LAMA Fall 2022 Winners & Selections
Best Narrative Short
Best Documentary Short
“ Where Do We Go? “
Dir. by Harlow Schuman
1st Place Winners
“ Jack & Blue “
Dir. by Katherine Sheyno
Two friends on a blue van accidentally run over a girl. One decides to return and check on her. The other, wary of the police, goes home. He changes his name and settles in an abandoned house, which he doesn’t leave for 9 years, until an enigmatic artist in a suicide attempt set his rooftop on fire.
Audience Award
“ The Can ”
Dir. by Shadow C. LaValley
& Danielle Purdy
A high school senior shares the devastating story of losing his home in the Woolsey Fire, only to discover the gifts of tragedy through his love of music.
Best Documentary Feature
Best Animation
Best International Film
“ Love Is Color Blind “
Dir. by Jiaqi Liu
“ Hey Toby Hey Owen: This is
Not Sponsored by Valvoline “
Dir. by Owen Dennis
“ Sound Of The Surf “
Dir. by Thomas Duncan
Owen, Toby, and special guest Maddie, three out of work animation industry professionals, decide to watch a movie they've never heard of and go get an oil change at Valvoline (while making sure that you know that this cartoon is definitely NOT sponsored by Valvoline).
The first historic documentary to chronicle the true story of Surf Music as California's indigenous pop music movement, before it became a distorted Hollywood exploitation of teen culture. Through intimate interviews, media archives, scrapbook photos and home movies, it presents the stories of the musicians who lived the phenomenon, looking through their eyes.
8 year-old Chinese girl Angel was adopted by an American female writer Anna. Being foreign to a new country and having a bad childhood past, Angel suffered. The only relieve Angel had was the meticulous care and attention her “mother” gave, and the curiously toward American culture. Slowly growing up, Angel had a deeper and deeper feeling toward Anna. She even stopped Anna from marrying her boyfriend Mark to earn her mother’s love all by herself. After meeting her childhood friend Stanford, Angel slowly understood Anna’s wants for love, and the responsibilities Angel had toward the family. Her rebel characteristic started to fade away. Angel started to take care of the family like Anna did. But the beautiful days began to change when Anna started to became terribly ill. Anna gave Angel her last bit of love she can give and died. Angel is sad that Anna didn’t tell her she was sick. She is touched by how Anna treated her with love despite the difference in skin color.
Best Experimental
“ Yesterday Ended Last Night “
Dir. by Galenus Zhou, Jia Jie Lin
& Ze Cong Kuang
Losing his mother as a child, Yi, a young man in a small town, leads a gloomy life until he meets Mei, the daughter of an aquarium owner. Because of Mei, Yi's life has just began to shine, but the harsh reality soon tears this felicity apart. Yi soon loses himself between his memories, the reality and "everything he could never have imagined". When the dust settles, nothing has changed, and maybe that is the best outcome.
Best Music Video
Best Script
“ The Dream Of America “
by Bo Svenson
“ Eggshells “
Dir. by Angel Estrada Fuentes
The American Dream. Who hasn’t had it? Who hasn’t wished for it?
As WWII dawns and the world braces for the bloodiest conflict ever known, Fate arranges a meeting in Chicago between two young Finnish immigrants, enshrouding them in a fog of love and passion as they struggle to make a better life for themselves in the Land of Opportunity.
He is a great artist, a painter many years ahead of his time—an old soul in a young man’s body.
She is a smart and courageous young woman with a dream of dancing on Broadway.
Just as they have the American Dream within their grasp, circumstances beyond their control thrust the two lovers into a war that changed the course of history—the Finnish-Russian Winter War of 1939-40.
A staunch pacifist, he must fight for the land he had scorned, forcing him to confront deep-seated, conflicting emotions, while she, penniless and stranded in New York, has to dance in a burlesque house on Lower Broadway, until—
Fate once again intervenes…
CAL traverses snowy mountaintops, the formidable landscape of La Rumorosa, and more on his epic and challenging quest.
Best Director
“ Sound Of The Surf “
Dir. by Thomas Duncan
Best Actor
Shadow C. LaValley
“ The Can ”
Best Actress
Chuchu Zhang
“ Love Is Color Blind ”
Best Cinematography
Haofei Li
“ Yesterday Ended Last Night ”
Best Editing
“ Jack & Blue “
Dir. by Katherine Sheyno
Best Original Score
Tiannan Cai
“ Love Is Color Blind “
Official Selections, Category “Best” and Honorable Mention Winners
“ Happiness Is An Illusion “
Dir. by Rebecca Demeter
“ Out At Sea “
Dir. by Qingyu Cheng
“ Saint Death “
Dir. by Charles Shin
“ The Can “
Dir. by Shadow C. LaValley
& Danielle Purdy
“ The Invisible “
Dir. by Michele Antonio Parisi
______________________
“ A Mother’s Love “
by Darrin J. Friedman
“ Caleb “
by Philip Michael
“ Cupid Fest “
by Maggie Egan-Cummings
& Jennifer Lynn O'Hara
“ Hashtag Blessed “
by Dalea Cherie Faulkner
“ Longwood “
by Cornell Hubert Calhoun III
“ Memphis Minnie “
by Marc Richard Anderson
Category Winners
Honorable Mention
“C.T.R.L”
Dir. by Mariana Conde & Mariana Conde
“Caught Inside”
Dir. by Dwight Thompson
“Chuck Ransom”
Dir. by Arian Harandi
“Daddy Come Home”
Dir. by Mendel Katz & Yisrael Dubov
“FELONY”
Dir. by Thanos Kermitsis
“Jaysin Voxx 'Hands on Me'”
Dir. by Carlos Hurtado
“Mateo”
Dir. by Nancy C. Mejia
“The Courier”
Dir. by J.Mackye Gruber
“The Equation of Life”
Dir. by Gerry Orz
“The Stop”
Dir. by Marc Ruiz
“Two and a Quarter Minutes”
Dir. by Joshua Ovalle
Official Selections
