This year's Overlook Film Festival Short Film Jury comprised of filmmaker Roxanne Benjamin (BODY AT BRIGHTON ROCK; SOUTHBOUND), filmmaker Natalie Erica James (RELIC) and programmer Adam Piron (Sundance Film Festival) and we are pleased to announce their selections:
Grand Jury Prize
Bad Hair, dir. Oskar Lehemaa
With an idea wholly suited for the short film format, director Oskar Lehemaa executes a simple and darkly comic concept to perfection. Not a single frame feels wasted, with fantastic visuals and tight editing supporting an empathetic and humorous performance from actor Sten Karpov that kept us glued to the screen, too terrified to look away from each squirm-inducing beat of body horror that'll make you want to pull your hair out.
Special Mention
Changeling, dir. Faye Jackson
Horror is full of tropes that become touchstones of the genre, but few films can not only flip them on their head but also use them to craft a level of nuance that’s both touching and knowledgeable about what those fears truly are. In mixing great effects and sound design that dig into the turbulence of new parenthood, Changeling crafts a terrifying experience that sets up a seemingly obvious conclusion and yet offers a twist that looks at what this metamorphosis truly means.
Scariest Short Film Prize
Abracitos, dir. Tony Morales
From its opening moments, Tony Morales’s ABRACITOS, submerges us into a chilling world of disorientation, grief, and dread. The film's uncanny performances, intriguing mythology and effectively understated sound design all amount to a consistently frightening atmosphere, which rightly deserves the Scariest Short Film Award.
Special Mention
Pulsión, dir. Pedro Casavecchia
A special mention for “Scariest Short Film” goes to Pedro Casavecchia’s Pulsion, a chilling story of one man’s descent into psychopathy told through nightmarish vignettes. The jury applauds his inventive doll-house animation style, and the wash of Lynchian nausea that permeates that film and lingers long after it ends.
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