SNOW LEOPARD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Winners October - November 2022

May the Force be with you!
"Best Short Film"
Judas by the Sea
The missing of Tongtong, Jiang Feng and Lin Xin’ daughter, upends their life completely. Lin Xin resents Jiang Feng failing to protect their daughter. And all these attribute to Jiang Feng’s suspicion of Tongtong’s origin. In order to find their daughter, Jiang Feng begin to wander about all corners of the country, working himself to the bone for others with Lin Xin. Later, Lu Zheng, one of Lin Xin’s childhood friends, joins them. An abnormal coexisting relationship binds these three people gradually. After finishing a deal, Lin Xin, as the culprit of the collapse of their group, is killed by Jiang Feng, together with Lu Zheng. Lin Xin is informed the real murderer that kills her daughter a moment before dying, and Jiang Feng faces his own trial. And in the end, when Jiang Feng collapsed on the seaside, about to die, he sees his daughter.


Directed by: Hao Wu
"Best Feature Film", "Best Director", "Best scenography", "Best costume design", "best producer", "Best war film", "Best Lgbtq+ Film", "Best Historical Film"
UNION
A woman disguises herself as her dead brother, Henry, in order to survive in the Confederate ranks during the Civil War. With the help of Indians hiding in the mountains 'Henry' is reunited with the widow, Virginia, who saved his life at the battle of Antietam and marries her to rescue Virginia from an unfortunate arranged betrothal. They keep each others secrets and forge an unusual family. It is the alchemy of gratitude.

Directed by: Whitney Hamilton
"Best Animation"
I LOST THE WAY
Two men of different ages, talk about their lives and what haunts them.
One, almost middle-aged, feels he has lost his way. Full of anxiety and metaphysical agony, he desperately seeks to find the path of return that will lead him to his paternal home and the years of innocence. At the point where he started his impasse, so far, wandering. The route looks like a strange dream. People, animals, machines, change form, properties, and actions in a nightmarish cluster full of paradoxical images, charged with passions and unacknowledged guilt.

Directed by: Panagiotis Rappas
"Best Short Documentary"
Tyranny
A dysfunctional society controlled by a toxic leader results in the reality of illiberalism and the sole autocratic EU member state is leading the way. Recently, an angular black hole appeared in the centre of this nation's main square, which proved invisible to Hungarians. The analysis of this dark object offers a short glimpse at tyranny from the angle of anxiety.

Directed by: David Adamko
"Best Feature Documentary"
Vertigo
This film Memai Vertigo follows Gozo Yoshimasu (b. 1939), a pioneer of modern Japanese poetry, as he seeks memories of his friend Jonas Mekas (1922-2019) through Manhattan and Brooklyn one year after Mekas’ passing. The film depicts Gozo’s process as he works to craft a poetic requiem for his friend during his stay in America.

Directed by: Haruo Inoue
"Best Feature screenplay"
Lucky in Long Island
Marco Marino, known as “Lucky” in the underground world of crime is about to get an early release from prison . Head of the FBI, Jack Jones is down to his last resort for cracking down on Long Island most notorious mob boss, Jonny the Joker. Unexpectedly he makes a plea deal with Marco to clear his name . He assigns new FBI agent , Ava Marie To work her first undercover operation with Lucky As the unlikely duo pose as a newly engaged couple . They take cover in a Long Island posh home , and soon enough the cover becomes a matter of life and death as one mobster Is about to make the hit of his life . Will Lucky Be lucky in Long Island or will he set his eyes on something bigger , running the American mob and betraying his new fiancée for a life of crime ?

Written by: Michelle Lynn
"Best Short Screenplay"
Slaughter On The Texas Plains Or The Untimely Death Of Mr. Took
Took, a hardened, dangerous, older man, claimed young Concepcion his property when he claimed her dead husband’s homestead. A passing Cowboy named Jude, witnesses the beatings, and sexual abuse Concepcion had to put up with. Rather than confront Took he refrains from getting involved and is about to leave when the Comanches show up. Concepcion proves to be tougher than imagined.

Written by: Wayne Gibson
"Best Original Screenplay"
Eyes Upon Waking
A troubled woman must come to terms with her suicide attempts while spending several days in a holding facility.

Written by: Jennifer Scott, Andy Golub
"Best Music Video", "Best Original song"
In a Tamasic World
A dreamlike symbolic journey into the modern world. Anima – the human soul – is threatened by dark forces, who besiege her as hooded strangers. Hyperion – the mad sage, and Clotho – the Moira seamstress of fate who spins the thread of human life, measure up against infinity and fate. Maya – queen of fire and illusion, evokes the lifeforces needed to sustain Anima in the confrontation that awaits her. On the chessboard of good and evil, where the struggle is being fought with tamasic forces, Anima appears to capitulate – but the immortal current of life will prove stronger than everything else.

Directed by: Camilla Martini
"Best Dance Video", 'Best Blm Film"
ALTARS
Tyson just learned that he's about to become a father. Little does he know, the happiest day of his life might also be his last.

Directed by: Mariona Lloreta
"Best Student FIlm", "Best Dark comedy"
Rooftop
Two strangers meet at the rooftop of a 20-story hotel building, both with the intention to commit suicide.

Directed by: Nevena Nikolova, Petar Gerzilov
"Best Experimental FIlm"
Come in!
The main characters are music, text and the homeless against a backdrop of alcohol. Come in! is the name of a music piece by the composer Vladimir Martynov that became the name of this film. Vladimir Martynov tells the story of the composer Henry Purcell, who came home tipsy, was locked out by his wife and got frozen on a winter street. The homeless and a man of genius are all equal in the face of alcohol dependence. Are creativity and alcohol compatible? The composer Vladimir Martynov and the artist Nikolai Nasedkin try to answer this question.

Directed by: Nikolay Nasedkin
"Best No-Dialogue Film", "Best Young Actress"
Death and the Kid
A small town grim reaper has his afterlife turned upside down when he meets a young girl who can bring the dead back to life.

Directed by: Kristen Swinkels
"Best Director Debut", "Best Drama"
An Ever After Drama
An Aspiring Hollywood star is swept away in a fairytale day with the worlds youngest French billionaire as she begin to get a taste of his world and ponder the possibility for something more.

Directed by: Michelle Lynn
"Best Young Director"
Changing With the Seasons
"Changing with the Seasons" traverses a family's mundane and repetitive road to recovery after the mother suffers a stroke.
Following several months in the hospital, life has become exhausting and the aftermath impacts everyone on a physical, mental, emotional and financial level.
With just a year to relearn as much as she can, will the mother be able to find her way back to a normal life? Or will she be dealing with the struggles the diagnosis has dealt the family for years to come?

Directed by: Ashley Seybolt
"Best actress", "Best drama"
Tom and Luce
A couple in crisis is about to renovate an apartment. The state of the walls is like the state of their relationship.

Directed by: Muxel Paule
"Best Actor"
A FISTFUL OF KARMA
Il Santuario is a retreat centre nestled in the Tuscan hills. Run and staffed by a group of misfits, it hosts groups seeking spiritual growth, weight-loss, detox and escape from reality. Its six hundred year old walls bear witness to the entire emotional spectrum from desire to insanity that comes with the territory of spiritual seeking. The season opens with the arrival of Malcolm Schwartzman – and his group of spiritual seekers, the morning after Val and his mates have thrown a rather fabulously apocalyptic party…This is a critical week in the lives of Team Il Santuario as they face losing their home unless the group goes well and Malcolm pays up. But things don’t go well – most of the guests are very dysfunctional and demanding and there is a bona fide psychopath in the mix. Add to the pot, an old friend of Val’s arriving with a promise of investment and some potent designer drugs, and Il Santuario is about to witness a week to remember…

Acted by: Adrian Bouchet
"Best young actor"
THE MINHOCÃO DO PARI - THE ORIGIN OF THE LEGEND
Legend has it that in the heart of Mato Grosso, Brazil, there is a huge creature called the Minhocão do Pari. Let's find out together how this mysterious Brazilian legend came about

Directed by: Salles Fernandes
"Best Cinematography", "Best Original soundtrack", "Best Color Editing"
Aquarium In The Fishbowl
Yang, an underground killer with something on his mind worry, came to the fantasy underground billiard hall. In order to find his lover's whereabouts, he met Nuo, a young billiard hall shopkeeper, but was involved in another long-planned "revenge"…

Produced by: Sabrina Jane
"Best Composer"
Julia
"Julia" is a little story about loss and loneliness, told only with images and music.

Composed by: Víctor Muñoz
"Best original score", "Best supporting actress", "Best TV Show"
Workforce
Mired in losses dating back several years, and desperate to turn things around, owners of Protocol Industries hire Anthony Scolari to rescue the company. Experienced and anecdotally funny, but wrestling with his own myriad demons, Scolari learns early, NOTHING will be easy in his latest professional setting. Conflict is everywhere, inside the organization and out. Set in the greater Philly area during the recession of 2007-2009, Workforce is the tale of white and blue collar workers trying to work together, find common ground and unearth a little of the lighter side of humanity in the process.

Directed by: Phil Kwarta
"Best opening credits"
Don't Cry
A Palestinian girl, a Palestinian man and an Israeli woman meet at a celestial lake, the meeting triggers a conflict between the man and the woman caused by previous encounter, the girl tries to mediate. Will she succeed? Would it be possible to bridge between them?

Directed by: Hisham Zreiq
"Best Thriller"
Leave Your Body At The Door
One guy with a last chance to impress his crush meets a clown-faced psychopath. Who survives the night?

Directed by: Joshua A Brown
"Best Horror"
SIren
Driving on a highway late at night, distracted driver April and her combative lover Brooke are pulled over for speeding by two sinister police officers. During a strange and increasingly frightening interrogation, the two women find themselves under the power of a supernatural force that changes everything they ever knew about themselves... and each other.

Directed by: Christopher Beaubien
"Best Comedy"
WE'RE SEQIOUS
A special forces soldier who has carried out actual combat missions, leading a group of young people jokingly called the supreme quality of society after leaving the army, launching an internet marketing business's ironic inspirational story. After a series of twists and turns and growth, a group of like-minded people embarked on the road of self-reliance and self-reliance.

Directed by: Su Ting
"Best Action Film"
The cold race
Inspired by a real history, the story of the first ever solo travel on foot in Antarctica. “The cold race” is an adventure feature film about the rivalry between two great modern-day travelers. But over time, the test of cold and hunger turns into a test of honor and conscience.

Directed by: Said Tulyaganov
"Best ECO Work"
Thirst
A woman with multiple sclerosis encounters two Native homeless men, one of them hearing impaired, who illegally access a water line, in order to survive.

Directed by: Patricia Fox
"Best Erotic Film"
THE BREATH OF CELIA
In the labyrinth of love a game of contradictions takes place: two women fight a duel with their feelings; one is reason and the other is the heart… but the labyrinth proliferates until it culminates in the ritual of disorderly blood and overexcited viscera..

Directed by: MIguel Angel Barroso
"Best Black&White film"
FOR ONE
Two employees of a private bank subtly plan their revenge against a client, a pretentious and unscrupulous man. But things don't go as planned...

Directed by: Mathieu Rivolier
"Best Sport Film"
THE RIVER OF SEVEN NAMES
Traveling with a river is like traveling with life.
For nine months, photographer and mountain guide Sergi Ricart followed alone the Mekong river from the Tibetan plateaus, where he explored and climbed several virgin mountains, to the Delta in Vietnam, after cycling about 3000 km, living along the way the awesome metamorphosis of its nature and humanity.
But he missed one chapter in that journey: reaching the sources.
So, one year later, and this time with some friends, he went back to Tibet to try to close the circle.

Directed by: Sergi Ricart
"Best Covid-19 Film"
Sheltered in place
Based in Chicago, the micro-short film "Sheltered in place" is a dreamy glimpse into my initial day to day life, right at the onset of the covid19 US lockdown.

Directed by: Udesh Chetty
"Best Mobile Film"
Time
Christina wakes up in a place that’s completely foreign to her, a place where she will have a defiant encounter with Time.

Directed by: Elizabeth Marlo
"Best Editing"
The Soul of Sicily
The food we eat connects us to a vast web --from farmers to producers - involved in getting food from farm to fork. We probably don’t pause to think about it while eating an apple or cheese, but this global food system is central to some of the biggest challenges facing humanity. Farmers are our most fragile link in this food chain.

Directed by: Margie Raimondo
"Best Fantasy"
Maladaptive Daydreamers
Maladaptive daydreamer is someone who spends an excessive amount of time preoccupied with elaborate daydreams, and often prefers these fantasies to their real life. The film is about a man who decides to stop daydreaming, but finds himself slipping into his fantasies for hours.

Directed by: Emilija Riviere
"Best TV Script"
LAJJAWATI: A LOVE STORY FROM INDIA
While religious riots rage in the city of Calcutta, Muslim journalist Jaleel is told by his dying grandfather that they are both Hindu Brahmins who were converted by the Muslim fanatics who slaughtered most of his family when he was an infant. Jaleel is called away to help a threatened community during the riots, during which he and his friends discover a boat piled with the corpses of riot victims. In Jaleel’s absence, Dada dies. Helped by his publisher Charlie Myers and a Catholic priest, Jaleel has his Dada’s body cremated in violation of Muslim custom. Jaleel travels by train to the South to carry out his Dada’s final wish to search for a lost temple. While exploring the wilderness Jaleel is dramatically sidetracked when he rescues Lalitha, the wife of local guru Shastry after she falls into a gorge. Lalitha’s grateful husband promises to do anything Jaleel asks, and he replies by asking to become Shastry’s student to become a Brahmin. Conflict erupts when Shastry brings Jaleel into his home, with the opposition led by religious zealot Narasimma Iyer who is incensed by the presence of a Muslim in his orthodox Brahmin village.

Written by: Sumathy Ram, Charles Leopardo
"Best Sound design"
The Sea of Hope
A Middle eastern refugee father and son dangerous sea journey trying to escape the war-torn country. The film will try to highlight the fears and the peril and the risks the refugees take just to have a chance of a semi normal life. The film is made in traditional hand drawn animation. I come from the city of Tripoli Lebanon, so I felt it was my duty to make this film. Self financed with no budget it took me 5 years to make learning animation from scratch.

Composed by: Walid Salhabo
"Best Web Series"
Los Aspirantes
It is a hilarious comedy set in an office called Holliwood where everything turns into a desaster. Every single person in the office is tempted into getting a better job and they compete with the applicants for that purpose. Most of the situations a really surrealistic and funny so you never know what is going to happen.The more jobs offered, more situations to laugh at. Who needs the job?.

Directed by: María Yolanda Brown Melián, Kevin Ramos Fernández
You have questions, or you want to be tuned about our latest news?
Sing up your email, and know everything about Snow Leopard International Film Festival.

© All Rights reserved SLIFF Inc.
slifilmfestival@gmail.com