ShoutoutLA published an interview with FILA programmer Jeff Howard. If you want to know what this film festival is all about, it’s a great read! Click here to go to the article.
2021 Awards
Grand Jury Prize Winners
Best Feature Film – Comedy – Hawk and Rev: Vampire Slayers
Best Feature Film – Drama – The Imaginary State
Best Feature Film – Documentary – Another Child
Best SciFi FIlm – Elipsis
Best Short Film – Comedy – Sous Pression (Under Pressure)
Best Short Film – Documentary – The Kids Are Still Here
Best Short Film – Drama – Six Nights
Best Short Film – Arthouse – Acknowledgements
Best Short Film – Experimental – Cinema
Best Short Film – Horror – Koreatown Ghost Story
Best Music Video – ODDKO D4TM
Best Director – SB Edwards, Fall Back Down
Best Actress in a Lead Role – Co-Leads: Lyndsey Frank & Bree Helders, Bree and Lyndsey are Actors
Best Actor in a Lead Role – Benny Elledge, Kringle Time
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Aadila Dosani, Fall Back Down
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Vernon Wells, Kringle Time
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Ari Schneider, Hawk and Rev: Vampire Slayers
Best Performance by a Cast – Drama – The Imaginary State
Best Performance by a Cast – Comedy – Hawk and Rev: Vampire Slayers
Best Performance by a Voice Actor – Iggy Pop, Squirrel Mountain ‘Iggy To The Rescue’
Best Screenplay – SB Edwards, Fall Back Down
Best Cinematography – Henrik Jensen, The Imaginary State
Best Visual Effects – Christian Klein, Sweet Nothings
Best Production Design – In the Company of Crows
Best Screenplay – Feature (Unproduced) – go-LOVE-go John Griffin
Best Screenplay – Feature (Unproduced) – Splicer
Best Screenplay – Pilot (Unproduced) – She Creature Maria Krovatin & Chris Krovatin
Best Screenplay – Pilot (Unproduced) – Rennies Daniel Roche
Audience Award Winners
Documentary – A Perfect Vintage
Feature Film – Fall Back Down
Short Films – Comedy – “Screwball Short Film Program” – Coco and Colby, Bree and Lyndsey are Actors & Lizard Brain
Short Film – Drama -“Authenticity Short Film Program” – Break, Delivery & Six Nights
Short Film – Experimental – “Poetic Short Film Program” – Acknowledgements, Telling Time, Liberate & It Doesn’t Matter
Short Film – Horror – “Horror Spotlight Program” – Clean Cut Clean Cut & The Strong Box
Filmmakers Award Winners
Outstanding Short Film – Documentary – Woman of Courage
Outstanding Short Film – Comedy – Achan and Ezra
Outstanding Short Film – Comedy – Kia Summer Sales Event
Outstanding Director – Comedy – David Labrecque, Sous Pression (Under Pressure)
Outstanding Screenplay – Comedy – Omri Rose, Achan and Ezra
Outstanding Acting, Cast – Comedy – Achan and Ezra
Outstanding Acting, Individual – Comedy – Jon Ebeling, Lizard Brain
Outstanding Acting, Comedy Duo – Gerald B. Fillmore & Vanessa Benavente, Hold For Applause
Outstanding Cinematography – Comedy – Eric Bader, Kia Summer Sales Event
Outstanding Short Film – Drama – 11-95
Outstanding Short Film – Drama – She Used to Laugh
Outstanding Director – Drama – Robert Brogden, Six Nights
Outstanding Screenplay – Drama – Greg Berman, She Used to Laugh
Outstanding Acting, Cast – Drama – 11-95
Outstanding Acting, Individual – Drama -Kelly Frye, A Call Above the Clouds
Outstanding Cinematography – Drama – Ino Yang Popper, A Call Above the Clouds
Outstanding Short Film – Experimental – When Snow Falls
Outstanding Director – Experimental – Theodore Knighton, Cinema
Outstanding Screenplay – Experimental – Zack Browne, It Doesn’t Matter
Outstanding Performance, Cast – Experimental – Ted Louis Levy & Barbara Duffy, When Snow Falls
Outstanding Performance, Individual – Experimental – Ingrid Rogers, Liberate
Outstanding Cinematography – Experimental – Theodore Knighton & Co, Cinema
Outstanding Short Film – Horror – Clean Cut
Outstanding Directors – Horror – Minsun Park & Teddy Tenenbaum, Koreatown Ghost Story
Outstanding Screenplay – Horror – Minsun Park & Teddy Tenenbaum, Koreatown Ghost Story
Outstanding Acting, Cast – Horror – Koreatown Ghost Story
Outstanding Acting, Individual – Horror – Joseph Fox, The Strong Box
Outstanding Cinematography – Horror – Jon Keng, Koreatown Ghost Story
Outstanding Short Film – SciFi – Anomaly
Outstanding Director – SciFi – Michael Jeanpert, Anomaly
Outstanding Screenplay – SciFi – Christian Klein, Sweet Nothings
Outstanding Acting, Cast – SciFi – Anomaly
Outstanding Acting, Individual – SciFi – Roberto Calvet, Anomaly
Outstanding Cinematography – SciFi – Victor Ingles, Sweet Nothings
Outstanding Music Video – I Don’t Need A Sledgehammer To Start A Fire
Programmer’s Award Winners
Exceptional Filmmaking – Execution
Exceptional Filmmaking – Home By 11
Exceptional Filmmaking – In A Strange Room
Exceptional Filmmaking – Jiyan
Exceptional Filmmaking – Squirrel Mountain ‘Iggy To The Rescue’
Exceptional Filmmaking – The Sword That Waits
Prize Definitions/Explanations
Grand Jury Prizes – determined by the festival’s official selection committee.
Audience Awards – determined by highly scientific instruments placed throughout the theater to determine audience satisfaction.
Filmmakers Awards – given only to short films, these are determined by a panel of fifteen filmmakers whose films have been Official Selections previous years.
Programmer’s Prize – given to film(s) that festival programmer Jeff Howard cannot bear to see go without an award. These films are generally off the beaten path and break conventions of format and genre.
Opening Day Festival Mixer
Covid-18 may have kept us out of the theater, but our Official Selection filmmakers, screenwriters, actors and producers still got a taste of our “normal” film festival fun with the FILA 2021 Opening Day Festival Mixer.
Click below to see the photos!
breakLAND
2021 Official Selection: Short Film – Comedy
Eddy wanted a career in photography. Instead, he’s pitching photo sales in the nation’s 27th best theme park as he finds himself caught in the middle of new co-workers and old grudges.
Director(s): Luisa Novo
Writer(s): James Hughes
Producer(s): Luisa Novo, Mario Torres Torres
Cast: Austin Carr, Robert Olsen, Colin Borden, Josh Nadler, Daisy Fernandez
Fall Back Down
2021 Official Selection: Music Video
The official animated lyric video for SOFI K’s new single “Fall Back Down” (2020).
Director(s): Anders Sundstedt
Music: SOFI K
ODDKO D4TM
2021 Official Selection: Music Video
ODDKO’s music video “D4TM” is a post-apocalyptic visual feast, set in a dystopian world where people get lured into believing in a miracle cure.
Director(s): Giovanni Bucci
Producer(s): Void N’ Disorder
Ellipsis
2021 Official Selection: Short Film – SciFi
Submerged in a dystopia two opposing forces fight for the right to either create or destroy cycles. A look into the relationship between human nature and technology takes you to a journey you won’t suspect.
Director(s): Jorge Corpi
Writer(s): Jorge Corpi
Producer(s): Jorge Corpi
It Doesn’t Matter
2021 Official Selection: Short Film – Experimental/Arthouse
It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, where you’re from or how good of a person you are or try to be—as a Black person in America, you’re always a target.
Director(s): Zack Browne
Writer(s): Zack Browne
Producer(s): Zack Browne
Break
2021 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama
After being bullied and insulted, a 15-year-old high school freshmen stands up and fights back against seniors on school’s basketball court.
Director(s): Shiran Wang
Writer(s): Shiran Wang
Producer(s): Shiran Wang, Galadriel Lee
Cast: Kai Johnson, Izaiah Emuge, Ashten Barnes, Nick Coleman
The Holdback
2021 Official Selection: Short Film – Comedy
A boyfriend and girlfriend discuss the one obstacle holding them back from their future together.
Director(s): Joey Krulock
Writer(s): Daniel Evich
Producer(s): Joey Krulock, Daniel Evich
Cast: Daniel Evich, Brittney Levine