Animation Award
Perfect Casting
Perfect Casting seamlessly combines a wonderful array of qualities that not only good stories have, but that great animation has. From the voice acting to the animation style and overall narrative structure of the film, every detail adds to the playful and rich portrayal of an original story that shines even brighter through the medium of animation.
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Chicago Award
Arm and a leg
Arm and a leg by Sam Clayton demonstrated a maturity of nuanced storytelling, performance, and cinematic resonance that the jury agreed would linger in our memories. There were several “wow” moments—especially those final images.
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Comedy Award
Check Please
This clever homage to 1970s kung-fu movies perfectly blends fast-paced fight sequences with comedic sight gags to create a tour-de-force of a short film. Between the fast cuts, quick zooms, and snappy pace, Shane Chung explores Korean/Korean-American cultural identity in a humorous and touching way. For a 10 minute film, it certainly packs a punch.
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Documentary Award
Hey Hugo
Hey Hugo exemplifies the powerful potential of documentary storytelling. Through a deeply personal lens, it reveals the story of a man wrongfully convicted of murder in Cook County—not as a case number or statistic, but as a beloved son, brother, and uncle whose life and relationships have been profoundly altered by incarceration. The jury was both moved by this love letter to Hugo and stirred by the film’s call to action.
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Drama Award
Chiquita piconera
We were truly touched by the variety and emotional depth of this year’s selection of drama films. Among them, Chiquita Piconera stood out for its visceral and embodied exploration of grief and motherhood. With minimal dialogue, director Mey Montero instead turns to dance and song as expressive tools to examine the impact of loss on family, on community, and the continuity of daily life. We are immediately immersed into the physical weight of grief as Chiquita Piconera succeeds in articulating the often unexplainable heaviness of mourning with grace, texture, and emotional clarity.
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Experimental Award
How to Smell without a Nose
Esther Yun Kong’s film How To Smell Without A Nose affected jury viewers in an array of compelling ways. A media class at the University of Chicago witnessed a viewing with many remarking about the experimental approach toward linear storytelling and atonal sound design. For one of the jurors, the film told a story of generational trauma, specifically that held by women. For another jury member, the film’s narrative was of particular importance because of Japan’s leaders’ ongoing denial of its colonial atrocities leading up to WWII. Collectively, we appreciated the bravery to tell a difficult story while expressing such elegance.
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International Award
Paper Love
Watching Paper Love was like witnessing the cinematic manifestation of childlike wonder, the alchemical reaction of unfettered imagination meeting notebook paper and ballpoint pen. A compelling dark fairy tale told through inventive stop-motion animation, featuring a cast of wildly creative paper figures equal parts cute and grotesque, the film is remarkably sharp, witty, and engrossing—what will become of the intrepid paper princess? Our jury agreed that Paper Love is emblematic of film in its purest form, an unfiltered product of real love for the medium—and it was the only film in this category that made us laugh out loud.
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Rising Star Award
The Mechanization of Man
We would like to award the Rising Star Award to Eion Nunez for The Mechanization of Man. In this film, Nunez doesn’t just demonstrate an understanding of successful narrative and technical elements, but is also proficient in experimenting with and developing them. The film balances a frenetic and suspenseful science fiction plot with tender moments of quiet grieving in a way that thoughtfully explores the complexities of grief and mortality. The writing is rhythmic and interesting, and Cillian’s internal dialogue makes him a sympathetic character, making his deterioration all the more impactful. Nunez’s experimentation with framing, film texture, camera movement, production design, score, and color grading create a futuristic and otherworldly look and further emphasizes the film’s thrilling tone. The Mechanization of Man is an explosive yet mature exploration of the pain of grieving through the lens of an intricate science fiction world.
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