1- In order to submit a film, you must own the rights or have permission from the owner.
2- All fees are non-refundable.
3- Any Foreign film that is not in English must have English subtitles.
4- The Festival relationship will exclusively be related to the film submitter.
5- NEW YORK INDIE SHORTS AWARDS will not be responsible for damaged copies.
6- A DCP of the film is required for the Live Event.
7- Not all the submissions are selected for the Official Selection. Our Judges are free to make their own choices and no answers will be given about not selected films.
8- NEW YORK INDIE SHORTS AWARDS can consider any film to be disqualified if the festival considers the content inappropriate. If you have any question regarding this decision you can contact us at our email address: nyc@indieshortsawards.org
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12- Maximum length allowed is 40 minutes.
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Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma is an animator and fine artist from New York. She makes primarily 2D and stop-motion films, often using elements of mixed media by combining traditional and digital elements. Her work often deals with memory and human interaction paired with themes of womanhood, family, and our relationship to the natural world. She is a student Academy Award Gold medalist and Glas Animation grant recipient, and has had her work shown at Annecy, Animest, Animafest Zagreb, Slamdance, and the Brooklyn Film Festival.
Akanksha Cruczynski* is a New York-based filmmaker. Born in India and raised in Saudi Arabia, Akanksha moved to the States in 2008, getting a BA in Physics and English from DePauw University and an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia College Chicago. She trained in improvisation and sketch comedy at The Second City, iO Theater and Annoyance Theater. Akanksha’s graduate thesis film CLOSE TIES TO HOME COUNTRY won the Student Academy Award Silver Medal 2021, premiered at Sundance Film Festival, and won awards at many other Oscar-qualifiers, including Telluride Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, Chicago International Film Festival, Gotham Awards, and others, going on to be distributed by Focus Features. Akanksha is passionate about telling stories from underserved communities and using humor to make them accessible.
Peter Sluszka is an Emmy Award winning animator and director with roots in mixed media and stop-motion animation. He has directed short-films, music videos, and commercials, as well as animation for feature films.
Lil Malinich is a stage, film and television actress, acting coach, director and producer based in New York City. Lil’s diverse body of stage work includes classic and contemporary plays as well as leading roles with Working Artists Theatre Project. The Deluxe Illustrated Body, a play Lil co-wrote, received the Brickendon Award for Best Original Script and was produced in NYC. Lil has taught in Canada, Paris, Rome and New York City at the Susan Batson Studio. She directed and produced The Way I Am, a one-woman show inspired by the life and work of Barbra Streisand as well as They Called Me Rita, about Rita Hayworth. Lucy & Lucy, a play Lil recently directed for the New York Theatre Festival won Best Production and Best Actress awards.
Tamara Denić was born in 1992 in former Yugoslavia, emigrated to Germany in 1993 and grew up in the Bavarian wasteland. In 2016, Tamara completed her Bachelor’s degree in Art and Multimedia at the LMU in Munich with an interactive, experimental short film. In 2016 she moved to Berlin and worked as a dubbing recording supervisor, film production and editorial assistant and video editor, among other things. In 2022, she completed her master’s degree in film directing at the Hamburg Media School on a scholarship from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Her graduation film ISTINA (Truth, 29 min.) won the Audience Award Medium Length Film at the 44th Max Ophüls Film Festival, was a BAFTA finalist in 2023 and won a Student Oscar at the 50th Student Academy Awards.
Acclaimed American filmmaker, celebrated for his groundbreaking contributions to advertising, music videos, and cinema. A graduate of Pratt Institute with a BFA, Giraldi has directed over 4,000 commercials, crafting iconic campaigns for brands like McDonald’s, Pepsi-Cola, and Miller Lite. His work includes collaborations with legends such as Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Tina Fey, earning him multiple prestigious accolades like the CLIO, Gold Lion at Cannes, and the ADDY Gold Award.
In the music video realm, Giraldi directed cultural landmarks such as Michael Jackson’s Beat It and Say, Say, Say with Jackson and Paul McCartney, as well as Pat Benatar’s Love is a Battlefield and Stevie Wonder’s Don’t Drive Drunk.
