Winter 2023: A Show For A Change Film Festival Winners
March 24, 2023
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Jared Milrad, Founder and President
Movikarma
info@movikarma.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MOVIKARMA ANNOUNCES WINTER 2023 AWARD WINNERS FOR SOCIAL IMPACT FILMS
Los Angeles, CA – March 24, 2023 – Movikarma, a leading nonprofit organization that empowers underrepresented talent and spotlights impactful stories, today announced several winners for its A Show For A Change Film Festival, celebrating social impact films from around the world. The awarded films include projects that address a variety of social impact issues and were created by celebrated global filmmakers.
“We’re proud to recognize these powerful films that advance the important causes of our time,” said Jared Milrad, Founder and President of Movikarma. “Our festival continues to attract a strong diversity of socially conscious films from around the world. This season’s awarded films address timely causes, including mental health, climate change, reproductive freedom, and much more.”
This season’s winners include:
● A Month. A Day. A Year. Directed by Hunter Brockmann. Best Fiction Award
A dream. A nightmare. Reality. Serge is a young man living with autism and dealing with ongoing depression. He lives on a schedule to try and keep his negative thoughts in check. Everything comes crashing down when he has to face his fears in a confession for therapy.
● Lady! Directed by Tan Pei Lin. Best Non-Fiction Award
As a disease eats away at her husband’s identity, a devoted wife wrestles with reclaiming her sense of self.
● Mirrors. Directed by Paul Jerndal. Best Cinematography Award
The short film "Mirrors" by award-winning director Paul Jerndal is showing Anis don Demina, Cecilia von Der Esch and Danny Saucedo as they meet their mirror images and their worst self-critical thoughts. Mirrors aim to draw attention to mental health and the importance of daring to share feelings and thoughts.
● Milk Orphans. Directed by Larissa Maluf. Spotlight Award
The Brazilian Vegetarian Society (SVB) recounts, in this impactful short film, the difficult reality seen at Fazenda Água Sumida, in Brotas, Sao Paulo, where hundreds of buffaloes were found by the police maltreated and abandoned in November 2021. Images of the catastrophic disaster serve as a thread to tell the negative impact that the dairy industry has on the lives of buffaloes, cows and calves.
● Healing. Directed by Anton Geissmar. Spotlight Award
The film tells a true story about a girl who was victim of a pulmonary embolism due to taking the contraception pill. She manages to recover after a long health journey. The film draws attention to the side effects of the contraception pill.
● Gen Z Mental Health: Climate Stories. Directed by Tehya Jennett. Social Impact Award
In this short documentary, Gen Z'ers from around the globe talk about how climate change affects their mental health, life choices, & their visions for the future. The Gen Z'ers featured in this documentary are climate ambassadors in their community, fighting against the government for their rights and finding joy through community action.
They deal with the duality of feeling young and sometimes powerless, whilst being empowered by community action and the chance for real change. These young people share about their tools for emotional resilience in the face of climate change and the power of stories to deal with climate anxiety.
● Born To Stay. Directed by Anahita Sahar Babaei. Social Impact Award
This short fashion-art film is a dark comedy reflecting the self destruction of humans under the name of modernism. the narration tells a story about a shallow love affair between a careless girl and a plastic lover. the short tries to point out how like a young love we started a relationship with plastic in a very constructive way to actually save the planet from consuming the natural resources as well as saving the humanity itself, but ironically we turned it into yet another disastrous relationship. One that soon will be the ruin of us while the plastic is BORN TO STAY.
● Sticks and Stones. Directed by Cynthia N White and Alexander S White. Creativity Award
A man sorts through the debris of his childhood, seeking help to untangle the differences between his own anxiety and depression, and the impact of toxic masculinity.
● The Days. Directed by Paul Jerndal. Creativity Award
In this emotional short film artist Sandro Cavazza (Aviciis friend) is having a conversation with himself about his emotions that led to ending his career as an artist.
Quotes from the Award-Winning Filmmakers
“We have reached a period of time that our patriarchal way of treating the nature is finally taking its toll on ourselves. We have controlled and exploited everything that was wild and precious. I believe that artists and filmmakers, as the anima of the society, have a great responsibility to create a more harmonised definition of humanity, for only a perfect dance of the anima and animus can break such a destructive patriarchy. Born to Stay is one of the many films that dares to challenge humanity through storytelling to reimagine new connections to our mother nature. Change comes only after imagination.
The production team and I are very much honoured by this award and would like to humbly dedicate it to the inspiring women of Iran who are bravely leading the first women revolution in history. A revolution that not only chants and dances for women rights and human rights, but also speaks out for animal rights and the environment. As an Iranian woman, I am truly inspired and empowered by my brothers and sisters back in Iran and I encourage everyone to look at this event as Deepak Chopra puts it beautifully; ‘a tipping point for a new humanity.’”
Anahita Sahar Babaei, Director, Born To Stay
“Sticks and Stones is a visually unique animation that tells the story of a young man struggling with anxiety and depression under the harsh gaze of toxic masculinity. The film's message about facing fear and asking for help is an important message for all of us and the beautiful, animated collage if images impress the importance of encouraging our inner voice through artistic practice. Receiving a creativity award for this work is a wonderful way to celebrate its unique style.”
Cynthia N White and Alexander S White, Director, Sticks and Stones
"Through this film, our team set out to capture a digital mosaic of a generation that may be frightened by the climate crisis, yet is anything but hopeless. We are so grateful to win the Social Impact Award, and bring further light to the importance of addressing the mental health consequences of the climate crisis. We hope this film can validate young people’s climate emotions and experiences, while mobilizing them to move from anxiety to agency and leave room for love, community, and healing."
Tehya Jennett, Director, Gen Z Mental Health: Climate Stories
""When I finished making this film, I knew I wanted to share this at film festivals. The ultimate goal is showing the film to as many people as possible. I found this festival called A Show For A Change Film Festival. In doing research, I found that one of their objectives was to shine a light on disability and diversity in all aspects of life through filmmaking. This is extremely important to me as I’ve always struggled fitting into society. Even today as an adult, I feel more like an observer than a participant of life. This comes from being on the Autism Spectrum, having depression, and some emotional trauma I’ve experienced in life. This is everything my film is about, as it borders the line between fiction and reality. Having this film also receive the Best Fiction Award makes me feel very grateful. I’m grateful that an organization like this is recognizing people struggling with Mental Health and highlighting those individuals in a positive way. If this film helps one person with something they’re going through, even if it’s just the realization that you’re not alone, then I will feel fulfilled.”
Hunter Brockmann, Director, A Month. A Day. A Year.
""We wanted to make a film that allowed our audience to engage deeply with. Beyond celebrating a female heroine, or playing up the 'superhero' caregiver stereotype, we hope Lady! can raise hard questions about structural gaps, and what policymakers can do to smoothen the caregiving process. "Lady! is a story that will resonate with many, no matter how old you are or where you come from. It spans universal themes of identity, place in the world, love, family, loss, death. We hope it can prompt us to reflect on how we as a community can rally for the caregivers in our midst."
Tan Pei Lin, Director, Lady!
Movikarma invites filmmakers who share a passion for changing the world through the power of storytelling to submit to our quarterly film festival. We seek diverse, engaging stories that address societal, environmental, and cultural issues. To apply for our next film festival, filmmakers can submit their projects by April 26, 2023 using this link: https://filmfreeway.com/ashowforachange
About A Show For A Change Film Festival
With 600+ global submissions from 51+ countries, Movikarma has awarded some of the most creative, groundbreaking, and inspiring stories highlighting social issues since launching its digital festival in December 2017. Movikarma’s nonprofit mission is to celebrate socially impactful films through the art of storytelling and advocate for enduring social change. It embraces films that challenge the status quo and stand up for urgent causes like human rights, animal rights, and the environment.
Learn more about our current projects and global film festival at movikarma.org
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