Somerville International Film Festival 2018 Awards
The Somerville International Film Festival has announced the award winners for the 2018 edition.
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The award for the best narrative feature film went to 'Hurry Slowly' (Skynd Deg Sakte) (Norway) by Anders Emblem. Hurry Slowly is a warm slice-of-life film about Fiona and her younger brother Tom, whom she takes care of. We follow Fiona over a few life-changining summer months on the north-western coast of Norway, where she juggle the care of her brother, her job at the local ferry and her interest in music.
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The prize for the best feature documentary film was for 'The Limits of My World' (United States) by Heather Cassano. The Limits of My World follows a nonverbal young man’s transition from the school system into adulthood. Brian has autism and faces the daily challenges of adjusting to his new life. Filmed from the intimate perspective of his older sister Heather, this documentary seeks to understand Brian’s personality beneath his disability. The Limits of My World is an autistic coming of age story, exploring what it means to be a nonverbal disabled person in a neurotypical society.
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Best Narrative Short Film award went to '93 Miles' (United States) by Noah Canavan. The night after defecting Cuba, a baseball player and his girlfriend are held up in a Mexican hotel room. The tension rises as the two become claustrophobic in this stressful situation that they are stuck in.
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'Yiyi's Moving Castle' (China) by Hu Jinghuan was awarded as Best Documentary Short Film. Yiyi is a three-year-old girl. Her mother, Li Shaoyun, is a night-shift taxi driver. She came to be a single mother when Yiyi was five months old. Raising her daughter alone as a taxi driver ever since. For all those sleepless nights,it is a cramped cab, yet a moving castle of their own.
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The Best Animated Film award went to 'Human' (Korea) by Jungho Bang. Man, one of large primates, has replaced the process of natural selection with intelligent design system. That’s a human instinct. Human has done intelligent design to evolve into more intelligent life by instinct and by purpose. A short film ‘human’ shows that the violence, brutality, and dysmorphism human has in the evolution process.
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Best Underground Film award went to 'Nicabob' (United States) by Daneeta Loretta Jackson, Patrick Jackson. A lonely teenager inadvertently makes a real human connection when he shuts down his Youtube channel after haters attack him.
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'Ramona' (United States) by Susan DeLeo won Best Experimental Film. 'Ramona' is an homage to the filmmaker's late mother, a journey through 8mm home movies obsessively watched as a child and now reimagined. It is a calling on the light of memory and love.
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Aiming to inspire, motivate and award new talent, The Somerville Film Festival takes place in the bustling Davis Square neighborhood of Somerville (MA). As a celebration of the cinematic and visual arts, the festival will bring diverse international films to our community (The Somerville Theatre) and showcase the best regional and international filmmakers. Somerville Film Festival aims to expand the artistic image of our region, engage new audiences in the world of film, and inspire creativity in all of us.
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See you all next year.