Atelier Caméléon

Judge's Comments:

[This film has] an outstanding collaboration between children as young as 4 to young 16yr old adults telling a story about life, love, and forgiveness all based on a horrific time in history. While the subtitles could use some tlc to better understand what’s being said, the message and sentiment is clear in bringing forth the memories of Simon, his voice and emotion conveying his unflinching resolve to fidelity towards his parents, and to all those that suffered such great losses. What a beautiful and poignant film that gives us pause to reflect in each of the perspectives that are given. Dare to watch it again, and ask yourself the same questions of motivation and circumstances. This is the beauty of what this film can do.

Patrick Jang

Judge's Comments: One of the hardest things to do in art may be to explore universal themes that have been examined many times before and find a fresh perspective. Patrick Jang has done exactly this in Look at Me. He has taken the common yet difficult ideas of a young person’s self-doubt, self-loathing even, insecurity, the fear of not knowing where or how you fit in, and through a very strong grasp of filmmaking technique rendered these feelings fresh through a unique, experimental and personal lens. The use of live action mixed with animation, and strong sound design and music displays a sure and exciting young talent. We are proud to recognize Patrick Jang and his film Look at Me.

Cade Savage Schwartz

​Judge's Comments: The word Umbral can be defined both as “shadow” and as “threshold”. Somehow, Cade Savage Schwartz has embodied a poetic sense of these words in an extraordinarily mature film for a young man. His film deftly creates a world of ambiguous mystery and tension through the use of beautifully crafted high contrast black and white imagery. It works on both an experimentally cinematic level and in service of the words of the poem that are the film’s inspiration. Cade’s sure hand with the cinematography, the editing and the film’s mix create an art work that can be viewed again and again and still have it provide new meanings. We proudly award Umbral Cloak with the second place honor.

Sravan Antares

Judge's Comments: It is clear that Sravan Antares has a gift in taking an idea and creating a film that stays true to the concept and creative ends. Gouge Your Eyes Out is a strong artistic and poetic film that uses a visual perspective of closeups to convey an intimate and personal journey, bringing the viewer deep into the psyche, bridging perhaps to the third eye that is not where one expects it. This film could live as an installation within a museum, it’s ominous visuals and audio tracks creating a tension and giving the groundwork of questioning our own understanding, and not being afraid to provoke an unthinkable act to bring the viewer that much farther in.