The winners of the Aspen Shortsfest can prove to be a harbinger of things to come on Oscar night. Back in February, for example, Bear Story, a 2015 Shortsfest honoree, earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, topping a field of nominees which included the Shortsfest selection We Can’t Live Without Cosmos. Another Shortsfest recognized film, Shok, was nominated this year for the Best Live Action Short Oscar.
Several categories of the Shortsfest yield Oscar-qualifying awards. Here’s a rundown of the 2016 Shortsfest winners, which capped a 25th annual festival which ran from April 5-10:
JURY AWARDS
The Jury recognized films with the following Oscar®-qualifying awards:
Best Animated Film ($2,500)
Deer Flower, directed by Kangmin Kim (USA/South Korea)
Best Comedy ($2,500)
Hounds, directed by Omer Tobi (Israel)
Best Drama ($2,500)
Thanks for Dancing, directed by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken (Norway)
Best Documentary ($2,500)
Irregulars, directed by Fabio Palmieri (Italy)
Best Short Short ($1,000)
Mining Poems or Odes, directed by Callum Rice (Scotland/UK)
The Jury also awarded films in the following categories:
Best Student Short ($1,000)
Sea Breeze, directed by Chun-Yi Li (Taiwan/UK)
Special Recognitions:
I, Destini, directed by Nicholas Pilarski and Destini Riley (USA)
La Laguna, directed by Aaron Schock (USA)
Julia Pointner in Everything Will Okay, directed by Patrick Vollrath (Germany/Austria)
World Wide Woven Bodies, directed by Truls Krane Meby (Norway)
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Award ($500)
Thanks for Dancing, directed by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken (Norway)
Audience Special Recognition
Pickle, directed by Amy Nicholson (USA)
ADDITIONAL AWARDS
The Ellen Award ($2,500)
Irregulars, directed by Fabio Palmieri (Italy)
SEED&SPARK Best Crowdfunded Film Award ($250)
Sea Breeze, directed by Chun-Yi Li (Taiwan/UK)
The Youth Jury Award ($500)
La Laguna, directed by Aaron Schock (USA)
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More