December 2021 - Winner

RedWood Film Festival team glad to announce the list of Winner of December 2021 Edition. 

BEST 1- MINUTE SHORT FILM

Film: Vortex

Directed by: Shrikant prabhu

Synopsis: no one escapes the vortex

BEST SHORT FILM

Film: Being Brave

Directed by: Joffre Faria Silva

Synopsis: Beckett, a precocious and resilient twelve-year-old, travels the bumpy road of a young boy living in complicated times. Beckett craves the love and acceptance of his divorced parents, but sees it jeopardized by the constant bullying he receives at school because of his father’s sexuality.

Incensed by the latest homophobic taunts by his mother’s new boyfriend’s son - Spencer - Beckett reacts, standing up for himself and unleashing a chain of events that in his eyes will resolve the situation he finds himself in and keep him safe.

BEST STUDENT SHORT FILM

Film: 7_minutos

Directed by: Christian Schneider

Synopsis: Julia is a victim of sexual violence. Rubens is a police inspector who lives a failed marriage. They don't know each other, until their destinies intersect.

BEST LGBTQ FILM

Film: A Chit Tu

Directed by: Dylan Chow

Synopsis: A traditional Burmese husband and father discovers his first love with Gabriel, the new office intern.

BEST WEB SERIES

Film: HOTBUNNY420

Directed by: Francisco García

Synopsis: The life of a gamer is about to change.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

Film: Moth On Fire

Directed by: Kiddo Pan

Synopsis: Moth on Fire is a 3D animated rap music video.

An ordinary moth wants to prove itself by going through the fire, which is considered brave, strong and therefore respected by others. But soon it finds out that this so-called heroism behavior is deadly and is a conspiracy by the power holder. With the purpose of being heard and uncovering the truth, the moth plans to do the challenge in the smart way…

BEST ANIMATION FILM

Film: The Boy and The Mountain

Directed by: Santiago Aguilera & Gabriel Monreal

Synopsis: Hernán is a child who likes to daydreaming, but in his studies he is not doing well at all. His father constantly urges him to improve, advising him that he must reach very high to succeed in life. Hernán dispenses with his dream, gradually forgetting it to devote himself to his studies. Over time, and already become a successful entrepreneur, Hernán achieves the dream that his father instilled in him, reach high, until one day he will realize that he has not really achieved something he always longed for. Then he will make the crucial decision to fulfill his dream, but fate will play tricks on him. Hernán will have to face a new challenge that will change the meaning of his life.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

Film: Forgotten Victory

Directed by: Christopher HK Lee

Synopsis: The Korean War is perhaps the least known major conflict in contemporary history. The war killed at least 2.5 million people and countless were wounded. On June 25th, 1950, North Korean forces, backed politically and militarily by China and the Soviet Union, crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea.

During the Hungnam Evacuation, The SS Lane Victory was also deployed to evacuate Korean civilians and United Nations personnel at Wonsan, North Korea. It evacuated over 3,800 U.S. troops and 1,100 vehicles that survived the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Lane Victory offloaded troops, vehicles, and cargo as the cruiser USS Saint Paul and destroyers laid down covering fire. After unloading, she safely evacuated 7,010 men, women, and children. When the ship arrived, 7,011 passengers disembarked, as a baby had been born during the voyage.

The movie shares some emotional and compelling stories from the Korean War refugees who recall their memories of during the Hungnam evacuation. Sadly, this legacy and memories are fading away as our heroes, men and women who serve the Korean War, are being forgotten. The goal is to turn it into a permanent historical monument. It would help remind the younger generations of the cruelty of war and the importance of peace before it too becomes another scrap metal project.

BEST COMEDY FILM

Film: Cucked

Directed by: Kendall Christianson

Synopsis: A man agrees to meet up with a couple for a night of sensual pleasures but the married pair turn out to not be what they seem.

BEST CRIME FILM

Film: Beale Street Blues

Directed by: Daniel R Ferrell

Synopsis: A rogue police officer and his impressionable cousin set up a faux drug deal in the midst of an FBI investigation.

BEST DARK COMEDY

Film: I See My Beauty in You

Directed by: George Kostopoulos

Synopsis: A college freshman becomes infatuated with her wolfish poetry professor.

BEST DRAMA FILM

Film: SALAM

Directed by: AHMED AKBAR

Synopsis: Salam, a kind deaf young man, he is about to have a hearing aid he always waited for, he will be able to hear for the first time, feel the world differently. He is excited, perhaps too excited?

BEST EXPERIMENT FILM

Film: The Butterfly Keeper

Directed by: Guy Mayfield

Synopsis: Patrick Canon is an elderly man looking after his wife Evelyn Canon of whom suffers from advanced Alzeihmers Disease. He often immerses himself in his butterfly sanctuary as a means of escape from the toil of caring for her and his inability to distinguish reality from the fiction his mind often conjures when contemplating a mercy killing of Evelyn. Upon a fateful day whilst out foraging and collecting cocoons of butterflies in the woods, Patrick has moment in which he questions his inner self and whether or not the reality of his being is that but a fragmented figment of his own deteriorating memory or that of a will that must be done to better comfort his wife in her final hour of need

BEST HORROR FILM

Film: Wrong Time, wrong Place

Directed by: Marian Bruchholz

Synopsis: A robber on the run from the police has to find a new getaway car. The old man in the black car comes just in time.But the old man is not as harmless as he looks and one of them is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

BEST NON-FICTION FILM

Film: FUTURE MEMORIES

Directed by: Federico Ferraro & Simone Concilio

Synopsis: FUTURE MEMORIES is a music video, a little homage to love, past and present memories. All through the Tango and a neighbourhood.

BEST SCI-FI FILM

Film: Can't Go Home Again

Directed by: Anthony J. Cook

Synopsis: Temporal Enforcement Agent Elliott Young (Victoria Smith) breaks protocol and returns to her own past. There she comes face to face with her 8-year-old past self, Ellie (Sophia Waterton), and Justin (Ian Mairs), her seemingly kind father. During their encounter Elliott explosively confronts Justin in an effort to prevent a tragedy that will occur in only a few hours' time.

BEST WOMEN FILM

Film: Vulnerable Innocence

Directed by: Charlene Elizabeth Doak-Gebauer & Nancy Anne Lynch

Synopsis: COVID has changed many things, including safety of people involved in film. This doc is unique in that the majority of all filming has been done virtually to avoid COVID exposure.

Children are vulnerable online, in ways so many are unaware. This film is about a unique Theory of Digital Supervision for online child protection. Volunteers from around the world have contributed, based on their belief in the need for this type of truth and education surrounding proactive online protection.

This doc emphasizes the global challenges of online child protection. It is in every country around the globe, with too many fearful to discuss it, fearful to know more, and wanting to protect their children.

The objective of this doc is to have global impact for the safety of children against sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, online bullying, online harassment, suicide, self harm - many issues our children face on a daily basis in this digital world. We emphasize to parents, caregivers, and professionals our children are the most independent of any in the history of the world. We must realize they cannot have so much ownership of their online safety. Adults have to digitize parenting and professional methods.

BEST TRAILER

Film: Vulnerable Innocence

Directed by: Charlene Elizabeth Doak-Gebauer & Nancy Anne Lynch

Synopsis: COVID has changed many things, including safety of people involved in film. This doc is unique in that the majority of all filming has been done virtually to avoid COVID exposure.

Children are vulnerable online, in ways so many are unaware. This film is about a unique Theory of Digital Supervision for online child protection. Volunteers from around the world have contributed, based on their belief in the need for this type of truth and education surrounding proactive online protection.

This doc emphasizes the global challenges of online child protection. It is in every country around the globe, with too many fearful to discuss it, fearful to know more, and wanting to protect their children.

The objective of this doc is to have global impact for the safety of children against sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, online bullying, online harassment, suicide, self harm - many issues our children face on a daily basis in this digital world. We emphasize to parents, caregivers, and professionals our children are the most independent of any in the history of the world. We must realize they cannot have so much ownership of their online safety. Adults have to digitize parenting and professional methods.

BEST DIRECTOR

Award goes to: Varunagini

Film: The Breakfast

Directed by: Varunagini

Synopsis: Ganesh, a respected politician, and his wife Saritha are having breakfast together. Saritha has just returned from a trip, so Ganesh has prepared her favorite dish. While they are eating, Ganesh tells Saritha about all the things that happened during her absence. But she doesn't seem to listen. Something is bothering her. Saritha asks her husband a question. From this point on, the conversation turns into a revelation of the darkest secrets of their lives.

BEST FEMALE DIRECTOR

Award goes to: Varunagini

Film: The Breakfast

Directed by: Varunagini

Synopsis: Ganesh, a respected politician, and his wife Saritha are having breakfast together. Saritha has just returned from a trip, so Ganesh has prepared her favorite dish. While they are eating, Ganesh tells Saritha about all the things that happened during her absence. But she doesn't seem to listen. Something is bothering her. Saritha asks her husband a question. From this point on, the conversation turns into a revelation of the darkest secrets of their lives.

BEST PRODUCER

Award goes to: Nico Falcone Georgiadis & Kimmo Salmela

Film: The Promenade

Directed by: Nico Falcone Georgiadis

Synopsis: We take a walk to find a way, to find the answers or just a cigarett to calm us down. Are we connected without knowing it... captured in a mixed of realities in the promenade of life?

Some stories can not fade away while we are moving close to one onother but in the same times close can be far away in a crossroads of realities.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER

Award goes to: Max Putintsev

Film: Being Brave

Directed by: Joffre Faria Silva

Synopsis: Beckett, a precocious and resilient twelve-year-old, travels the bumpy road of a young boy living in complicated times. Beckett craves the love and acceptance of his divorced parents, but sees it jeopardized by the constant bullying he receives at school because of his father’s sexuality.

Incensed by the latest homophobic taunts by his mother’s new boyfriend’s son - Spencer - Beckett reacts, standing up for himself and unleashing a chain of events that in his eyes will resolve the situation he finds himself in and keep him safe.

BEST ART DIRECTOR

Award goes to: Anthony J. Cook

Film: Can't Go Home Again

Directed by: Anthony J. Cook

Synopsis: Temporal Enforcement Agent Elliott Young (Victoria Smith) breaks protocol and returns to her own past. There she comes face to face with her 8-year-old past self, Ellie (Sophia Waterton), and Justin (Ian Mairs), her seemingly kind father. During their encounter Elliott explosively confronts Justin in an effort to prevent a tragedy that will occur in only a few hours' time.

BEST EDITOR

Award goes to: Joshua Collins

Film: TASTEless

Directed by: Joshua Collins

Synopsis: a man suddenly loses his taste and smell

BEST SCREENWRITER

Award goes to: Robert Bruinewoud

Film: You're Early

Directed by: Mark Hensley

Synopsis: Returning home late at night after class, a woman finds her partner at the mercy of a desperate burglar.

BEST SOUND

Award goes to: Makin fung bing fai

Film: The Mechanics

Directed by: Christoph Janetzko

Synopsis: THE MECHANICS" takes its viewers into the world of Chinese craft workshops on the streets of Phnom Penh in painterly compositions . The public space becomes a workshop next to barber shops. Mekong-Ship engines are carefully and precisely overhauled by oil-smeared hands. Right next door barbers gently shave and cut hair and all of this in the middle of busy traffic. Neatly arranged Confucian altars create a private oasis juxtaposed in the chaotic hustle and bustle. All of this arranged and assembled as a musical collage. Congenial accentuated by the sound artist Makin Fung Bin Fai from Hong Kong. A gentle flow of a song, almost like a requiem to a changing world. BEST VFX

Award goes to: Donnie Dodge

Film: Dual Threat- Football & Family

Directed by: Donnie Dodge

Synopsis: It's a story about family. It's a story about struggle. It's a story about commitment. It's a story about War. It's a story about life during a flu pandemic. It's a story about love. It's a story about football. It's a story about Nebraska. It's a story about Jerry Warner.

BEST ACTOR - MALE

Award goes to: Greg Amici

Film: Rumi's Rumba

Directed by: George Kostopoulos

Synopsis: Professor Johnson, a college poetry professor, lectures his students on a poem by Rumi. When class finishes, one of the students, Olivia, approaches the professor with a question about the poem. This leads into a romantic fantasy musical sequence. Conflict arises soon after when Dean Cox and his secretary, Miss Flannigan, accuse Professor Johnson of exploiting Olivia.

BEST ACTRESS - FEMALE

Award goes to: Hayley McLaughlin

Film: You're Early

Directed by: Mark Hensley

Synopsis: Returning home late at night after class, a woman finds her partner at the mercy of a desperate burglar.

BEST CHILD ACTOR

Award goes to: Anthony J. Cook

Film: Can't Go Home Again

Directed by: Anthony J. Cook

Synopsis: Temporal Enforcement Agent Elliott Young (Victoria Smith) breaks protocol and returns to her own past. There she comes face to face with her 8-year-old past self, Ellie (Sophia Waterton), and Justin (Ian Mairs), her seemingly kind father. During their encounter Elliott explosively confronts Justin in an effort to prevent a tragedy that will occur in only a few hours' time.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR MALE/FEMALE

Award goes to: Sam Meader

Film: You're Early

Directed by: Mark Hensley

Synopsis: Returning home late at night after class, a woman finds her partner at the mercy of a desperate burglar.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Film: SOUL'S ON FIRE

Writer by: Joseph Lincoln Harrison

Synopsis: Rikers Island. Moses Condores is getting out of prison. He's a seasoned, rugged, no-nonsense Puerto Rican NYC gangster, now determined to leave the life behind. Some people don't seem to believe him — the associates who've come to pick him up turn on him suddenly. Moses, with an almost supernatural ability to sense danger, is ready for them. And when girlfriend Lidia also turns on him, she joins them in death.

He tells his lieutenant Rafael, who's now running the show, that he's out. Rafael has his doubts, but accepts Moses's retirement. Moses returns to Puerto Rico, to Mama Isabel, sister Franchesca and brother Javier. Javier's looking to make a name for himself and command respect just like his brother — but Moses is dead set against that, and not just because Mama Isabel fears for the boy. Moses knows too well what this life does to people. He wants himself and everybody he loves out.

Hood Lorenzo, though, disrespects Javier, and Moses is forced to teach him a lesson. Necessitating a visit to Lorenzo's uncle, Rio Cruz — Moses's old ally and childhood friend — who runs things around here. With Rio he finds Sarita, with whom he had an affair seven years before. Rio's glad to see Moses and bears him no ill will for Lorenzo. He knows Moses to be a man of integrity. He took a bullet meant for Rio's wife, once — Rio owes all he has to Moses's strength and loyalty.

Moses drives Sarita home, where he's shocked to find she has a seven-year-old son... and he is the boy's father! Genuinely shocked but happy, Moses tells Joel he'll spend the rest of his life making up for his absence and being the kind of father he needs. Mama Isabel is overjoyed to have the grandson she always hoped for. And Moses and Sarita soon marry.

But Moses has previously met a beautiful temptress, Elizabeth, whom he's surprised to see out front of Mama Isabel's house when he brings Joel. He tells Javier to ask around, find out what's up. Later, he calls Javier, who's gone missing — he says he's with Elizabeth, and wants Moses to come over. Moses, sensing trouble, arms up, and arrives to find Elizabeth holding Javier hostage. She intends to kill Moses in misguided vengeance for the death of her brother in Rikers. But Rio comes along with his men, and takes Elizabeth out! It wasn't just vengeance, Moses finds — there's a contract out on him. Who put out the contract? Nobody knows, but they intend to find out.

Moses then learns that Javier overheard Lorenzo on the phone with her, talking about a meet. Moses does his own sleuthing and discovers the meeting place, which he infiltrates. Thinking Lorenzo's contact to be an old foe of his from New York, he's shocked to find it's Rafael! Rafael's got plans for Puerto Rico and thinks Lorenzo's the man to make it happen.

But Moses has informed Rio of the meet, and he arrives with deadly vengeance to put a stop to it all. And takes a bullet meant for Moses — thus squaring their accounts. A final gunshot puts an end to Lorenzo's treachery. We end on a happy note, with Moses having gone into the café business — just across the street from Sarita's new art gallery. Starting a new life at last...

---

Submit your film now : https://filmfreeway.com/RedWoodFilmFestival