News

The coveted Vimeo “Best of the Year” awards have been announced.

In its 17th year, the annual awards celebrate the most outstanding shorts and video creators on the independent platform. Many “Best of the Year” alumni have later won Academy Awards, Sundance Awards, Cannes prizes, and more. The Vimeo Curation Team reviews thousands of films to select the winners based on originality, technical excellence, storytelling impact, and overall artistic merit.

“We’re proud to highlight the most iconic short films and branded content of 2024,” Ina Pira, Head of Curation at Vimeo, told IndieWire. “These films are the very best of those that received ‘Staff Picks,’ which in its 17th year is still curated by humans sifting through and handpicking the best work shared on Vimeo.”

Pira cited highlight films including Bill Morrison’s surveillance and body cam documentary “Incident” and Renee Zhan’s live action and animated film “SHÉ (Snake)” as standout originals.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 San Diego Asian Film Festival, presented at the festival awards ceremony on November 10. Winners were announced in multiple categories, along with the Grand Jury Prize (the top prize of the Asian American film competition) and a Special Jury Mention. Additionally, the Sdaff programming team selected the George C. Lin Emerging Filmmaker Award given to a first-time feature filmmaker.

International Short Film Competition

Jurors: Pearl Chan, Jason Tan Liwag, Alongkot Maiduang

Best International Short: Primetime Mother directed by Sonny Calvento

Asian American Film Competition

Jurors: Tanuj Chopra, Hanna Huang, Joshua Minsoo Kim

Grand Jury Prize: When You Left Me on That Boulevard directed by Kayla Abuda Galang

Best Documentary Feature: Rally directed by Rooth Tang

Best Narrative Feature: Egghead & Twinkie directed by Sarah Kambe Holland

Best Experimental Film: Teetering Graphite directed by Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin Liu

Best Documentary Short: Tracing History directed by...

“The Old Young Crow,” an American/Japanese short film directed by Liam LoPinto, took top honors at the Palm Springs International ShortFest, winning the Best of the Festival Award along with a cash prize of $5,000, the festival announced Sunday.

The win makes LoPinto’s film one of five at the festival that now qualify for the 2024 Academy Awards.

Other Oscars-qualifying short films from the Palm Springs ShortFest include: Lithuania’s “Way Better,” the Best Animated Short winner from director Skirmanta Jakaitė; China’s “Will You Look at Me,” director Shuli Huang’s Best Documentary Short winner; the French entry “Sèt Lam,” directed by Vincent Fontano, won Best Live Action Short over 15 minutes; and Spain’s “Mystic Tiger,” winner of Best Live Action Short under 15 minutes by director Marc Martínez.

The winners received a total of $25,000 in prizes in categories judged by industry luminaries, festival organizers and journalists. Read on for the complete list of winners.

Jaie Laplante has been tapped as the new artistic director of Doc NYC, America’s largest and arguably most influential documentary festival. He will replace Thom Powers, the festival’s founding artistic director, who will move into a previously announced new role as director of special projects.

In addition, the festival is unveiling its wider programming team for features and shorts. The festival will hold its 13th edition from Nov. 9 to Nov. 17. The 2022 version will be both in person in New York and accessible online across the U.S.

Laplante offers more than 20 years of festival experience. For the past 12 years, he served as the Miami Film Festival’s executive director and co-director of programming, where he oversaw a major expansion of that festival’s documentary selections, as well as launched a digital screening platform and the Google Talks on Gender & Racial Gaps in Film & Technology. He simultaneously oversaw year-round...