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Lake County Film Festival
#LCFF2023 runs November 3-5 & 10-12 +Halloween Night at The College Of Lake County Grayslake
Today, I'm excited to announce the 2023 Lake County Film Festival Audience Winners for Best Short Film. This year we showed 76 short films at the festival. ![]()
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We normally announce the Top 10 Audience Rated Short Films, but we'd also like to highlight: ![]()
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The Edward Amet Audience Award for Best Short Film: The Food That Saves Us by Joe Vella![]()
Best Animated Short Film: Island by Michael Faust![]()
Best Documentary Short Film: Harvey by Janice Nadeau![]()
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The complete Top 10: ![]()
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1. Food That Saves You by Joe Vella *Top Short Film*![]()
2. Island by Michael Faust *Top Animated Short Film*![]()
3. Crack Shot by Alex Cohen![]()
4. Paper Planes by Michael Glover Smith & Alyssa Thordarson![]()
5. Non-Negotiable by Mike Doxford![]()
6. Shadow Brother Sunday by Alden Ehrenreich![]()
7. Harvey by Janice Nadeau *Top Documentary Short Film*![]()
8. Demon Box by Sean Wainsteim![]()
9. The Anne Frank Gift Shop by Mickey Rapkin![]()
10. Brother by Aleksei Borovikov
Here are the 2023 Lake County Film Festival Jury Awards for Short Films! Congrats to all the winners! ![]()
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Narrative Short Films: ![]()
Jury![]()
Justin Joseph Hall, filmmaker![]()
Josh Folan, filmmaker![]()
Josh Wolff, Director of Film at Gorton Center. ![]()
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"Such a beautiful array of genres in the mix this year. I was particularly astounded by the consistency in cinematography throughout the choices and complexity in animation. A visually pleasing set of films!" - Justin Joseph Hall. ![]()
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Best Overall Narrative Short Film: ๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฑ by Sean Wainsteim![]()
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Jury Statement: "I was absolutely floored by this film. The total disregard for the fourth wall on a film dealing in that subject matter, and while being that personal of a story, was an absolutely amazing and ballsy creative choice. If I didn't know the crushing economics of the short medium so well you'd never be able to convince me that this was made for any reasonable amount of money - the production value was off the charts and the tender loving care put into the art elements shines bright. A perfect short film, by my measure." - Josh Folan![]()
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Best Directing In A Short Film: ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐ by Nathan Morris![]()
Best Animated Short Film: ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐
๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค by Diane Catsburrow Linnet![]()
Best Acting In A Short Film: Beck Bennett & Jessy Hodges in ๐๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ by Mac Eldridge & Tom Dean![]()
Best Cinematography In A Short Film: Freddie Whitman for ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค ๐๐ก๐จ๐ญ by Alex Cohen![]()
Best Writing In A Short Film: Kylie Alesso for ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐ by Kelly Walker![]()
Best Sound Editing In A Short Film: Dillan Schmitz for ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฌ by Thomas van Kampen![]()
Best Music In A Short Film: Evan Roth for ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฒ by Logan Jackson![]()
Best Comedy Short Film: ๐๐จ๐จ๐ by Margaret Miller![]()
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Documentary Short Films: ![]()
Jury![]()
Kyle Anne Grendys, filmmaker![]()
Jon Gann, filmmaker![]()
Raul Benitez, film programmer![]()
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Best Documentary Short Film: ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ฌ by Gabriel Veras![]()
Honorable Mention: ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ by Camila Martins![]()
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Student Short Films: ![]()
Jury![]()
Dan Jeremy Brooks, film podcaster & film programmer![]()
Cindy Mich, film programmer![]()
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Jury Award For Best Documentary Student Short Film: ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก by Thomas Brouns![]()
Jury Award For Best Narrative Student Short Film: ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ by Aleksandra Podziewska
** Please send me your festival pics**![]()
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Well, it took a day longer to recoup than I thought it would, but I'm finally here saying THANK YOU to everyone for an amazing 13th Lake County Film Festival, absolutely our best festival since covid hit. I estimate we showed movies to at least 200 people that have never been to the festival before, helped greatly by the efforts of Lake County natives Craig Alan from Unicorn Training & Elizabeth from The Depths of My Despair, as well as the great marketing of Wine, Women, and Dementia: The Documentary. And obviously, our opening night secret screening. ![]()
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I want to thank all of staff and volunteers. Kat, for doing all of the wonderful art and design, thoughts and opinions, and continued training. Dan for lending us his music. Dan, Peter & Heidi, for running Q&A's. Cathy for any number of things, including crepes, and Dmytro from ะะตััะพัะฒัั for the awesome eye animation. Ed for the website work, and of course, Quentin for lugging things around, and playing piano for everyone. ![]()
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Of course, everyone at College of Lake County, without whom I wouldn't be able to pull off the festival. ![]()
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And last, but certainly not least, all the filmmakers who sent us their films, and let us show them. Most of these films started with one idea from one person, who then did whatever it took to get their vision on the screen. It's an honor to get to share you work with these audiences and discuss them. ![]()
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Thanks for everything, ![]()
Nat