Adopting new formats for both our top prize and ‘Audience Choice’ winner this year, we felt like stringing out the suspense after Monday’s announcement of Category Winners. The wait is over though, your votes are in, and our Jury has conferred. We want to thank this year’s jury, Minhal Baig, Elise McCave, and Winnie Cheung for their thoughtful efforts in deciding our Jury Prize, and thank all of you who voted your favorite for the ‘Audience Choice’ prize. Without further ado, here are the final selections of the 2021 Short Awards. 

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Jury Award For Best Short

THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD

dir. Graham Parkes

Well look at this! Comedies usually get the short shrift come awards season. In America, if the Golden Globes didn’t break them out as a separate category, they would likely be ignored altogether by the major nominating bodies.

This is silly. Comedy is not only popular, it is also hard, and a film that tickles both one’s brain + body is a rare combination. This sort of achievement should not be considered inferior to serious films about serious subjects. In this, our first year of the Short Awards where we brought in outside voices to determine our top prize, our jury agreed—The Voice in Your Head, Graham Parkes’ hi-concept dark comedy, is the 2021 Jury Prize Winner for Best Short.

“The Voice in Your Head is a great concept and genuinely made me laugh out loud” noted one of our jury members, and another added that is “a great marriage of conceptual ingenuity, acting, cinematographic style”. Parkes’ ability to elevate a cliché premise into something both surprising and profound did not escape notice these past several months, and, in a year of hardship, the film’s insights into loneliness and mental health were undeniably topical.

Structurally adventurous (the twist arrives halfway through the film!), sharply written, and brilliantly performed by rising screen star Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick) and Mat Wright, we’re proud to recognize The Voice in Your Head as Short of the Week’s Short of the Year. – Jason Sondhi

[READ THE REVIEW]

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Audience Choice

T’AS VENDU MES ROLLERS? (YOU SOLD MY ROLLERSKATES?)

dir. Jeanne Hammel, Margaux Cazal, Louis Holmes, Sandy Lachkar, Agathe Leroux & Léa Rey–Mauzaize

At festivals, sitting amongst friends, colleagues and fellow short film fans, it’s easy to get a read on which films are real crowdpleasers, which stories really hit a nerve and which comedies really work. When it comes to online, how do you measure a film’s impact on its audience? Views? Comments? Shares? There are a number of metrics we can – and have in the past – look at to determine our most “popular” S/W pick, but this year, with our faith somewhat restored in the voting process, we handed the decision back to you, our audience. Decided by a simple poll, where viewers could select a number one pick from our category winners, or vote for their own personal favourite – we’re proud and excited to announce T’as Vendu Mes Rollers? (You Sold My Rollerskates?) as our 2021 ‘Audience Choice’ winner.

The unanimous winner of our ‘Family Friendly’ category, this smart and stylish tale of a young boy trying to retrieve his beloved roller skates wowed our team with its infectious enthusiasm and formal panache and looks to have had a similar effect on all of you – and we’re not at all surprised. Bright and immensely appealing, this six-minute animation wraps you in its warm embrace, overwhelming you with charm and filling you with happiness. It’s the type of short you instantly want to either watch again, or share with someone else – a perfect pick for our ‘Audience Choice’ award.– Rob Munday

[READ THE REVIEW]

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