Congratulations to the award-winning filmmakers at the 10th Annual Tri-Co Film Festival!
Awards include generous prizes and memberships from our community partners: PhillyCAM, cineSPEAK, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, The Gotham Film and Media Institute, Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, Lightbox Film Center, Philadelphia Film Society, DOC NYC.
Award winners
boobs for mom by Lexie Iglesia – Audience Choice Award Winner
Synopsis: boobs for mom is an experimental autobiographical documentary short that navigates parental loss during early childhood, the functions of boobs as they relate to flat chests, puberty, and cancer, and envisioning the revival of one lost.
Included in the program Diwa/Espíritu/Spirit
Creator’s Statement: boobs for mom is my attempt at reconstructing my mother’s breasts seventeen years after she lost them to a double mastectomy and sixteen years after I lost her to breast cancer. While holding and looking at memorabilia, personal objects, and replacements such as a children’s book, silicone breasts, awareness bracelets, photographs, and handwritten letters, I ask myself, and ultimately my late mother, “what if I could give you breasts?” The film also maneuvers the endlessness of long-term mourning, as it was made during the COVID19 pandemic, a time of isolation and seemingly despair. boobs for mom opens a space for grief—one where anger, denial, and dark humor are negotiated with instead of disregarded and turned away.
Windglobe by Hyo Hun (Nadia) Kim – Jury Award Winner
For outstanding stop-motion animation with a unique attention to details and a story that is both powerful yet meditative.
Synopsis: A foreign city. A city built from its alleys, buildings, pedestrians, the sky that swims over it. How do I become a part of the motion of the city? The waves of the buildings, the noises that fill the air, the way the people walk? The city that I arrive to is one I’ve known from beyond the glass walls. Then, I realize that the walls have been broken.
Included in the program Buka/Ruptura/Fracture
Creator’s Statement: This is a film created based on my experiences studying abroad in Edinburgh over the Spring of 2020. The new setting felt alien to me: the damp weather, the cobblestones, the unfamiliar culture that existed in the way that the people conversed with one another. As someone who takes a long time to adjust to a new environment, I felt out of place and isolated for quite some time. One day a month or two later, I stopped mid-walk on the cobblestone when I realized I wasn’t stumbling over them as I used to. I realized I had gotten used to the city without even being aware of it. In that moment, I felt that I had become one with the city that once felt like a stranger to me. In the film, I wanted to convey the sense of alienation from a strange city that has its own rhythm and the process of falling in step with its tempo.
Imaginary by Jake Rothman – Jury Award Winner
For bringing a unique, well-written, and cinematic story with the use of a single actor that is able to bring to life an imaginary friend.
Synopsis: A boy is forced to part ways with his imaginary friend.
Included in the program Buka/Ruptura/Fracture
Creator’s Statement: With our limited resources, we wanted to experiment with subjectivity and see what a film would look like if the camera were one of the main characters.
HARISNYA, OR THE SUBLIME by Chili Shi – Jury Award Winner
For outstanding experimental filmmaking, transporting viewers into an introspection of spirituality and mental health through the juxtaposition of image, sound, text, and the metaphysical.
Synopsis: A film on girlhood, Buddha, and borderline personality disorder.
Included in the program Diwa/Espíritu/Spirit
Creator’s Statement: This is a film created based on my experiences studying abroad in Edinburgh over the Spring of 2020. The new setting felt alien to me: the damp weather, the cobblestones, the unfamiliar culture that existed in the way that the people conversed with one another. As someone who takes a long time to adjust to a new environment, I felt out of place and isolated for quite some time. One day a month or two later, I stopped mid-walk on the cobblestone when I realized I wasn’t stumbling over them as I used to. I realized I had gotten used to the city without even being aware of it. In that moment, I felt that I had become one with the city that once felt like a stranger to me. In the film, I wanted to convey the sense of alienation from a strange city that has its own rhythm and the process of falling in step with its tempo.
JURORS’ SPECIAL MENTIONS
Finds You Well by Grace Dumdaw
For excellence in acting and storytelling that explores trauma, healing, and self-discovery during the coronavirus pandemic through the lens of a college student’s experiences
Synopsis: Mai is a senior who is a few weeks removed from graduating after a tumultuous college experience. When she has to say goodbye to her therapist who has gotten her through the harder parts of the past four years, she has trouble letting go. After a nice talk with her friend Shaurya, Mai experiences clarity.
Included in the program Diwa/Espíritu/Spirit
Creator’s Statement: This is my debut short film that I unfortunately admit was a rushed school assignment. I’ll try to flip the narrative and say it’s a bittersweet love letter to Swarthmore College. Thank you for viewing and accepting.
in/appropriate by Erica Kaunang and Zarahy Rivas
For bringing to life an engaging conversation between two friends about the issues of sexism and patriarchy.
Synopsis: in/appropriate is a short film where two friends get up close and personal, talking freely about how much their relationships with their bodies have changed. From ranting about the growing pains of middle school to how they present themselves as young women of color, this is an intimate, funny portrait of introspection and connection via bodily experiences.
Included in the program Katawan/Cuerpo/Body
Creator’s Statement: Throughout our lives, our relationships to our bodies have changed and developed. We recognize that our relationship with our bodies remains in flux. We have a past of societal standards and internalized beliefs that informs our present and our present is the culmination of our efforts to feel comfortable and whole in our bodies in resistance. With this film, we set out to show a small window into our thoughts through an intimate conversation between two friends with similar and differing experiences. Our thoughts and experiences are our own—they hold deep personal meaning and feeling to us—but we believe that there is a relatability and understanding which others can resonate with in viewing our film.