We are proud to announce the Audience Award winners for the 2019 festival!
Audience Award Winners
Audience Award, Feature Film: Turner Risk
Audience Award, Short Film: Girl Stuff
Audience Award, Documentary Film: The Silent Truth
2019 Programmer’s Prize Winners
Programmer’s Prize
Outstanding Films: Brolga, Man Under Table
A message from SOFF programmer Jeff Howard:
Every year it’s a challenge for me when I look at the votes from the juries and figure out which films are getting awards. Invariably I see see some omissions that I cannot abide. Sometimes it’s that coincidence that a film comes in second place many times, not getting an award. Sometimes it’s the theatrical experience; most of the juries watch these films at home. I watch them all at home and then watch them a second time on the big screen with an audience.
How to fix the problem? I do not want to be a programmer that lobbies jury members to choose change their votes. Instead we invented the Programmer’s Prize. I get to give this prize to any films that slipped through the cracks.
For SOFF 2019, the two films that I have to step in and give awards to are Brolga and Man Under Table. I think Brolga is beautiful in every way; storytelling, directing, cinematography, editing, everything. Everything about this short film from Australia is wonderful. It had to win an award. Man Under Table is a film that I have a difficult time describing, because it is an absurdist, deconstructionist film that manages to maintain its vision perfectly at feature length. It might be the most realistic film ever made about screenwriting and indie filmmaking, including the fact that when you are at a bar the people around you might be cut out of cardboard.
This year was really tough. There were several comedic shorts that were simply hilarious. In fact, there were so many that we just don’t have awards for all of them. My apologies to the filmmakers of First Person, Friends Roman, Overshared, Rallentando!, and Shoot ’em Dead. You made great comedy and I doubt anyone realizes that might be the most difficult thing to do on film.
2019 SOFF Trailers
Six trailers for one festival!
Check out our “Extended Trailer” that features a full 15 seconds of each film for a total running time of 9 minutes! We made this one for our booth at the Sherman Oaks Street Fair. The rest of our trailers are much shorter so that they can be shared on social media.
Thursday, November 21 Trailer
Friday, November 22 Trailer
Saturday, November 23 Trailer
Sunday, November 24 Trailer
Complete 2019 Festival Trailer
2019 Festival Schedule
All festival screenings are held at
The Whitefire Theatre
13500 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Thursday, November 21 @ 7 PM
Girl Stuff
Rallentando!
IV-effing
Overshared
Thursday, November 21 @ 8:30 PM
The Jump
The Orchestra
Nancy
Our Next Caller
Thursday, November 21 @ 10 PM
The Mo Effect (Trailer)
Dennis and Lois
Friday, November 22 @ 7 PM
First Person
Blow Out
Sweetheart
The Lost Weekend
Friday, November 22 @ 8:30 PM
Shoot ’em Dead
Four Junkies
Lifelike
Scrap
Friday, November 22 @ 10 PM
First Person: A Film About Love
Saturday, November 23 @ 6 PM
Sextpert Advice
Delivery
Prom Time!
The Teacher
Saturday, November 23 @ 8 PM
Emergence
You Too
Long Distance
Progeny
Saturday, November 23 @ 10 PM
Turner Risk
Sunday, November 24 @ 12 PM
Maizey’s Song
Exceptional Minds Animation Block
Friends Roman
The Butcher Shop
Brolga
SOFF Screenplay Awards
Sunday, November 24 @ 2 PM
Forget Me Nots
Giving Up the Moon
The Silent Truth
Sunday, November 24 @ 4 PM
Man Under Table
The Butcher Shop
2019 Official Selection: Narrative Short Film
A group of friends make a day around going to an Escape Room, but they soon find there is no escape.
Director(s): Ella McKeon
Writer(s): Ella McKeon
Cast: Harper Secor, Kenna Lynch, Elton McCrudden, Brixton Berry
Rallentando!
2019 Official Selection: Narrative Short Film
A Nashville country band runs into trouble during rehearsal when the bandleader, a sophisticated dandy, has to confront his redneck drummer.
Director(s): Jon Gower
Writer(s): Jon Gower
Producer(s): Tone-Deaf Productions
Cast: Matthew Heller, Alex Kramer, Taylor Lonardo, B.J. Golden, Jonny Gowow
Man Under Table
2019 Official Selection: Narrative Feature Film
He’s writing a movie.
Director(s): Noel David Taylor
Writer(s): Noel David Taylor
Cast: Noel David Taylor, John Edmund Parcher, Danny Scott Lane, Katy Fullen, Ben Babbitt
First Person
2019 Official Selection: Narrative Short Film
Don narrates a day in the life of Don. Don loves himself some Don, but doesn’t care much for anyone else.
Director(s): Michael Lang
Writer(s): Erich Eilenberger
Producer(s): John Venable, Michael Lang, Erich Eilenberger
Cast: Charles Baker, Brina Palencia
Four Junkies
2019 Official Selection: Narrative Short Film
A satire about four heroin addicts living in Middle-America and the juxtaposition between the lives of the junkies and the make-believe sitcom audience who is watching them and being entertained by their depravity.
Director(s): Hayden Croft
Writer(s): Hayden Croft
Producer(s): Stephen Laddin
Cast: Kevin Louis White, Alex Ansoleaga, Lindsay Elston, Paquita Hughes
Forget Me Nots
2019 Official Selection: Narrative Short Film
In the wake of their parents’ untimely death, twins Lucy and Leo must re-evaluate their relationship or risk losing one another forever.
Director(s): Daniel Marcha
Writer(s): Robert Santi and Danice Cabanela
Producer(s): Danice Cabanela, Robert Santi and Stephanie Renaud
Cast: Danice Cabanela, Robert Santi and Adriana Colón
