Winners of the Leeds Short Film Awards 2017 Announced

Posted: 13/11/17 Leeds Short Film Awards

Leeds Short Film Awards celebrate the latest and greatest shorts from around the world, and LIFF is a qualifying festival in this category for both the Academy Awards and the BAFTAs. We are very pleased to announce the winners in each short film award category. All the winning short films of LIFF 2017 can be seen in a special programme on 16th November.

Louis le Prince: International Short Film Competition
Jury: Jury Sarah Ahern, Laurence Boyce, Suvi Hanni
Winner: Copa-Loca by Christos Massalas (Greece)
Special Mention: Nightshade by Shady El-Hamus (The Netherlands)
Jury Statement on Winner: 'For a witty and insightful exploration of small town life complete with a mesmerising central performance that blows your mind and makes you realise why having six fingers is always the best option to go for.'

British Short Film Competition
Jury: Lydia Beilby, Fiona Hegarty, Kate Williamson
Winner: The Dog and the Elephant by Michael Sharpe (UK)
Jury Statement on Winner: 'The judges felt that the winning film was powerful in challenging the expectations of visual filmmaking. We were also struck by the exceptionally engrossing physicality of performance.'

Leeds International Screendance Competition
Jury: Yolanda M. Guadarrama, Anna Macdonald, Maia Sørensen
Winner: Through the Supermarket in Five Easy Pieces by Anna-Maria Hutri (Finland)
Special Mention: Separate Sentences by Amie Dowling and Austin Forbord (USA)
Jury Statement on Winner: 'It's a joyful piece, shot in a cinematic style. The shopping trip of a family is turned into a hyper-real experience. The characters' body movements are emphasized by the surreal and imaginative sound design, creating an intriguing universe that invites the audience to feel the scenes. It is a well-planned dance film that uses habitual archetypes and roles of the family members, with a dynamic plot that concludes in a charming crises.'

Leeds International Music Video Competition
Jury: Ben Lewis, Gabrielle Jenks, David Simpson
Winner: No Reason - Bonobo Oscar Hudson (UK)
Special Mention: Henry McCullough - BP Fallon and David Holmes (Dir: Alan Leonard) & Nostalgic Love - Bergfilm (Dir: Joscha Bongard)
Jury Statement on Winner: 'The jury felt there was a great tension in the video that works so well alongside the beat of the song. The video was executed brilliantly with the simplicity of the one camera tracking shot and the use of the built set to play with scale. The film explores mundanity and procrastination in a wholly original way and posed an interesting conversation to the title 'No Reason'.'

World Animation Competition
Jury: Alice Dunseath, Abigail Addison, Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara
Winner: Wicked Girl by Ayce Kartal (France, Turkey)
Special Mention: It Would Piss Me Off To Die So Yoooooung... by Filipe Abranches (Portugal) & Sore Eyes for Infinity by Ellie Vuorinen (Finland)
Jury Statement on Winner: 'For its inventive use of visual storytelling to portray a challenging theme. The maker combines the peculiar speech of an innocent 8 year old child with truly exquisite illustrations to reveal a dark and traumatic story.'

Yorkshire Short Film Competition
Jury: Lydia Beilby, Fiona Hegarty, Kate Williamson
Winner: Stan by Ben G. Brown
Special Mention: Lambing Season by Jack Benjamin Gill
Jury Statement on Winner: 'For it's elegant portrayal of the essence of Leeds through the character of Stan and for beautifully distilling a powerful moment of hope in these precarious modern times.'

Audience Awards

LIFF 2017 audiences have the chance to cast their vote on every short film in our programme. Here are the winners...

Leeds Short Film Audience Award
Winner: Wave by Benjamin Cleary and TJ O'Grady Peyton (Ireland)

British Short Film Competition
Winner: All That You Love Will be Carried Away by Tom Barbour-Might

Dark Owls International Short Film Competition
Winner: Clanker Man by Ben Steiner (UK)

Dead Shorts
Winner: Spooked by Emma Spook and Gil Gloom (France)

Leeds International Screendance Competition
Winner: Through the Supermarket in Five Easy Pieces by Anna Maria Jóakimsdóttir Hutri (Finland)

Louis le Prince: International Short Film Competition
Winner: Wave by Benjamin Cleary and TJ O'Grady Peyton

Sci-Fi Shorts
Winner: The App by Julián Merino (Spain)