CONTEMPORARY MEDIA
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Within our festival's expansive submission pool of 1,184 works, the Contemporary Media selection emerges as a vital laboratory for experimental storytelling, where traditional boundaries between disciplines dissolve into what media theorist Lev Manovich terms "deep remixability." This section represents the cutting edge of artistic innovation, where dance, poetry, artificial intelligence, and social commentary converge to create new forms of cinematic language.
The selection demonstrates remarkable range: Sylvain Bes's "Blue Love" employs aquatic metaphor to explore psychological submersion, while Christopher Anthony Tajah's powerful "Under Heaven's Eyes" uses solo performance to confront systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd's murder, echoing the urgency of contemporary protest art. Arthur Machado's "LLM - Modello Linguistico Divino" represents a pioneering fusion of artificial intelligence with high fashion aesthetics, while Carlos E. Lesmes's "Play/Repeat" excavates the intimate geography of human relationships through choreographic cinema. These works collectively demonstrate how contemporary media can simultaneously embrace technological innovation while remaining deeply rooted in fundamental human experiences and social concerns. |
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Best Episodic Series or Pilot
1st Place Winner · Gig Work (USA) · Max Giraldo 2nd Place Nominee · Pickleball Is Life: Dill With It! (USA) · Carol Ann DeMarco, Ethan de Aguiar 3rd Place Nominee · The Ange And Addi Show (USA) · Dustin James Leighton Nominee · The Banshee Gang: Recipe For Magic (Bulgaria) · Angel Georgiev Nominee · Don't Mess With Shiva Part 1 (Canada) · Lorenzo West Semi-Finalist · A Guys Guy (USA) · Josh Levine Semi-Finalist · Murder In BB Minor (USA) · Philip William Lewis Semi-Finalist · Arlington Heights (USA) · Eric Ayala Semi-Finalist · Abnormal Fixation (USA) · John Kenneth Muir Semi-Finalist · Happy Even After (USA) · Ailise Beales, Zara DuCrôs Best Experimental Film 1st Place Winner · Play/Repeat (Estonia) · Carlos E. Lesmes 2nd Place Nominee · Woven (USA) · Vilsoni Tausie Hereniko, Alex Cantatore 3rd Place Nominee · Zero Eight (USA) · Noah Ward Semi-Finalist · Die Frage Nach Dem Fenster "Questioning The Window" (Austria) · Valentina Himmelbauer Semi-Finalist · Scraggliness (Canada) · Johanne Chagnon Semi-Finalist · Viaggio: A Journey (USA) · Colette Standish Semi-Finalist · Quiet City (Canada) · R. Keith Smith Semi-Finalist · Skies Over Ground Zero One (USA) · Bryan Hamilton Chadwick Semi-Finalist · Incubate (USA) · Alexander Walker Miller Semi-Finalist · Reflections Of Entanglement (UK) · Alice Karveli Semi-Finalist · I See Red. (Portugal) · Silvestre Correia Semi-Finalist · My Shadow (USA) · Astra Silver Burke Semi-Finalist · Marker 187 (USA) · Chaz Fatur Best Dance or Poetic Film 1st Place Winner · Blue Love (France) · Sylvain Bes 2nd Place Nominee · Play/Repeat (Estonia) · Carlos E. Lesmes 3rd Place Nominee · Osmose (France) · Eva Motreff Semi-Finalist · Mourir Un Peu "To Die A Little" (France) · Pauline Morgane Wicki, Olive Pascha Semi-Finalist · À L'est De Nod (Canada) · Dominic Leclerc, Andréane Leclerc Semi-Finalist · Mother/Other (USA) · Heidi Duckler Semi-Finalist · Son (USA) · Joel Mejia Smith Semi-Finalist · Delight (USA) · Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein Best Poetic Film 1st Place Winner · Under Heaven's Eyes (UK) · Christopher Anthony Tajah 2nd Place Nominee · I'm Fine (USA) · Aidan Sinconis 3rd Place Nominee · Poems From The Archives (UK) · Damian Wilk Semi-Finalist · D-Minor (USA) · Hayden James Hicks Semi-Finalist · Be Not Afraid (Australia) · Philip Rang Semi-Finalist · Grandpa's Magical Marshmallow Moss (USA) · Bryan Hamilton Chadwick Semi-Finalist · Fugue For A Spiritual Life (UK) · Thomas Wohlmut Semi-Finalist · Cascading Matter: Being In Between (Switzerland) · Raphael Sommer Semi-Finalist · The Imagination Of A Child (Italy) · Cesare Catania Semi-Finalist · Paradise Takeaway (UK) · Paul Cooke Semi-Finalist · Re: Growth (USA) · Douglas Ridloff Semi-Finalist · From Pain To Beauty (Spain) · Elena Del Mar, Oscar Oliveri, Arturo J. Telle Semi-Finalist · Burial Rites (UK) · Marius Grose Best Original Podcast 1st Place Winner · Camlann (UK) · Ella Watts 2nd Place Nominee · Spiked Eggs (USA) · Jane Watson 3rd Place Nominee · Safe Society (USA) · Chris Shimojima Semi-Finalist · Diversity Work (Australia) · Pearl Tan |
Best New Media
1st Place Winner · LLM - Modello Linguistico Divino (New Zealand) · Arthur Machado 2nd Place Nominee · Poems From The Archives (UK) · Damian Wilk 3rd Place Nominee · OCTA: Global Trading Made Clear (Saint Lucia) · Joao Manoel Machado, Henrique Bueno Ribas Ribeiro, Eduardo Pereira Lubiazi Semi-Finalist · Fogo "Fire Walk With Me" (Brazil) · Rafael Beck Semi-Finalist · Pianocide (USA) · Brice Blanloeil Best Fan Film 1st Place Winner · The Punisher: Nightmare (USA) · Brandon Forgione 2nd Place Nominee · Project Shadow (Brazil) · João Filipe Santiago 3rd Place Nominee · Bonds Of Courage (Czech Republic) · Helena Bernardová Best Film Trailer 1st Place Winner · The Empire Sky (USA) · Daniel Holland 2nd Place Nominee · The Fostered (USA) · Gunnar E Garrett Jr., Ritchie Greer Semi-Finalist · Nightfall (USA) · JR Michael Best Music Video 1st Place Winner · Humbe 'Kintsugi' (Mexico) · Emi Rodríguez 2nd Place Nominee · JSWISS 'One' ft. Marcus Strickland (USA) · Brice Blanloeil 3rd Place Nominee · Humbe, Reik 'Malbec' (Mexico) · Emi Rodríguez Nominee · Noam's Song 2 (Israel) · Din Perlis Nominee · Alan Navarro 'El Crush' (Mexico) · Antonio Roma Best Original Song & Performance 1st Place Winner · JSWISS 'One' ft. Marcus Strickland (USA) · Brice Blanloeil 2nd Place Nominee · Myph 'Skoro' (Belarus) · Kiryl Nong 3rd Place Nominee · Humbe 'Kintsugi' (Mexico) · Emi Rodríguez Nominee · Winter Love (France) · Secret Cities & Thomas Lyden Nominee · Liv Belda 'Lovesick' (USA) · Nick Benjamin Semi-Finalist · Daniel Page 'Mysterious Origin' (USA) · Dena K. Miller Semi-Finalist · Wino-Strut & Friends 'Angel That Ain't Sent From Above' (USA) · Robert Cook Semi-Finalist · Jehan 'Set A Fire' (USA) · Jehan Rabah Assria, Erik Bergamini Best Experimental Music Video 1st Place Winner · Applepicker - Hangin' Around (Belarus) · Kiryl Nong 2nd Place Nominee · JSWISS 'One' ft. Marcus Strickland (USA) · Brice Blanloeil 3rd Place Nominee · Humbe 'Kintsugi' (Mexico) · Emi Rodríguez Nominee · The Meeps 'Love Louder' (USA) · Olivier Staphylas Nominee · Myph 'Skoro' (Belarus) · Kiryl Nong Semi-Finalist · Nightwish-Perfume Of The Timeless (Finland) · Ville Lipiainen Semi-Finalist · Jiafeng 'Netflix' (China) · Erjun Peng Semi-Finalist · There Is A Moose (UK) · Robert Hicks |
Relevant categories from other sections...
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Best Cinematography
1st Place Winner · Blue Love (France) · Sylvain Bes 2nd Place Nominee · Kruz' (USA) · Loic Zimmermann 3rd Place Nominee · Líbranos Del Mal "Deliver Us From Evil" (Spain) · Andrea Casaseca Nominee · La Croix (France) · Joris Fleurot Nominee · Mille Ponti (Italy) · Nicolò Novek Nominee · Oyster Sea (USA) · Chengyu Lu Best Original Score 1st Place Winner · Blue Love (France) · Sylvain Bes 2nd Place Nominee · Enescu, Skinned Alive (Romania) · Toma Enache 3rd Place Nominee · La Mélodie Des Cendres "The Melody Of Ashes" (Switzerland) · Jonathan Moratal Nominee · The Nephew (UK) · Wilhelm Kuhn Nominee · Bubbling Synapses (France) · William Eguienta Nominee · Osmose (France) · Eva Motreff Semi-Finalist · The Gale II (USA) · Timothy Wenzel Semi-Finalist · Cascading Matter: Being In Between (Switzerland) · Raphael Sommer Semi-Finalist · Star Valley (China) · Yaoqi Huang Semi-Finalist · Chain (USA) · Ling Han Semi-Finalist · Botching (UK) · Denis Kilty |
Best Lead Actor Performance
1st Place Winner · Muerto De Risa "The Last Laugh" (Peru) · César Ritter 2nd Place Nominee · Satu: Year Of The Rabbit (UK) · Itthiphone Sonepho 3rd Place Nominee · Poyyamozhi (India) · Jaffar Idukki Nominee · Enescu, Skinned Alive (Romania) · Mircea Dragoman Nominee · Under Heaven's Eyes (UK) · Christopher Anthony Tajah Semi-Finalist · In Your Blood: Hoki Naiden (Japan) · Ashiya Takahiro Semi-Finalist · Forbidden Love (USA) · JB Brown Best Ensemble Performance 1st Place Winner · Enescu, Skinned Alive (Romania) · Toma Enache 2nd Place Nominee · Mercy Of Others (Australia) · Damien Giglietta 3rd Place Nominee · Tricked And Treated (USA) · Victoria Monai Richards Nominee · Son-Of-A-Preacher Man (USA) · Dr. Brandon M. Glover Semi-Finalist · Mahalakshmi Path: The Evolution (India) · Prashant Naik Semi-Finalist · $ Broke Boi (USA) · David Bell, Mecca Medina Semi-Finalist · Pickleball Is Life: Dill With It! (USA) · Carol Ann DeMarco, Ethan de Aguiar Semi-Finalist · The Ange And Addi Show (USA) · Dustin James Leighton Semi-Finalist · Abnormal Fixation (USA) · John Kenneth Muir |
