The Shanghai Short Film Competition 6.2 had some very impressive entries and some real stinkers! Anyhow, the range of talent was obvious.

Here are the Winners:

First Place: “The Corp.” directed by Jean-Michelle Tori
Second Place: “Talking Heads” directed by Michael Beets
Third Place: “Tradition” directed by Severin Bonichon

Best Actor: Richard Trombly in “Claustro”
Best Actress: Christy Shapiro in “The Love Story of Alfred J. Pintuck”

Special People’s choice award: “Tradition” directed by Severin Bonichon

The gay love story of “Tradition” was a memorable experience with excellent cinematography, music and a touching storyline. Thought the winners, I think won more for their visual flair than for the substance of the movie itself. “Talking Heads” was a very interesting seemingly roto-scoped experimental piece that had some amazing animation style visuals and cross scene effects. It was not at all in the style of Michael Beets, but he still makes it memorable piece, as are his other films. “The Corp.” can be best summed up as: “Bad guys in helicopter shoot at another guy, guy runs away, bad guys come inside, shoot some more and finally capture the guy”. The movie had amazing special effects with a helicopter moving around the office building and shooting through the windows, as well as bad guys with gun blazing in the building. The movie, as flashy as it was, was just that, all flash and no substance. Perhaps this film deserved an award for best visuals, but I would not choose it as the winner by far.

The people’s choice award was audience voted piece on which movie they thought was the best. Their choice was “Tradition”, a movie with no special effects and all substance which I thought was a better reflection on truly innovative filmmaking.

As always though, native NY actress Christy Shapiro gave an outstanding performance in “The Love Story of Alfred J. Pintuck”. She is truly one of the outstanding talents we have the privilege of having here in Shanghai.

One last congratulations and praise to all the filmmakers and actors out there! Keep up your passion, and let’s see if you can outpace yourselves at the next competition!