6th Annual Short Film Competition

A 24-member volunteer Jury previewed a whopping 465 submissions this year to select 13 outstanding short films for this year’s annual short film competition! Due to the pandemic shelter-in-place requirements, the typically live screenings with accompanying events could not take place. Instead, online audiences enjoyed a 2-hour show consisting of a variety of animated, documentary and live-action narrative films.

Each film will be preceded by the filmmaker’s brief recorded introduction.  Following each of the two screenings, audience members had the opportunity to engge the filmmakers, with a Q&A via Zoom.

Awards: Mountain Shadow’s annual competition is unique. We charge filmmakers no submission fee, and every Finalist selected for our shows are considered equal winners; receiving the same cash award. However, audiences complete ballots to determine 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place “Laurels” to the top three favorite films. This year:

- 1st Place "Laurels" went to the Raised By Wolves team for their documentary, "Pathfinder - Living Beyond Fear."
- 2nd Place "Laurels" went to Matt Winters, for his live-action short, "Strangers."
- 3rd Place "Laurels" went to Randy Boyum, for his animated short, "The Extinction of Up."

Extensive information about all the Finalists and their films can be found in the Playbill here.

You can watch a wrap-up of the show, with each of the filmmakers talking about their film here. There’s also a way for you to watch the 2-hour show online by contacting Mountain Shadow: info@mountainshadow.org

You can read what some of the Finalist's had to say about their experience here.