‘Amplified” Wins Top Award at HollyShorts Film Festival, Qualifies for Oscars

Diana Naser’s “Amplified,” Adam J. Graves’ “Anuja,” Nina Gantz’s “Wander to Wonder” and Ben Proudfoot’s “The Final Copy of Ilon Specht” have qualified for Academy Awards in the short-film categories by winning the top awards at the 20th annual HollyShorts Film Festival, which took place this week in Hollywood and held its awards ceremony on Sunday night.

HollyShorts is one of about 150 Oscar-qualifying festivals whose top winners automatically become eligible for Oscars in the three shorts categories. It is one of only 15 festivals that qualifies as many as four films for Academy Awards.

“Amplified” won the Best Short Film Grand Prize, the festival’s top award. “Anuja” took the award for live-action short, “Wander to Wonder” for animated short and “The Final Copy of Ilon Specht” for documentary short.  

Ben Proudfoot, the director of the last of those films, is the reigning Oscar champ in the Best Documentary Short category, winning this year (with Kris Bowers) for “The Last Repair Shop” and in 2022 for “The Queen of Basketball.” He was also nominated in 2021 for “A Concerto Is a Conversation.”

Kate Hollowell won the Best Director award for “Say Hi After You Die,” while actress-turned-director Bella Thorne won the Contrini Best Rising Director Award.

Rachel Shenton and Chris Overton, who won the HollyShorts award for Best Podcast for “Gladstone Girls,” who won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Oscar six years ago for “The Quiet Child.”

Jurors included Alex Winter, Adrienne Barbeau, Joshua Seftel, Matthew Modine, Rachel Brosnahan and Rosario Dawson.

Here is the full list of HollyShorts 2024 winners:  

Oscar-qualifying categories:

BEST SHORT FILM GRAND PRIZE: “Amplified,” Diana Naser
BEST LIVE ACTION: “Anuja,” Adam J. Graves
BEST ANIMATION: “Wander to Wonder,” Nina Gantz
BEST DOCUMENTARY: “The Final Copy of Ilon Specht,” Ben Proudfoot

Other categories:

BEST DIRECTOR: Kate Hollowell, “Say Hi After You Die”
BEST DRAMA: “Motherland,” Jasmin Mozaffari
BEST COMEDY: “Deep Tish,” Dave Paige
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: “Corpse Fishing,” Pip White
SCRIPT COMPASS GENRE STORY AWARD: “A Family Guide to Hunting,” Zao Wang
BEST HORROR: “Bill,” Emily Dhue
BEST EDITING: “The Cockroach,” Patrick Lawrence
BEST INTERNATIONAL: “The Masterpiece,” Àlex Lora
LATINX AWARD: “The Ballad of Tita and the Machines,” Miguel Angel Caballero
BEST LGBTQIA+: “Sister Wives,” Louisa Connolly-Burnham
BEST MIDNIGHT MADNESS: “Dream Creep,” Carlos A.F. Lopez
BEST MUSIC VIDEO: “Fishtank,” Wendi Tang
BEST PRODUCER: “Tea,” Gabriella Piazza
BEST SAGINDIE: “Azi,” Montana Mann
BEST SPORTS: “Black Mark,” Jaren Hayman
BEST SCI-FI: “Paeonia,” Pedro Xavier Buson
KODAK BEST SHOT ON FILM, 35MM: “Clodagh,” Portia A. Buckley
KODAK BEST SHOT ON FILM, 16MM: “Deep in My Heart is a Song,” Jonathan Pickett
KODAK NEST SHOT ON FILM, HONORABLE MENTION: “Mort,” Giselle Bonilla
SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD: “His Mother,” Maia Jo Scalia
BEST THRILLER: “Cameron,” Sam Freedman
BEST STUDENT FILM: “Fishmonger,” Neil Ferron
BEST TV: “Lost and Found,” Pete O’Hare
BEST VFX: “Fireline,” Robin Takao D’Oench
BEST WEB SERIES: “Dick Bunny,” Katie Locke O’Brien
BEST FEMALE SCREENPLAY: “Babka,” Serena Dykman
HOLLYSHORTS HONORABLE MENTION: “Play Date,” Laura Campbell, Amberlee Colson
BEST TV SCREENPLAY: “Something Weird About Winston,” Wilandrea Blair
COTRINI BEST RISING DIRECTOR: Bella Thorne
BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY GRAND PRIZE: “Oops My Dad is a Duck,” Shaun Radecki
BEST FEATURE SCREENPLAY” “Crabs in a Mother F*cking Bucket,” Kari Mote
ISA STORY AWARD: “Empty House,” Sheida Sheikha
BEST PODCAST: “Gladstone Girls,” Rachel Shenton and Chris Overton

LIVE ACTION SHORT FINALISTS
“Amplied,” Dina Naser
“1UP,” Greg Francis
“Clodagh,” Portia A. Buckley
“Corpse Fishing,” Jean Liu
“The Last Ranger,” Cindy Lee
“The Fishing Net,” Anna Palinkas
“Yaya,” Leticia Akel Escárate
“Anuja,” Adam J. Graves
“Say Hi After You Die,” Kate Hollowell
 “Motherland,” Jasmin Mozaffari

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