AWARD WINNERS 2024
22nd Female Eye Film Festival
BEST EXPERIMENTAL 2024
Heideh: A Return
Directed by Sara Kazemimanresh
A short experimental video essay that consists of a series of rotoscoped animation sequences intercut with home video footage excerpts. The film offers glimpses of Hayedeh (1942-1990), the exiled diva of post-revolution Iran, and her constant desire for an impossible return to her homeland. The visual narrative is intercepted by recorded voice-over of personal musings on the concepts of belonging and memory.
(04:48, Experimental, 2022, USA)
BEST ANIMATION 2024
Perséphone
Directed by Emilie Racine
Created in the form of a palimpsest between mythical references and personal mythology, Persephone addresses mother-daughter transmission.
(15:22, Fanatstique, fiction (non narrative), 2023, Canada)
BEST CANADIAN SHORT 2024
Age of Consent
Directed by Katherine Gauthier and Ben Sanders
Héloise lives a vibrant, independent life in spite of her advanced age and her deteriorating memory. When a shocking intrusion shakes up her reality, her adult children are left with a conundrum: how can you trust someone who can't trust themselves? When the mind betrays you, how do you maintain agency over your own body? 75-year-old Margaret Lamarre gives a wrenching and revelatory performance, opposite Stratford star Maev Beaty (Beau is Afraid) and Order of Canada recipient Peter Hinton-Davis.
(12:58, Drama, 2023, Toronto, Canada)
BEST AMERICAN SHORT 2024
Sally, Get the Potatoes
Directed by Danicah Waldo
A little girl's innocence is shattered when she takes an unexpected ride in her wealthy family's rolling laundry cart and learns their dark secrets.
(16:34, Coming of Age Drama, United States, 2024)
BEST FOREIGN SHORT 2024
Potato
Directed by Birgitta Liljedahl
When Mother 1 (46) struggles with a tired body, a failed bun-baking project, and hopeless over-aged children, Lisa (22) and Dennis (64), conflicts soon escalate beyond what's accepted by The State of Sweden. The doorbell rings. And The Inspector enters, providing the States quality solution: a shining, new Mother 2 (27). A Mother that fulfills all criteria, not only for the children and the State, but that might even interest a most critical, new Father. Mother 1 fights for her life against the Inspector, the State and Mother 2's tetra-organic cabbage from Peru but soon finds herself deported to Svalbard, by the police. When Mother 1 strikes back, the children meet a force they've never witnessed before. POTATO is an absurd, socially critical comedy that takes place in a future closer than we would like.
(14:29, Experimental/ Dramedy, 2024, Sweden)
BEST DOCUMENTARY 2024
Three (Extra) Ordinary Women
Directed by Cionin Lorenzo and Pearlette Ramos
Through captivating images of Mount Kilimanjaro and eye-catching animation, Three (Extra) Ordinary Women tells the personal stories of three women of colour who have collectively overcome poverty, abuse, systemic racism, and political occupation through practicing forgiveness, helping others and immersing themselves in nature. As they brave their biggest physical obstacle yet – climbing Mount Kilimanjaro - trekking up Africa’s tallest peak through arctic temperatures and some of the highest altitude on the planet, they discover they still have emotional hurdles to climb.
(01:32:00, Documentary, 2024, USA)
BEST LATE NIGHT THRILLS & CHILLS 2024
TOOTH
Directed by Jillian Corsie
Brushing, flossing, picking, gargling, whitening - from the daily grind of dental hygiene, the tooth revolution begins. Using a blend of 3D-animation and puppets made from real teeth, Jillian Corsie’s TOOTH takes a wild and nightmarishly funny jab at the forced perfection of modern beauty standards, wondering what might happen if our teeth could push back.
(04:32, Comedy, 2022, United States)
BEST DEBUT FEATURE 2024
Katie’s Mom
Directed by Tyrrell Shaffner
A recent divorcee's holiday celebration with her adult children derails when she falls for her daughter's charming new boyfriend. A comedy influenced by "The Graduate" told from the perspective of a protagonist inspired by Mrs. Robinson. Katie’s Mom is loosely based on co-writer, producer, Meryl Branch-McTiernan’s ex-boyfriend, who had an affair with a recently divorced mother while simultaneously dating her college-aged daughter. Dina Meyer as Nancy Rosenfeld delivers a nuanced and compelling performance. The on-screen chemistry between Meyer and Aaron Domingue (Alex Rojas) sizzles. This love triangle represents an extreme example of that battle between logic and passion. A real treat as Tyrrell handles this taboo twist with eloquence and grace. Starring Dina Meyer, Julia Tolchin, Jason Wiles, Colin Bates and Shannon Dee.
(01:53:00, Dramedy, United States, 2023)
BEST CANADIAN FEATURE 2024
The Dogs
Directed by Valerie Buhagiar
Cameron Weaver and his mother Katherine settle in an old farmhouse in a small rural town to escape an abuser. There, Cameron meets Jacky - a boy who appears to be from the 1960s - and discovers the farmhouse has a dark past, including the death of its former owners. Is it all in his head? Cameron, unable to shake the visions, attempts to solve the mystery and a murder – ultimately, uncovering the truth about his own disturbing past.
The Dogs is a complex hybrid drama/suspense/ ghost story. Woven throughout is the horror of intimate partner abuse that parallels the lives of two young boys whose friendship evolves from their shared trauma. Based on the novel by Allan Stratton, adapted by Sheila Rogerson and Anthony Artibello. Distributed by Wild Media Entertainment.
(01:36:00, Suspense Drama, 2023, ON, Canada)
BEST AMERICAN FEATURE 2024
Somnium
Directed by Racheal Cain
When Gemma moves to LA to chase her dreams of acting, she takes a survival job at an experimental sleep clinic where all is not as it seems. As she begins to unravel the mysteries of the clinic, she becomes increasingly unsure of which horrors are real and which are in her mind. With dreamy, nostalgic cinematography and art direction, Somnium is an unnerving yet ultimately uplifting film about facing your fears and finding the strength to believe in yourself when others do not.
(01:32:20, Horror/Thriller Sci Fi, 2023, United States)
BEST FOREIGN FEATURE 2024
Shalborne
Directed by Caroline Corrie
England 1905. A letter from Tzar Nicholas to Lord Bartlett recounts the Bloody Sunday Massacre in Saint Petersburg and becomes the catalyst for a woman’s courageous rebellion against her oppressive husband.
Corrie’s astonishing debut as writer, actor and director is a tour de force.
(01:25:00, Period, 2024, United Kingdom)
BEST OF SHOW 2024
The Goat
Directed by Ilaria Borrelli, starring Mira Sorvino, John Savage and Amr Saad
Hadyia, a pregnant eleven year old orphan, escapes from her village after having been forced into marriage. She takes the road to freedom alone with her goat, whose milk she will use to survive. The Goat explores complex themes of human nature, resilience, and the indomitable spirit of the human soul.
Starring Mira Sorvino, John Savage, Amr Saad, Sayede Ragab, Maya Talem. Introducing Jessica Hosameldin, Alma Freddi and Holden Backus.
(01:30:00, Drama, 2023, Egypt)
SCREENWRITER AWARD 2024
BEST FEATURE
Bougainvillea
Written by Patricia Chica
Logline: When a young Latina bride-to-be is shaken by the sudden encounter with her lost childhood friend, she defies her prearranged life, embarking on a journey toward self-discovery and liberation.
Synopsis: Marisol, a 21-year old Latina-Canadian young woman, has decided to get married to her Egyptian, foreign student boyfriend Ramy so she can escape her overbearing conservative family home. As she prepares for her wedding at the lakeside cottage venue where she spent summers as a child, she reconnects with Celeste, her teenage best friend. Celeste now lives alone in the cabin next door. As soon as they see each other again, their chemistry is undeniable, stirring dormant feelings that Marisol was forced to repress 8 years beforehand when her father forbade their friendship.
SCREENWRITER AWARD 2024
BEST FRESH VOICE
Akata
Written by Stephanie Obadare & Caroline Gordon-Elliott
Logline: The daughter of immigrant Nigerian parents comes of age in the Bronx believing there are two types of black people: Nigerians, and everyone else.
Synopsis: Samantha, an optimistic young woman, who has seen her fair
share of life, plunges into depression and contemplates suicide after she fails her first college class. She believes that God saves her from the brink and that God is providing her with a husband, Gabriel, a Nigerian immigrant, living illegally in America. She breaks her vow of sexual abstinence only to find that Gabriel is abusive. Like Akata, which means a lost or wild cat that does not know its way home, Samatha embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
SCREENWRITER AWARD 2024
MOST PROMISING
How Deep is Your Love
Written by Gillian Smith
Logline: The exploration and introspection of an unlikely marriage between Casey - a man struggling with his sexuality, and his best friend Angie - a woman dealing with the effects of sexual abuse as a child.
Synopsis: Best friends, Casey and Angie, marry in a time and place
wherein their love and their personal stories are not accepted. Through a series of drunken events the night they meet, Casey and Angie admit their deepest, darkest secrets to one another: Angie struggles with substance abuse due to molestation as a child; Casey is gay. Revealing their secrets to each other creates a lasting bond that results in marriage. Wedlock, a move, and their newborn child Maggie, force the couple to reflect on the ties that bind and the answer to their lurking demons once and for all.
