Every year at the Palm Springs International ShortFest Film Festival and Market, HP’s Bridging The Borders Award, presented by Cinema Without Borders and sponsord by HP, goes to a short film that helps to bring people of the world and different cultures closer together. In 2013 the winner of HP’s Bridging The Borders Award will receive received an HP Elitebook 8770W mobile workstation with an approximate $5000 value. The prize was provided by HP, who sponsors the award.The runner up film will receive a certificate for an upcoming Method Acting Intensive with a value of $2000 from Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.
The six nominees for the 2013 HP’s Bridging The Borders Award are Letters From Pyongyang (Canada), Miniyamba (Denmark/France), That Wasn’t Me (Spain), Tryouts (USA/Spain), Unravel (United Kingdom) and Vultures of Tibet (Canada).
The winner of the Best International Short Film Award will be announced in the closing ceremony of the Palm Springs International ShortFest Film Festival and Market on Sunday June 23, 2013.
Letters from Pyongyang
Canada, 2012, 28 Minute Running Time. US Premiere
Language: Korean,English English Sub-Titles
The tragedy of a divided Korea is powerfully evoked in this profound personal journey undertaken by filmmaker Jason Lee, who ventures with his father from South to North, across the Korean peninsula, in search of clues of his family’s unsettled past.
Winner of Golden Award for Best Short Film, Aljazeera Int’l Documentary Film Festival, Doha, Qatar
Director, producer, writer, editor and cinematographer: Jason Lee
Music: Luigi Allemano
Principal Cast: Young Tae Lee, Jason Lee
Miniyamba
Denmark/France 2012, 15 Minute Running Time. North American Premiere
Language: French English Sub-Titles
In this beautifully animated story, a Malian blues singer, who dreams of a better life in Europe, sets out on a perilous journey across Africa
Director: Luc Perez
Producer: vibeke windeløv
Editor: luc perez
Screenwriter: luc perez, michel fessler
Music: moussa diallo
That Wasn’t Me (Aquel No Era Yo)
Spain, 2012, 23 Minute Running Time
Language: Spanish,English English Sub-Titles
A harrowing tale of courage and forgiveness as told from the perspective of the killers. Being a soldier is not difficult: either you get used to it or they kill you. The hardest thing is getting used to living with your memories and being yourself again after doing what you have done.
DIRECTOR: Esteban Crespo
Producer: José Luís Matas-Negrete
Editor: Vanessa Marimbert
Screenwriter: Esteban Crespo
Cinematographer: Angel Amorós
Music: Juan de Dios Marfil
Principal Cast: Alejandra Lorente, Gustavo Salmerón, Babou Cham, Mariano Nguema, Alito Rodgers
Tryouts
USA/Spain 2012, 14 Minute Running Time
Additional Countries: Spain – World Premiere
Language: Arabic, English English Sub-Titles
A Muslim-American teenager yearns to join the cheerleading squad, but finds that despite her training and preparation may be for naught in this charming and unique coming of age tale.
Director: Susana Casares
Producer: Susana Casares, Elisa Lleras, Julia Fontana, Pablo Gómez
Editor: Susana Casares, Julio Ramos, Fernando Franco, Olena Kuhtaryeva
Screenwriter: Susana Casares
Cinematographer: Monika Lenczewska
Principal Cast: Kimya Marefat, Joey Naber, Marissa Clifford, Johanna Trujillo, Azzie Amani, Stacy Jorgensen, Katelyn Statton
Unravel
United Kingdom, 2012, 14 Minute Running Time
Language: Hindi English Sub-Titles
Prepare to be inspired. Once you meet Reshma, a bright, inquisitive, and inspiring woman who works in a textile recycling factory in Panipat, India, you will have little choice in the matter. Winner: Grand Jury and Audience Award, Indian Film Festival or Los Angeles; Audience Award, CFC Worldwide, Toronto.
Director: Meghna Gupta
Producer: Meghna Gupta, Gigi Berardi
Editor: Prano Bailey-Bond
Cinematographer: Susanne Willett
Vultures of Tibet
Canada/USA 2012, 20 Minute Running Time
Language: Mandarin Chinese, Tibetan English Sub-Titles
Sky Burial is a private Tibetan religious ritual performed in the Himalayan mountains in which the bodies of the dead are offered to wild vultures. With the Chinese subjugation of Tibet, a new kind of “vulture” has arrived on the scene: the tourist. This gorgeously photographed and brave documentary offers a window into the Tibetan way of life and the threats that it must endure.
Director: Russell O. Bush
Producer: Elisabeth Oakham
Editor: Russell O. Bush
Cinematographer: Drew Xanthopoulos
Music: Hanan Townshend