with drones

Best Drone: From Russia To New Zealand

Director: Laurent Youmndingouetmoun
Country: Russia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.
Running time: 2:38
premiere!

On October 7, 2014 I embarked on an adventure with my drone in my backpack. 15 months and 11 countries later, I have filmed many different places and created From Russia to New Zealand by drone.

Best Drone: Flying Through Dresden

Director: Stefan Mueller
Country: Germany
Running time: 1:25
premiere!

Flying Through Dresden is the Opening Sequence for a german TV Drama. It is a Sequence Shot which starts with an establisher high above the city and ends in the middle of a bomb disposal scene close to the ground.

Best Documentary: Moth Vitals

Director: Nancy Wyllie
Country: US
Running time: 4:07
premiere!

A veterinarian's reflections on requests made by clients who share an extraordinary reverence for life ask all of us to make no distinction between higher and lower organisms; to extend our circle of compassion to all living things and to fully embrace the mystery that is life.

Best Documentary: Pompei Eternal Emotion

Director: Pappi Corsicato
Country: Italy
Running time: 9:51
premiere!

It’s a documentary about the site of Pompeii, a site where life and death live together today as 2000 years ago.

Best Documentary: Pandolo

Director: Marko Zigon
Country: Slovenia
Running time: 8:57

Pandolo - A traditional game, that is regarded as predecessor of baseball, always marked Piran, the home of active pandolists, colorful company of different generations boasts with many athletic achievements. Beside the sports meaning this ancient game has also a huge cultural purpose that reflects social life of local people.

Best Documentary: Celebration Chronicles Brazil

Director: Gabriela Traverso
Country: Brazil
Running time: 4:56
premiere!

With an entertaining style and journalistic approach, Celebration Chronicles explores the symbiotic relationship between a celebration and its culture, all through the eyes of a curious millennial. Giving you an underground perspective, the series takes you on a journey to unveil all of the back-stories, the conflicts endured, the culture, and ultimately, each of the inspirational messages that can be derived from the way people choose to come together.

Best Documentary: The World Is My Country - Special Short Preview

Director: Arthur Kanegis
Country: US
Running time: 8:56

Martin Sheen presents the epic true story of the daring, controversial and decades-ahead-of-his-time World Citizen #1, Garry Davis. The film reveals the startling true story of how one little guy, Danny Kaye’s understudy, triggered a people-power movement which helped precipitate unanimous passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Albert Einstein hailed Garry for the sacrifices he made for the well-being of humanity. Buckminster Fuller extolled him as the new world man. And amazingly, Eleanor Roosevelt challenged him to start a worldwide international government. Garry’s world citizen government issues World Passports to stateless refugees and others like yasiin bey aka Mos Def who says in this excerpt: My country is called Earth.

Best LGBTQ+: Wedlocked

Director: Puppett
Country: US
Running time: 11:34

Wedlocked is a farcical comedy about the ridiculous laws governing gay divorce before the pivotal 2015 SCOTUS ruling in favor of marriage equality. Inspired by true stories, three women work their way out of a divorce triangle they never signed up for.

Best Machinima: Save My Soul

Director: Roxi Khan
Country: UK
Running time: 3:04
premiere!

A very important decision must be made via text message. If they choose riches, someone will die; if they reject riches, no one will die but they will not be rich - the countdown has begun!

Best Machinima: The Adventures of The Rocket Ace

Director: John Carstarphen
Country: US
Running time: 5:00
premiere!

A cross between a steampunk adventure and Casablanca, about a female superhero with a dark past who battles the Nazis in 1941 in the Arabian desert.

Best Mobile: Happy Again

Director: Cécile Nicolon
Country: France
Running time: 1:12
premiere!

A man dances, not to surrender.

Best Mobile: Dreams About Kimono

Director: Nikolay Kozlov
Country: Russia
Running time: 4:52
premiere!

A small provincial town in Central Russia. Family mother and son teen. The son is engaged in judo. The family is poor and mom can't buy a new kimono for her son, she has to sew up old kimono. Son will have competitions, where first place will be awarded a new kimono. But the son loses... Although maybe he has a chance?

Best Mobile: Dark Waves

Director: Sven D.Robot
Country: US
Running time: 3:56
premiere!

Official music video for the song 'Dark Waves' by Robot Koch featuring Delhia de France from the album Hypermoment. Shot an iPhone

Best Music Video: I Am Not I

Director: Taras Vorobets
Country: USA, Ukraine
Running time: 3:53
premiere!

As she slips into unconsciousness, an evil darkness takes over her angel-like spirit and soul. The true epic of artist Liza Fox and her struggle against battling her bipolar disorder.

Best Music Video: You Are Loved

Director: Ernest Thompson
Country: USA
Running time: 3:51
premiere!

Perfectly-timed for our troubled world, You Are Loved is a song sung and composed by New England’s legendary Justin Jaymes. This iPhone video, shot in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and on the boardwalk in Santa Monica, is directed by the song’s lyricist, Oscar winner Ernest Thompson, and translates its irrepressible spirit into an international chorus of defiant joy and hope and love.

Best Music Video: Little Fox - Edits

Director: Samuel Bright
Country: Australia
Running time: 3:48
premiere!

This psychedelic circus themed music video was created for Little Fox and features the talented aerial artist Lauren Watson, who has incomplete paraplegia. She has been using the art form as a fun way to get her body moving again, after being partially paralysed from the waist down, as a result of a car accident in 2000.

Best Music Video: Don't Feed the Party Animal

Director: Evan Younger
Country: US
Running time: 3:00
premiere!

In a 1950s nightclub, a wallflower longs to be the life of the party and win over the cutie across the dance floor – but how can he compete with the suave crooners onstage and her beefcake boyfriend?

Best Music Video: At The End Of The Line

Director: Robert Kerr
Country: US
Running time: 5:10
premiere!

In 1939, in Nazi Germany, an amazing thing happened- Jewish parents, sensing their lives were in danger, placed their children aboard trains to be raised by foster families across free Europe. They did this, knowing they would probably never see their children again.

Best Music Video: Things We Want

Director: Remii Huang
Country: US
Running time: 4:42
premiere!

A man discovered the world he always dreamt of but things eventually changed.

Best Music Video: Fire Engine Red

Director: Jeff Coffman
Country: US
Running time: 7:26
premiere!

A narrative music video for the song "Fire Engine Red", by Robert Francis, staring Emma Bella Holley.

Best New Media: Choreography for the Scanner - In Between Frames Series

Director: Mariam Eqbal
Country: US
Running time: 2:43
premiere!

In Between Frames is a work, out of a series, that explores the fundamentals of animated motion through simple repetition. All images are created using a flatbed scanner as means for documenting the varying, physical relationship with the still image, and the work is a commentary on the history of cinema.

Best New Media: LEGO

Director: Fred Raimondi
Country: US
Running time: 5:16
premiere!

Step inside the world of LEGO Dimensions. A world that's humorous, charming, and so realistic it's hard to believe that the LEGO characters are animated. The film stars Joel McHale of X-Files, Community, and The Soup.

Best New Media: Four Million Threads

Director: Jackie Hurwitz
Country: US, Bangladesh
Running time: :48
premiere!

Four Million Threads is an interactive journey into the world where your clothes are made: the women joining the workforce, the managers on the top floor, and the disaster that changed them all.

Best New Media: Criers of Medellín

Director: Ángela Carabalí and Thibault Durand
Country: Colombia
Running time: 1:59
premiere!

The interactive web documentary of the singing street vendors of Medellín - Colombia. A virtual journey to discover the world of those who have understood that in trade as in love, it is the voice that seduces.

Best New Media: Natural Life Archive

Director: Tirtza Even
Country: US
Running time: 1:16

The piece challenges inequities in the U.S. juvenile justice system by depicting, through documentation and reenactment, the stories of five individuals who were sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed as youth. The five will never be evaluated for change, difference or growth. They will remain in prison till they die. The interactive online archive, the third part of the project, is a web-based exhibition platform enabling access through a two-tiered navigable Quicktime movie to material drawn from 50 hours of interviews with individuals who were involved with the crime, the arrest and the sentencing of the five featured inmates.

Best New Media: HyperZooming through Hallstatt

Director: Geoff Tompkinson
Country: Austria
Running time: 2:13
premiere!

As if on the back of an invisible insect we fly around the sites of this wonderful town in one continuous journey passing through buildings to emerge in different parts of the town, finally ending up on the new viewpoint from Rudolfsturm perched high above the ancient town square.

Best New Media: Guest Appearances: Lydia Does New York

Director: Elizabeth Guest
Country: US
Running time: 9:52
premiere!

Lydia has too many dates and too many parents so she flies to New York to be alone but her trip does not go as planned...

Best Web Series Superstar Panel: Ana Kasparian

Ana Kasparian is the Co-Host of The Young Turks, the top online news show in the world (which currently has over 2.4 billion views). She also writes for multiple outlets, including Raw Story, and teaches journalism at CSUN. She was recently featured in Forbes Magazine’s 30 under 30, and is largely regarded as one of the top female journalists and political commentators online. She is represented by Ray Jimenez at Embolden Entertainment.

Best Web Series Superstar Panel: Jenni Powell

Jenni is the Emmy Award-winning producer of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Welcome to Sanditon, lonelygirl15, Emma Approved and The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy. For two years she was Director of Content and Social Media for VidCon and was a producer at Felicia Day’s YouTube Premium Channel Geek & Sundry, where she produced the Geekie Award-Winning Talkin’ Comics Weekly. Most recently co-founded Discourse Productions.

Best Web Series Superstar Panel: Elle Walker

Elle Walker Co-Founder What’s Up Moms – the #1 Parenting Network on YouTube. 35 million views monthly and over 1.1 million subscribers. Elle started WUM after searching for how-to videos as a new mom and wanting more. A digital media veteran, she reconnected with Stanford classmate, Meg Resnikoff and the rest is (well-documented) history. In addition to directing videos for companies such as Motts, Disney, Kohler, Glad and frequently serving a YouTube brand panelist, Elle is extremely passionate about helping other moms share their well-earned expertise.

Best Web Series Superstar Panel: Phil Ranta

Phil Ranta is the COO of Studio71, a global digital media company focused on empowering creators, growing brands and building audiences, where he oversees the talent network of 900 creators receiving over 5 billion monthly views. Current Studio71 clients include Rhett & Link, Epic Meal Time, and Family Fun Pack and the company recently released the hit movie ’Natural Born Pranksters’ starring Roman Atwood, Vitaly, and Dennis Roady. Previous to S71, Phil was the VP of Network at Fullscreen, Inc. where he helped build one of the world’s largest YouTube networks and served as Executive Producer at Viva! Vision, a mobile company powering video and photo applications that was named to the Inc. 500 fastest growing media companies.

Best Web Series Superstar Panel: Frank Chindamo

Founder of Fun Little Movies and an award winning Producer, Frank is also an Adjunct Professor at USC, UCLA, Chapman U. and Emerson College. He co-wrote the books YouTube Success in 5 Steps and Internet Stardom.

Best Technology Panel: Technology Panel - Innovation in today's media & how it can move your content/career forward.

Director: MODERATOR Darrel M Smith

Chief Executive Officer of Droisys Digital. A digital marketing company serving world-class brands and clients. Darrel is on the frontier of technology helping companies think mobile first to provide a broad array of digital solutions for clients and consumers. He serves on multiple technology boards and has executed large campaigns winning multiple awards for digital execution and delivery.

Best Technology Panel: Julian McCrea - Founder of Portal Entertainment

Winner of 2 PROMAX awards, Julian also launched the Doctor Who global facebook page, with over 1 million fans at the time of press. Julian was shortlisted in the Top 5 in the world by BAFTA and Sir Ridley Scott for the horror short ‘The Craftsman’ as part of the Philips Cinema award 2010 and officially selected for the Werner Herzog Rogue Film School 2011.

Best Technology Panel: Chadwick Turner - Founder Circle VR

Chadwick Turner is the founder of Circle VR - an immersive media consultancy. Clients include Mattel, Epicenter VR, Riot Games and more. In addition, he is the creator of the Virtual Report (www.virtual.report) - a leading news aggregator for the immersive media community. Prior to Circle VR, he was Head of Content Partnerships at Vrideo and a Business Development Manager at Amazon. In addition, he has held strategic business development and marketing roles at VR Studios, 21st Century Fox, IM Global Films and Creative Artists Agency. He's a graduate of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and the School of Cinematic Arts

Best Pilots: A Voice Louder Than Rock

Director: Valerie J Tucker
Country: US
Running time: 5:05
premiere!

Musician Caleb Quaye, a Rags To Riches To Rags To Redemption- Reaching the Fatherless with a message of hope and reconciliation.

Best Pilots: The Family Lamp

Director: Jack Perez
Country: US
Running time: 9:00
premiere!

A single camera, half hour pilot about the chaotic Lamp family and their slightly unbalanced friends and colleagues.

Best Scripts: Rox & Scissors

Written by: Tim Hurley
Country: US
premiere!

Best Scripts: 20 Beautiful Women

Written by: Saba Tekle
Country: US
premiere!

A collection of personal short stories from 20 authors, speakers, and life coaches bonding together for the common goal of sisterhood, and to transform women from the inside out. The one thing that connects them all: they had the strength to heal from their devastating past, find their purpose through their pain and now passionately help others in the areas self-love, weight loss, career, spirituality, relationships, finances, and forgiveness.

Best Scripts: Hawk Moon

Written by: Cal Athan
Country: Australia
premiere!

As the cavalry threatens his world, a mysterious shaman sends a Lakota brave into the future as an assassin. Now someone powerful knows his secret and will stop at nothing to destroy him.

Best Scripts: The Nautilus

Written by: J.D. Sachs
Country: US

Feature-length screenplay. Explores the origins of Jules Verne's classic anti-hero, Captain Nemo.

Best Scripts: The Screenplay

Written by: Patrick Assouad
Country: Canada
premiere!

A madcap journey into the writer's world and reality through this short story.

Best Shorts: The Puppeteer

Director: Carmelle Danneman
Country: US
Running time: 7:00

Two friends wonder who controls the strings attached to their wrists in this short drama.

Best Shorts: Diary Of A Girl

Director: Sara Marandi
Country: Thailand
Running time: 1:00
premiere!

A short film that follows a beautiful stranger in a colorful journey through an unfamiliar land.

Best Shorts: The Fantastic Love of Beeboy & Flowergirl

Director: Clemens Roth
Country: Germany
Running time: 10:00

Peter is being followed by killer bees, Elsa collects exotic flowers from all over the world. To be together, they both have to overcome their fantasies.

Best Shorts: Gang...

Director: Marie-Rose Osta
Country: Lebanon
Running time: 3:37
premiere!

A man riding his motorcycle in the streets of Beirut, is tailed by other motorcycles. Afraid, he escapes the gang and locks himself in his apartment. A mysterious woman gives him an 8mm camera. That 8mm camera will save his life...

Best Shorts: Aden

Director: Gary H Lee
Country: US
Running time: 10:00

A man stays one step ahead of nefarious forces in the race to find a child who may hold the key to mankind’s future.

Best Shorts: Super Sex

Director: Matthew Modine
Country: US
Running time: 8:19
premiere!

What kind of birthday present to you give the dad (Ed Asner) who has everything? His kids (Kevin Nealon and Elizabeth Perkins) decide on a gift they never before imagined!

Best Snipler: Talk It Up TV

Director: Anny Havland
Country: US
Running time: :30
premiere!

When Chrissie was just 8 years old she started riding horses for therapeutic reasons to help with her anxiety. Since her progress she continues to help others with special needs through the same method.

Best Snipler: #FeedMe

Director: Alberto Guglielmi
Country: US
Running time: :30
premiere!

#Feedme is a reaction to the modern world of social media. The focus is shifted from the person who shares moments on social media, to the person whom we are sharing moments with.

Best Snipler: Hindsight

Director: A.C. Bryan
Country: US
Running time: :32
premiere!

Mike and Lauren, a young married couple going through a rough patch, are unknowingly observed by a mysterious figure. Will they realize the truth before it's too late?

Best Snipler: beweistheorie I

Director: Artem Tarkhanov
Country: Russia
Running time: :30
premiere!

Video art project 'beweistheorie I' explores turning points in culture of early 20th century — modernism in art and foundational crisis in mathematics. In addition to historical inspirations, the work represents a new aesthetic find in prime numbers distribution.

Best : The Love To End All Love

Director: Konstantin Ferstl
Country: Germany
Running time: 5:00
premiere!

What to do when love ends? From a train ride through Siberia and North Korea, director Konstantin Ferstl returned home with a frozen left hand and this film poem on love and loss, heart tones of the Old World: The Love To End All Love.

Best SRC: Anti-Street Harassment PSA

Director: Katherine Filaseta
Country: USA
Running time: 3:18
premiere!

A music video inspired by Bollywood depicts a woman walking down the street. This short public service announcement makes a statement about street harassment in New York City through a re-appropriation of the lyrics of Gnarls Barkley's

Best SRC: Nepal Hereos

Director: Aaditi Dutt
Country: India/Nepal
Running time: 3:39

Ordinary people came together to make an extraordinary difference in helping the people of Nepal recover from the April 2015 Earthquake.

Best SRC: The Craving

Director: Omar Leyva & Silvie Zamora
Country: US
Running time: 1:00
premiere!

The E.A.T.S. Community fuels the conscious food movement toward with this fresh, topical, comedic multimedia series crafted to make everyone hungry for healthy in 60 seconds.

Best SRC: The Cabinet Decision

Director: Mayan Engelman
Country: Israel
Running time: 3:54
premiere!

Israel and Palestine, two entities competing over their one beating heart. Will they both survive?

Best SRC: The Small Grain Of Rice

Director: Dirk Boehling
Country: Germany
Running time: 5:58
premiere!

It's the story of a special meeting between two strangers in the town Daegu in South Korea. The true story of a great inspiration, leading to the founding of the first SOS-Children's Village outside of europe.

Best SRC: The Trials of Spring - Bahrain: Our Oath

Director: Gini Reticker and Lauren Feeney
Country: US and Bahrain
Running time: 4:58

Tiny Bahrain was one of the few Gulf States to be swept up in the revolutionary fervor. But the government response was swift and brutal. Among those arrested in the crackdown were 50 medical professionals whose “crime” was helping injured protesters. Dr. Nada Dhaif was one of them. She was tortured in prison, and after her release, founded an organization that treats victims of torture and violence in Bahrain.

Best SRC: Imagine LA

Director: Warren Tessler
Country: US
Running time: 5:00

The video that Rip Media Group produced for ImagineLA showcases ImagineLA's inspiring program to utilize mentorship and volunteerism to aid the homeless to self-sufficiency.

Best SRC: KARMAACCOUNT

Director: Lukas Klaschinski
Country: Germany
Running time: 1:06
premiere!

A man is heading ruthlessly towards his goal and loses connection to what he once was: A child!

Best SRC: By Sea

Director: Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren
Country: US
Running time: 1:35
premiere!

Produced for the Women's Refugee Commission, this socially-responsible PSA humanizes the terror and vulnerability faced by refugee mothers, daughters, sisters, and professionals in order to create a unique call-to-action dramatizing the flight of Immigrants from war-torn regions.

Best S.T.E.A.M: Years & Years: An Artificial Experience Music Motion Picture

Director: Brian Harrison
Country: USA, UK, Germany & Sweden
Running time: 3:53
premiere!

Man (Artist Years & Years) and machine (Artificial Intelligence chose the pictures and order for this project) now share the true psychedelic nature of consciousness and the imagination.

Best S.T.E.A.M: Between The Lines

Director: Rollo Hollins
Country: UK, US
Running time: 7:30
premiere!

Two young actors, strangers, are thrown together in a casting before spending a fleeting summer rehearsing and learning to fall in love on stage. As they are gently guided by their director (cupid), their own feelings take over.

Best S.T.E.A.M: 11 Years

Director: Simon Begemann
Country: Germany
Running time: 19:32
premiere!

Would you want to live another life? A rich old man uses all his money to get his mind and soul transferred to an artificial young and healthy body that he may use for eleven years, while his old body is kept safely in a cryogenic vessel. He meets a young woman and falls in love with her, so he hides the truth. But what will he do when his eleven years are over?

Best S.T.E.A.M: The Treatment

Director: Marvin Meiendresch
Country: Germany
Running time: 6:10
premiere!

The story of isolated patient Linus. More and more a rigid routine consisting of meals, exercise, lulling music, irritating smoke and examinations by his only attachment figure Dr. Frei causes him suffering. One day Linus notices the massive door to his room has been left ajar and he takes the chance to escape. What he sees outside makes him question: Is he really who he believes he is?

Best S.T.E.A.M: The Creativity Project

Director: Steven G Smith
Country: US
Running time: 3:10
premiere!

Creativity seems to be one of those topics that we have very little deep understanding of. Most of us have tremendous admiration for people that are highly creative. This short film is the first in a series of short stories exploring the creative mind.

Best S.T.E.A.M: Floating City

Director: Leah Churchill
Country: China
Running time: :43
premiere!

Floating City follows Jenny, an American expat, exploring the city as a nightlife journalist in Shanghai China

Best S.T.E.A.M: Toil of Three Cities

Director: Barbara Rosenthal
Country: US
Running time: 15:23
premiere!

As an artist, Rosenthal is known as an Old Master of New Media because of her long history in media including photography-video- performance- projection- installation- interactive- electronic and digital media-text- collage- prints- artists' books and objects.

Best Student: 250 Cash Award given to Best Student Content

New Media Film Festival and The Matthew Martino Benevolent Fund have teamed up to offer $250.00 Cash Award to the Best Student Content selected from all student submissions. Award Ceremony is June 9th 2016 during the Festival.

Best Student: Find Your Hope

Director: Kimberly MacNeil
Country: US
Running time: 1:29
premiere!

Follows the story of an under-appreciated accountant battling self-doubt who is seeking to find a solution to his problems.

Best Student: Synapse

Director: David Bertran
Country: Spain, US
Running time: 1:46
premiere!

A delusional schizophrenic patient in a mental institution suspects his nurse is trying to poison him. Meanwhile, his decision making gets increasingly impaired as several neuronal groups in his brain struggle to decide what the next step should be in order to escape the hospital and save his life.

Best Student: Themes & Variations

Director: Ziye Liu
Country: US
Running time: 3:58
premiere!

A fully CG rendered short film based upon contemporary artworks from artists Yayoi Kusama and Ai Weiwei, exploring the infinite possibilities by using 3D digital art to create new “versions” of existing artworks.

Best 3D: International Art Exhibit - enjoy throughout the festival in the main hall

Director: Prince Lorenzo de Medici
Country: Italy

The painting Il Buio (Lux) by Prince Lorenzo de Medici portrays Lorenzo Il Magnifico, patron of the Renaissance's Enlightenment after the dark Medieval Era, and marks the beginning of the artistic journey for Prince Lorenzo de Medici, 37 years-old descendent and heir to the Medici dynasty of Florence. Art is his passion, as it is stated in his Renaissance pop collection created in Florence and Rome in 2014, inspired by original Medici family portraits that he owns in his palace in Italy. Lorenzo’s contemporary artworks represent the drama and splendor of the Renaissance translated to our time.

Best 3D: We Built A Ship 3D

Director: Stefan Sargent
Country: US
Running time: 17:00
premiere!

In Sausalito, California, 150 volunteers are building a traditional wooden ship based on a 1891 brigantine design by local shipwright, Matthew Turner.

Best 3D: The Simple Carnival

Director: Jeff Boller
Country: US
Running time: 3:58

The story of a man and a woman with no romantic relationship in either of their lives and the politics that ensue. Created in 1 1/2 years by 1 person using modified clip art, a color printer, and a custom-programmed version of Blender.

Best 3D: Privet Earth The End of The Broken World Ivan Smirnov Solo

Russian born, Ivan Smirnov was heavily influenced by the American/British pop/rock scene as well as Classical and Electronic music, and started writing his own musical material in English at the age of 8. His band, Privet Earth made Grammy ballot for "Best Rock Song" and "Best Rock Performance.

Best 3D: Age And The Universe

Director: Spencer Bakalar and Bethany Mollenkof
Written by: Hailey Branson-Potts
Country: US
Running time: 2:05
premiere!

A Loving Tribute to Angela McEwan, a family member of New Media Film Festival for years, she will be greatly missed and very happy we are showing this clip, thanks Los Angeles Times! At the NoHo Senior Arts Colony, it's never too late to be creative. Angela McEwan, a resident of the NoHo Senior Arts Colony, shares a poem she wrote in the colony's poetry class for senior citizens.

Best Trailers: Convergence

Director: Corey Gilbert
Country: US
Running time: 2:31
premiere!

An undefined force draws together two scientists from separate continents. Together, they may alter the future of energy.

Best Trailers: The Brainwashing Of My Dad

Director: Jen Senko
Country: US
Running time: 1:17
premiere!

A filmmaker examines the rise of right-wing media through the lens of her father, whose immersion in it radicalized him and rocked the foundation of their family. She discovers this political phenomenon recurring in living rooms everywhere, and reveals the consequences conservative media has had on families and a nation.

Best Trailers: Revolution

Director: Rob Stewart
Country: Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Ecuador, US, Mexico, Canada, Denmark, Australia
Running time: 2:00

Produced by Gus Van Sant, Revolution is a film about changing the world. The true-life adventure of Rob Stewart, this follow-up to his acclaimed Sharkwater documentary continues his remarkable journey; one that will take him through 15 countries over four years, and where he'll discover that it's not only sharks that are in grave danger – it's humanity itself. In an effort to uncover the truth and find the secret to saving the ecosystems we depend on for survival, Stewart embarks on a life-threatening adventure. From the coral reefs in Papua New Guinea and deforestation in Madagascar to the largest and most destructive environmental project in history in Alberta, Canada, he reveals that all of our actions are interconnected and that environmental degradation, species loss, ocean acidification, pollution and food/water scarcity are reducing the Earth's ability to house humans. How did this happen, and what will it take to change the course that humanity has set itself on?

Best Trailers: A.L.L.I.A.N.C.E.

Director: Kenneth Mader
Country: US
Running time: 1:14
premiere!

The head of a secret agency and her team must confront her past and an emerging threat that could alter the course of humanity - or perhaps already has.

Best Trailers: BETA

Director: Layton Matthews
Country: US
Running time: 2:17
premiere!

While beta testing a revolutionary Virtual Reality platform, Jake meets Natalie and they begin to date online. When he learns that she is an Artificial Intelligence, he’s forced to confront what it means to be human and risks his freedom to save her from deletion.

Best Trailers: Mermaid On Mars

Director: Jon Peters
Country: US
Running time: 1:00
premiere!

A young boy travels through a portal to Mars where he discovers the planet's unimaginable secret.

Best Virtual Reality: LIVYATANIM: Myth

Director: Or Fleisher
Country: Israel
Running time: 3:59
premiere!

LIVYATANIM: Myth is an interactive web based virtual reality short film, featuring the music of LIVYATANIM.

Best Virtual Reality: Pluto VR

Director: Jonathan Kitzen
Country: US
Running time: 3:00

Should Pluto be the size of a basket ball or beach ball or so big you can't see all of it? Should you fly over it or be allowed to chose a path? In the end we have just worked out a new recipe which is counter intuitive which we hope gives you a moment to sit back and ponder on your place in life - the god effect.

Best Virtual Reality: Witness 360: 7/7

Director: Darren Emerson
Country: UK
Running time: 13:00
premiere!

An immersive VR documentary about one woman’s experience of the London 7/7 bombings.

Best Virtual Reality: Nobel's Nightmare

Director: Chamsy Sarkis
Country: Syria
Running time: 5:08
premiere!

Immersive reportage shot in VR, the journalist is embedded with the "White Helmets" - Syria's rescue teams. The movie transports the viewer in the daily life of those brave teams - recently been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize- rushing to sites of bombing to save lives.

Best Web Series: 600 Hours - Ep 1

Director: Sarah Paige
Country: US
Running time: 3:32

Caroline, a frustrated actress, is dumped by her agent and decides to go to beauty school.

Best Web Series: The Culinary Traveler - Baton Rouge

Director: Aaron Spigner
Country: US
Running time: 5:20
premiere!

The Culinary Traveler is a trip to a location giving you the behind the scenes of what it is like to be a local in that area. Showing you places to eat, things to do and people to meet. It never gets boring with Brian, The Culinary Traveler.

Best Web Series: New York Close Up Ep Jamian Julian Villan

Director: Rafael Salazar, Ava Wiland
Country: US
Running time: 6:01
premiere!

An on-going web-based documentary film series devoted to artists in the first decade of their professional career, living and working in New York City that collaborates with artists to imagine new ways of telling stories about their creative processes and personal backgrounds. Presented online as a suite of interrelated short films, the series chronicles young artists as their works and lives evolve over time.

Best Web Series: Gigi: Almost American - Judging Gigi

Director: Ty Clancey
Country: US
Running time: 8:00
premiere!

The lovably inept foreigner Gigi finds himself in the hot seat in the midst of a court hearing. He’ll learn the true meaning of “cruel and unusual punishment.

Best Web Series: Riftworld Chronicles Ep 8

Director: Jonathan Williams
Country: Canda
Running time: 4:56
premiere!

A struggling journalist teams up with a dimension-traveling wizard who is stuck in our world without his magic powers. When a rift between the realms opens up and fantastical foes invade, they are forced to solve the mystery of what binds their worlds, and their fates, together. Based on the Award Winning Short The Portal

Best Web Series: The Cav Kid Ep 1

Director: Chelsea Bo & Sean Drummond
Country: US
Running time: 5:46

Kelly Cavalier, a reckless singer/songwriter who tries to make a name for herself in the LA music scene, while being a broke-ass 23-year-old.

Best Web Series: Married Without Kids Ep What Nana Said

Director: Grinnell Morris
Country: US
Running time: 3:02
premiere!

A married couple grapples with the challenges of getting pregnant later in life.

Best Web Series: 1 Minute Meal: Ganesha's Favorite Meal

Director: James Boo
Country: US
Running time: 1:05
premiere!

Each year, Hindu communities all over the world take part in Ganesh Chaturthi, a multi-day festival honoring Ganesha, celebrated deity and "remover of obstacles." In New York this extended period of rituals, prayers, song, dance, and food are hosted by the Ganesha temple in Flushing, Queens.

Best Web Series: How To Not Ep Be A Jealous Mess

Director: Gia Vangieri
Country: US
Running time: 5:54
premiere!

You're not that into him, but that doesn't stop you from being jealous enough to break into his apartment. Dedicated to the best friend on the other side of the phone who talks you through your lowest and most embarrassing moments. xo

Best Web Series: Karma's A B*tch Ep 1

Director: Annie Wood & Cameron Diskin
Country: US
Running time: 3:46
premiere!

Karma comes down to Earth as a free spirited being with magic powers in order to nudge people into taking responsibility for their actions. In episode 1 she helps out a waiter who gets stiffed. Remember, Karma's only a bitch if you are.

Best Web Series: How To Make It In Berlin - Goldhahn & Sampson

Director: Justine Simonson
Country: Germany
Running time: 6:11
premiere!

A web-series about small business owners, startup founders and everyday success stories from Main Streets all around the world. This episode features Sascha Rimkus and Andreas Klöckner who took their passion for food and wine and created the epic international pantry Goldhahn & Sampson, a first in Berlin at the time when it opened.

Best Web Series: Spotlight California Ep 5

Director: Kohl Norville
Country: US
Running time: 7:15
premiere!

Comedian and filmmaker Kiran Deol as she investigates the side of the state we don't see on postcards - the side where some residents don't have access to water or clean air. Kiran takes us on a California road trip unlike any we've experienced.

Best Web Series: #Cybriety Ep 2

Director: Blake Silver
Country: US
Running time: 4:02

Two technology-obsessed millennials decide to give up all their technology and lead internet-free lives.

Best Web Series: Nerdtabulous Ep Anime Expo

Director: Tara-Nicole Azarian
Country: US
Running time: 2:25
premiere!

We're nerds and we're fabulous which is why our show is called Nerdtabulous! If it's geek, nerdy or dorky, we will have a show about it!

Best Web Series: Talking To Grandma Ep 7

Director: Ula Zawadzka
Country: Poland
Running time: 2:27
premiere!

A dark-humored web series based on a “what if” scenario: what if the Granddaughter was always telling the truth when talking to her Grandma. It’s inspired by real-life conversations between actress Ula Zawadzka and her grandmother.

Best Web Series: The Achiever Ep 105

Director: Nardeep Khurmi
Country: US
Running time: 4:11
premiere!

The Achiever is the story of a man who puts little effort in to life and gets by on even smaller victories.

Best Web Series: Sprinkles and Buttons Ep 1

Director: Steve Miranda and Annique Arredondo
Country: US
Running time: 2:32
premiere!

A canine, buddy comedy that is grounded in the classical comedic stylings of "The Odd Couple" but carries the heartfelt weight of a Don Bluth film. Sprinkles and Buttons is a commentary on unlikely friendships and their ability to inspire compassion.

Best Web Series: Timeout Ep 101

Director: Gary Allen
Country: US
Running time: 2:28
premiere!

A team of misfit weekend warriors bitch about everything but the game during a timeout!

Best Web Series: Almost Asian Ep GT

Director: Chris McPherson
Country: US
Running time: 2:11
premiere!

A unique and witty comedic short scripted webseries that explores the ethnic dichotomies and racial diversities prevalent in youth culture today. Each episode polaroids Katie's personal and professional struggles as she awkwardly attempts to maneuver through life as a half-Asian mix.

Best Web Series: Ask J Ep 3

Director: Michelle Steffes
Country: US
Running time: 3:13
premiere!

Google can't answer the big questions in life, but there’s an app for that! Meet Jay, an employee in The Internet’s human app division, who risks life and limb to bring you the big answers via his real world experience—despite being allergic to his job.

Best Web Series: Snippets Of A Lifetime Ep Edgar

Director: Carolin Kraft
Country: Germany
Running time: 3:21

Every day we pass hundreds of strangers. Have you ever wondered what stories hide behind their faces and attitudes? 12 people reveal their most private thoughts in 12 short episodes. Intense, sometimes heartbreaking, funny and touching.

Emmys, Marvel, HBO, BMI