We asked our Audience Awards community to show us their absurd, progressive and visionary experimental shorts and our filmmakers didn’t disappoint! Here are the top three winning films from our AudFest Experimental Shorts Film Festival.
In first place is Student Acadamy Award winning film, The Swan Girl by Johnny Coffeen. The Swan Girl tells the story of an artist who is mysteriously held captive in an art studio and sculpts complex figures to atone for his past mistakes.
One of the biggest triumphs was when I was able to get one of the greatest living filmmakers, David Lynch, to watch the film and he called it “Pretty damn good.” – Johnny Coffeen
Coffeen went on to explain that although creating the film “could be painful at times and took much longer than a 15-minute film production should usually take, it allowed us the freedom to explore the dream logic of the world and its possibilities. Being able to take a leap into the unknown away from the outline and still being able to land in a place much stronger reinforced the idea that intuition is one of the most important tools for a director, or any artist, to have.”
Second place film, Fried Barry by Ryan Kruger features a heroin junkie, that spends his days in an abandoned building walking around tripping from his latest hit, going through his ups and downs and reliving his old memories.
Ryan Kruger is recognized as one of the leading music video directors in the country, having directed over 75 music videos and receiving numerous awards including a SAMA and an MTV nomination. When asked about his experimental piece, Fried Barry, Ryan said, “I surrounded myself with a bunch of creatives that love what they do and we all came together to bring something to the party. It’s very important to make time to do these passion projects because we have to stay creative and do what we love most. I am grateful for my talented crew and actors who always make me smile.”
Third place film, Flats by Talena Sanders speaks for itself, equipped with aesthetically pleasing shots and a beautifully accented color scheme.
A huge thanks to our community of creatives and filmmakers who submitted, and hearty congratulations to all the winners! We look forward to seeing the top three films premiere at AudFest 2018!
