2010 NextFrame Finalists and Award Winners!

Animation

Home Sweet Home
Genevieve Farley-Tremblay
Concordia University, CANADA

In Scale
Marina Moshkova
Saint-Petersburg State University, RUSSIA

Itchyopolis
Andre Silva
University of Iowa, USA

Kazi, Kazi
Tzu-Han Wang
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

Kensho
Daniel Kang
Rhode Island School of Design, USA

Meatwaffle
Winner: 1st Place Animation
Leah Shore
Rhode Island School of Design, USA

No Grey
Brandon Smith

Rascal’s Street
Marcos Valin
ecam, SPAIN

Sebastian’s Voodoo
Winner: 2nd Place Animation
Joaquin Baldwin
UCLA, USA

The Snow Maiden
Yumi Yoshida

Rhode Island School of Design, USA

This Is Not a Fly
Carlos Fraiha N.A. Barbosa

Central St. Martins College of Art and Design-University of the Arts London, UK

Documentary

A Sentence Apart
Jason Sussberg and Theo Rigby
Stanford University, USA

Family Matter
Jarratt Taylor
Northwest Film Center School of Film, USA

Frontier Youth
John Kane
Stanford University, USA

God’s Critters
Bruce James
Temple University, USA

Imaginary Friends
Sasha Collington
The London Film School, UK

Life By Joseph
T.J. Hicks & William Newman

Northern Illinois University, USA

Operation Falcon
Tim O’Hara
Stanford University, USA

The Secret Life of Beards
Melany Vi Levy
Stanford University, USA

Whales of Gold
Winner: 1st Place Documentary
Lucia Duncan
University of Texas, Austin, USA

Experimental

Amiri Baraka’s Something In the Way of Things
Bryan Green
Drexel University, USA

Between You and Me
Winner: 2nd Place Experimental & Cinematography Award
Micah Stansell
Georgia State University, USA

Close To Home
Theo Rigby
Stanford University, USA

Kulu
Winner: 1st Place Experimental
Chancz Perry

Simon Fraser University, CANADA

No One Thinks About the Garden
Tara Khallii

York University, CANADA

Presidio Modelo
Pablo Alvarez-Mesa

Simon Fraser University, CANADA

Releve
Denis Truembach

Hochschule Offenburg, GERMANY

Toward the Blue
Randy Caspersen

Columbia College, USA

Une Vignette de Meloncolie
Alex M. White

Montana State University, USA

Narrative

A Song of the Fishes
Alison Crouse
Temple University, USA

Dear Mom
Hsiao-Yang-Lun

Chaoyang University of Technology, CHINA

Desert Trains
Winner: 1st Place Narrative & Undergraduate Film
Boaz Armoni
Beit Berl College, ISRAEL

Fifth Commandment
Oscar Molina
Columbia University, USA

Grown Up
Dana Neuberg

Tel Aviv University, ISRAEL

Love, Sadie
Winner: 2nd Place Narrative
Naiti Gamez
University of Texas, Austin, USA

Madeleine
Mathieu Verreault
L’Institut National de L’image et du son, FRANCE

Play
Muriel d’Ansembourg
The London Film School, UK

Tone
Winner:
Aaron Nelson
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, USA

Under Surveillance
Irena Skoric
Academy of Dramatic Art Zagreb, CROATIA

Yanling’s Oranges
Connie Yen
Temple University, USA

Synopsis:

Film about the film in the film without the film. Or what happens when you are under constant surveillance?

Biography:

Irena Skoric was born in Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated film and TV directing in 2008 at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. She’s now doing her MA in narrative film. She writes for film magazine “Hollywood” and “The Croatian Cinema Chronicle”. She directed a number of short feature, documentary and experimental films. Her films have participated in numerous local and international festivals (France, Austria, Czech Republic, U.S.A., Switzerland, Netherlands, Macedonia, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Slovenia, Portugal and Hungary) and won a number of prizes. Her experimental and documentary films (Fisherman’s tale, The glamour and misery of goodwife Batinusa) represented Croatia several times on various cultural manifestations. Her short feature JMBG 0812983385073 (Identity Number 0812983385073) participated in the program called ‘Young Croatian Video’ in Home Gallery in Prague, 2003, as the work by one of the most eminent Croatian young filmmakers. Film Work in progress (2005) was selected as one of the best experimental films from recent production to represent Croatia at The experimental film festival in Madrid, 2006. Her documentary Fire, water, flour won first prize at The European environmental and arts festival (EEAF) in Scotland, 2007. Her documentary You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours won 1st prize in Mostar short film festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2008, and best documentary award at Luksuz film festival, Slovenia; and short fiction film Farewell won Grand prix and award for best screenplay at Days of Croatian film in Zagreb, Croatia, 2009, Best short film by jury and audience award at Libertas film festival, Croatia, 2008; and won special jury mention at Motovun film festival, Croatia, 2008, and won best short fiction film award at Take-2 International Student Film Festival in Ireland, 2008, was Nextframe finalist, won award for directing at Worldfest in Houston and award for best fiction film at Corto del Med in Avignon, France,   and is selected for 14th Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean and is Croatian candidate for Student Oscar film award.

Synopsis:

An isolated writer escapes the stasis and discovers that the power to control sound lies at his fingertips.

Biography:

Aaron Nelson was born and raised near Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He became interested in all things creative at an early age and continued to seek his endeavors throughout high school.  He originally enrolled at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to work toward a degree in animation, but took time off to focus on music.  He played countless shows throughout North American and Europe as a guitarist in his metal band, sold thousands of records, and had a music video premiere on MTV2 before returning to MCAD where he recieved a BFA in Filmmaking.  Tone is his undergraduate thesis film and is only the beginning of his career.

Synopsis:

Leila is a girl, but don’t call her that to her face. Victor, the leader of a tight group of which she is the only girl, sees in her a real challenger to his authority in more ways than one. Whereas Leila thinks she’s one of them, the boys are starting to notice her…changes. Games turn serious, and serious turns unexpectedly sweet in this coming-of-age story of 12-year-olds discovering what really happens when dares are played for real.

Biography:

Muriel d’Ansembourg studied Scriptwriting in Amsterdam and ran a production company in Holland before setting foot in London. She has written, directed and shot award-winning shorts and documentaries in Holland, Switzerland and the UK. She is currently in post-production for her recent short “Sharp Edges” and in pre-production for her graduation film to be shot in London, after which she will graduate from the London Film School with an MA in Filmmaking.

Like a sleepwalker, prisoner of the library aisles, Madeleine gradually looses touch with reality.  A young man, who seems to reappear from her past, starts interleaving the timelines of her life for a brief moment.

Biography:

Mathie Verreault has always been a cinema fanatic with a fascination for the world of images.  While studying visual arts, he knew he wanted to become a filmmaker.  In addition to independently directing and producing a number of short films, he worked on several national and international productions as an artistic graphic designer.  In order to further develop his directing skills, he registered at INS in 2008, and while completing the Cinema program, he took on the direction of three short films.

Synopsis:
Sadie and her high school friends struggle to escape the banality of everyday life through the intimate exchange of handwritten notes. Her friends search for approval, and answers about life, from Sadie–the one confidant who can’t articulate her own.

Biography:
Naiti Gámez is a Cuban-born, Miami-raised, filmmaker willing to call anywhee “with a flexible approach to language” home.

She has worked as a cinematographer, director and editor on award-winning films and television series. Her latest film, Love Sadie, was awarded a Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund Grant (Austin Film Society), and was a Student Academy Awardssemi-finalist.

Synopsis:

In the confusing time between childhood and adolescence, fifteen year old Shira discovers the world of sexuality, jealousy and seduction. When her mother’s date arrives earlier than expected, the evening gets out of control and boundaries are broken…

Biography:

I was born on August 29^th, 1981, in Holon, Israel. In high school I majored in Theater and graduated with a citation. I have a BFA in Film & Television from the Tel Aviv University (with a Dean’s Certificate of Excellence). During my studies, I acquired experience both within the school’s activities, and in the local industry:

Synopsis:

Looking back at Super 8 film footage of his West Hollywood neighborhood, a filmmaker wonders how his dreams fit into the world of gay porn stars.

Biography:

Randy Caspersen received a BFA in Film & Video Production from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  He spent many years in Los Angeles working in television and making short films.  His work has played in film festivals on five different continents. Two of his recent narrative films were picked up for distribution by FRAMELINE including Dolls (2008) which has played in over forty international festivals.   This year he completed three shorts: experimental documentary Toward the Blue, biographical documentary Different Drummer and character drama Beverly & Roger. He is currently creating his thesis film, Sylvia’s Spell, and completing his MFA degree at Columbia College Chicago.

Synopsis:

“Something In The Way of Things [In Town]” is an experimental visual adaptation of Baraka’s scathing and foreboding social commentary [with music by The Roots.] Shot on three different types of film and two different types of video over three months with at least fifty actors/extras in about twenty-five locations in the West Philly area by one guy.  [Bryan Green]  It is stunningly surreal piece that briefly delves into the lives of a hard-working young man and his little brother, a single mom, and an elderly homeless woman.

Biography:

Bryan Green is an independent filmmaker/writer/director/editor, freelance videographer and teacher who resides in West Philadelphia.  He works mostly in shorts, music videos and commercials.  His experimental short “Something In The Way Of Things [In Town]” has received bountiful attention in the Philadelphia Film Festival Circuit, and has won and been screened in New York and New Jersey.  He has also shot videos and promos for some of Philly’s finest local and underground artists … mainly Tu Phace, but he’s also shot and/or worked with The Roots, Dice Raw, Ill Vibe Collective, Nikki Jean, Elevator Fight and others.  He is currently finishing his Film & Video degree at Drexel University.

Synopsis:

The walls in the prison crumble revealing a past that has been covered by layers of thick yellow paint. Pain when left unvisited turns into amnesia, history cannot absolve everything.

Biography:

Born in Colombia, Pablo Alvarez-Mesa studied Design Engineering and Photography before moving to Vancouver, BC where he continued his post-secondary studies in Video and Photography. In 2004 he enrolled at Simon Fraser University in the Film Production Program and in 2008 he completed his BFA. His latest short documentary, entitled Presidio Modelo, has been screened in London, Florence and Montreal, where it was awarded ‘Best Experimental Production at the Student Section of the Montreal World Film Festival. He is now working on an experimental documentary with the National Film Board of Canada due to release in 2009.