/press release 2019

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Boston Short Film Festival has announced the award winners for the 2019 edition.

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The Boston Short Film Festival wishes to say thanks to all the wonderful filmmakers for submitting their work to our festival. This year we were privileged to receive more than 2000 entries. 54 films made it to the selection. The 2019 edition was very successful. Next to the fantastic selection of works, the large number of film makers present, all 5 days of screenings were also fully booked. We would like to express our apologies once again to the many people for whom we did not find a seat this year. Which made us decide to move to a larger theater for our 2020 edition.

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Thanks to our global partner Tarkovski Ltd. all selected filmmakers walk away with a film festival submission package worth $250. This will help them to enter their film to partner festivals around the globe. The Boston Short Film Festival is all about discovering, supporting and developing new talent in filmmaking, providing a platform for emerging and established filmmakers from around the world, and an unique focus on Boston based filmmakers.

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The prize for the Best Narrative Film went to The Shepherd (Norway) by Brwa Vahabpour. While driving to a wedding, a Kurdish family hits a wild animal. The father, Aram, is forced to decide whether he should kill the animal or attempt to rescue it. Later it becomes clear how Aram struggles to find a place both in his new country as well as within his own family.

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Dear Pope Francis (United States) by Gauri Adelkar was awarded as Best Boston Film. When her best friend is taken away during an immigration raid on the day of the Pope's visit to their city, Adriana decides to take matters into her own hands.

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The prize for the Best Documentary Film was for Tungrus (India) by Rishi Chandna. Tungrus (pronounced: toongroos) is a short documentary that observes a week in the peculiar lives of a middle-class suburban Mumbai household. What was once a home like a million others in the city, turns topsy-turvy when the eccentric patriarch brings home a baby chick for his cats to play with, much to the exasperation of his family. What follows is an alternatingly absurd, nerve-jangling and heart-warming set of accounts about the latest addition, from each member of the household. The once adorable chick has survived his early days and grown into a hell-raising, willful rooster – forever taking up a touch too much of their space, defecating on their spotless floors, bullying their cats, crowing at ungodly hours, and generally making life in the already-crowded apartment unlivable. The film follows the thoughts of each person to their inevitable conclusion – the rooster’s got to go. And as his fate hangs in the balance, the family debates the question that lingers in the air: should he be given the gift of life, or served for dinner?

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The Best Animated Film award went to Detached (United States) by Frances Love. Lines warp and grids distort, a mother and daughter are brought together.

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Pain is Mine (Australia) by Farshid Akhlaghi won Best Experimental Film. One day, One room, One take. After her spinal surgery, she was always in pain, intense pain, unendurable pain. Painkillers have been her refuge for a long time, but one day, she decided to stop.

The Best Underground Film award went to Diva & Astro (United States) by Angel Barroeta. A streetwise posse idly roams the evening in the hood they call home. Diva and Astro follow parallel paths in real time, hurtling irrevocably toward the consequences of the habits they find hardest to overcome.

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BSFF believes in short films! Recognizing the important role shorts have in cinema, storytelling, and culture, BSFF wants to help empower the next generation of artists. The Boston Short Film Festival is an annual event showcasing shorts films with an edge. The BSFF focuses on the unconventional, the unusual, the underground, the intuitive, the innovative, the minimalistic and the true artists of our time.