Sherman Oaks Film Festival

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We are proud to announce the Grand Jury Prize winners for the 2019 festival!

Grand Jury Prize Winners

Best Feature Film – First Person: A Film About Love
Best Short Film – Drama – Nancy
Best Short Film – Comedy – IV-Effing
Best Short Film – Horror – The Orchestra
Best Short Film – Sc-Fi – Progeny
Best Short Film – Experimental – Blow Out
Best Animated Film – Exceptional Minds Animation Block
Best Documentary Film – Dennis and Lois
Best Music Video – Emergence
Best Director, Feature Film – Ashley Cahill, First Person: A Film About Love
Best Director, Short Film – Jeremy Weiss, The Teacher
Best Feature Film – First Person: A Film About Love

Best Actress in a Lead Role – Valene Kane, First Person: A Film About Love
Best Actor in a Lead Role – Carlin James, Turner Risk
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Anjali Bhimani, IV-effing
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Eddie Cahill, Sextpert Advice
Best Performance by a Full Cast, Feature – Turner Risk
Best Performance by a Full Cast, Short – Girl Stuff
Best Screenplay – Michael Dailey & Morgan Lintz, Turner Risk
Best Screenplay (Unproduced Script Competition) – One More Day by Wendy Wilkins
Best Cinematography – Amir Mokri, The Teacher
Best Production Design – Sophie Tabet, First Person: A Film About Love
Breakthrough Feature Film – Hollyweird

We are proud to announce the following award winners for the 2019 festival!

Filmmakers Award Winners

Outstanding Short Films – Giving Up the Moon, Four Junkies, Sextpert Advice
Outstanding Directors – Justin Daering, Progeny; Ryan O’Leary, The Lost Weekend
Outstanding Screenplay – Tobit Raphael, Sextpert Advice
Outstanding Acting, Cast – Four Junkies starring Kevin Louis White, Alex Ansoleaga, Lindsay Elston, Paquita Hughes
Outstanding Lead Acting, Individual – Michael Yavnieli, Nancy; Gina Vitori, Sweetheart
Outstanding Cinematography – David Austin Thompson, Long Distance

 

Filmmakers Awards – given only to short films, these are determined by a jury of twenty filmmakers whose films have been Official Selections previous years.

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

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.

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

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