AWARD WINNERS 2023

BEST FILM AWARD 2023: LAST DAYS OF SUMMER by Stenzin Tankyong

BEST ANIMATED FILM AWARD 2023: THE SMILE by Erik van Schaaik

BEST SCOTTISH SHORT FILM AWARD 2023:  CANDY by Sarah Grant

AWARDS 2023

We’re offering a clutch of new awards and prizes for film-makers from the films selected for exhibition at our 2023 edition including cash prizes, industry opportunities, trophies, film festival invitations and one of our rather lovely trophies in association with our partners for 2023:Puppet Animation Scotland

 BEST FILM AWARD

To be awarded to the director of the overall best film exhibited at the 2023 Edinburgh Short Film Festival.

Eligibility: Any director(s) will be eligible from the films selected for exhibition at the 2023 Edinburgh Short Film Festival.
Prizes: £400 Cash award, film festival invitations, inclusion on curated programmes for our film festival partnerships and the Best Film trophy.
Winners will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you’ll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film. Winners will also receive a free funding session with Greenlit – UK-based crowdfunding site designed specifically for creatives working in film, music or theatre to successfully find backing for their projects.
Judges: The winner will be selected by guest judges from international film festivals.

BEST ANIMATED FILM AWARD

To be awarded to the director(s) of the best animated film selected for exhibition at the 2023 Edinburgh Short Film Festival.
The award will aim to recognise and celebrate significant creative and technical innovation and control.

Eligibility: Any director(s) of an animated short film selected for exhibition at the 2023 Edinburgh Short Film Festival will be eligible.
Prizes: £250 Cash Prize, film festival invitations, invitation to attend the manipulate visual theatre and animation festival, inclusion on curated programmes for our film festival partnerships and the Best Film trophy.
Winners will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you’ll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film. Winners will also receive a free funding session with Greenlit – UK-based crowdfunding site designed specifically for creatives working in film, music or theatre to successfully find backing for their projects.
Judges: The winner will be selected by a panel of industry judges headed by Simon Hart, director of Puppet Animation Scotland.

BEST SCOTTISH SHORT FILM AWARD

To be awarded to the director of the overall best film produced and shot in Scotland, exhibited at the 2023 Edinburgh Short Film Festival.

Eligibility: Any director(s) will be eligible from the films selected for exhibition at the 2022 Edinburgh Short Film Festival, whose film was produced and shot in Scotland,

Prize: £200 Cash award, international film festival showcase invitations, inclusion on curated programmes for our festival partnerships and the Best Film trophy. Winners will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you’ll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film. Winners will also receive a free funding session with Greenlit – UK-based crowdfunding site designed specifically for creatives working in film, music or theatre to successfully find backing for their projects.
Judges: The winner will be selected by the ESFF Festival selection committee by secret ballot, as well as film festival jury members from our international partnerships.

2023 JURY PANEL 

Amanda Rogers
Filmmaker & Creative Producer

Amanda Rogers Edinburgh Short Film Festival Juror 2023

Amanda Rogers, Filmmaker and Creative Producer, has been a documentary filmmaker, creative producer, videographer, and editor for over a decade. She has worked on documentary films and creative projects with organisations such as Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, Scottish Council on Archives, and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.  In 2020, Amanda created ‘Cinescapes’, an outdoor touring film festival and is the founder of Cinetopia, a radio show/podcast as well networking events for local industry professionals and is currently building a virtual hub for the local film community, Cinetopia Connect, as part of the Creative Informatics Resident Entrepreneur programme.

Aidan Stanley
Producer, Former Chair Fastnet Film Festival

Aidan Stanley Edinburgh Short Film Festival Jury

Aidan Stanley is the former chair of the Fastnet Film Festival and producer of feature documentaries including ‘Why Is There Something Instead of Nothing’ and a founder member of the Triskel Arts Centre. He was the award-winning producer of Enda Walsh’s ‘Four Big Days in the Life of Dessie Banks’, featuring Cillian Murphy in 2001.

Guido Casale
Filmmaker & Festival Director Adriatic Film Festival

Guido Casale Edinburgh Short Film Festival 2023

Guido is a Film Academy (Directing) graduate of the IFA academy and short film director, he founded the Adriatic Movie association with the aim of producing shorts and documentaries and is the festival director and programmer of the Adriatic Film Festival (7th edition in progress.) He is currently collaborating with some of the best Italian independent movie production studios in order to create a network of shorts/docs for distribution.

K-J Mathieson
Producer and Art Director

kj mathieson Edinburgh Short Film Festival Juror 2023

K-J Mathieson is an animator and educator from Glasgow, Scotland, with expertise in concept development, 3D technology, and animation production. Her work has been featured in 150+ international and national film festivals, including animation, children’s, and fantasy film festivals, and has been recognized at prestigious festivals including the Academy-Award, BAFTA, BIFA, and Canadian Screen Award qualifying events.  Currently, she serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, teaching in the Character Animation program. Previously, she was an Associate Professor at Columbia College Chicago, teaching over fifty animation classes and playing a key role in creating new Animation degrees.
K-J is an active member of Women in Animation (WIA), ACM SIGGRAPH, and The American Film Institute (AFI). She also enjoys serving on the Professional Jury for the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF), the world’s first Academy®-qualifying children’s film festival..

Jamie Robson
Actor

Jamie Robson Edinburgh Short Film Festival Jury

BAFTA Breakthrough nominee Jamie Robson is an award-winning Scottish actor. His leading roles span an eclectic range of projects, collaborating with prominent figures including Cannes winner Charlotte Wells, BAFTA winner Tim Courtney and Palme d’Or winner Robbie Ryan. Robson’s performances have drawn praise from renowned filmmakers such as Mark Cousins and Aki Kaurismäki. Jamie is accredited with helping spearhead the ‘British Weird Wave’.

Alexa Rodrigues
Co-Founder/Co-Director, Shortcutz Amsterdam

Alexa Rodrigues Edinburgh Short Film Festival jury

Alexa Rodrigues is the co-founder of Shortcutz Amsterdam, a platform for emerging Dutch film talents. Through Shortcutz, filmmakers can showcase their work, engage with an audience at a national and international level and connect with other professionals in the industry.

Natasza Cetner
Animator

Natasza Cetner Edinburgh Short Film Festival Juror

Natasza Cetner is an award-winning Polish Animation Director with an MA from the Royal College of Art in London. The main themes of her works are the absurdity of the world around us and the surreal, while other works and films focus on conveying the unconscious and its desires, and the anxiety of the insomniac mind. She loves to take inspiration from real-life stories and transform them into engaging short films and visuals.

Rebecca Selby-Heard
Head Programmer/Screenwriter

Rebecca Edinburgh Short Film Festival

Rebecca is an emerging queer screenwriter and festival programmer based in Edinburgh. After graduating from her Masters in Film, Exhibition and Curation at the University of Edinburgh she has gone on to collaborate with multiple film festivals including the Edinburgh International Film Festival. As the newly appointed Head Programmer for Edinburgh Short Film Festival she is currently working towards co-curating this year’s programme.

Emma Dougherty
Founder, StopMoGo

Emma Dougherty Edinburgh Short Film Festival Juror

Emma Dougherty is an animator and educator based in Edinburgh. She is the founder of StopMoGo, running fun themed stop motion animation workshops and events.

Fabiana Pernisco
Masterclass Facilitator/Jury member/Selection Committee Coordinator

FABIANA PERNISCO Edinburgh Short Film Festival

Fabiana is a Documentary Filmmaker, Masterclass Facilitator and Film Jury member who has worked for festival across Europe. After living in Spain, Rome and London she moved to Edinburgh where she continues to produce short documentary, video essays and video art.

Melanie Toutakova
Filmmaker/Screenwriter

Melanie Edinburgh Short Film Festival

Melanie is an Edinburgh-based French-Russian feminist filmmaker and writer. She has created the Feminist Film Gaze blog to examine and critique
today’s film culture through a modern feminist lens. She is currently working on her next project ‘(You Went To) Inverleith Park’ – an immersive feminist short film where she explores the gender dynamics and what it takes for women to free themselves from the ‘damsel in distress’ trope.

Margherita Berti
Masterclass Facilitator/Head of Selection Committee/Jury Member

Margherita Berti Edinburgh Short Film Festival

Margherita is a Italian creative who has both experience in filmmaking, as well as camera and production work. After achieving a masters degree in Film Studies at the University of Dundee, she moved to Edinburgh to work as a freelancer in the Scottish film scene. Since then, she’s been working as a Camera Operator and Production Assistant for a production company based in Edinburgh, and has also been selected for a Production Traineeship in the TV industry in Glasgow.

 

INKTIP & Edinburgh Short Film Festival

Inktip Where everyone goes for scripts and writers.

Greenlit & Edinburgh Short Film Festival

Greenlit work exclusively with creatives (filmmakers, theatremakers, musicians) and their mission is to connect artists with their audiences and raise the funds that will enable them to build the foundation for a sustainable career.