London Film Club Short Film Festival Awards Promising New Creatives

The vast majority film festivals take place once a year, but the London Film Club doesn't play by the rules. LFC manages to put together a new lineup of amazing new shorts on a monthly basis, and this past May might have been one of the strongest in the festival's history. Showcasing the work of new young talent from around the globe, reserving awards for the festival's very best!

One of the films at this year's LFC Short Film Festival achieved the feat of winning both the awards for Best Lead and Best Supporting Actor. That film being Dark Palette by Lucas Pelizaro, a filmmaker most well known for his Youtube channel, where he makes helpful videos for aspiring film professionals. The short follows an artist who is commissioned to paint a portrait in an eerie abandoned church, there she learns of the building's dark secrets. Both actors, Coco Taylor and Dan Robins took home two of the festival's acting awards for their performances. In addition to the acting, the short provides some truly stunning cinematography and production design, reminiscent of other religious horror like Immaculate. Dark Palette is also set to screen in July at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.

Another award winner last month was the Greek crime thriller, Concrete Rodents by Apostolis Gkanatsios. Taking home the honor of Best Student Film, Concrete Rodents is visually indistinguishable from a professional feature film. Utilizing some truly impressive camera work as well as acting performances, it's no wonder why the film garnered so much praise at the festival. This is also not the first festival appearance the short has made, making its official debut at the Drama International Short Film Festival in Greece back in September.

Ultimately it was filmmaker, Joe Borg who ended up taking home the award for Best Short for his project, OCD & Chips. The short follows Polly, a woman working in a UK Chip Shop who struggles with the titular mental condition as well as frequent intrusive thoughts. Featuring a brilliant lead performance by actor/producer, Adele Marie, the film aims to capture a brief glimpse into the mind of someone with OCD and show just how much it can affect their everyday life. The film feels similar to some of the early live-action works of Joseph Pelling and Becky Sloan and has the important sentiment that you never truly know what is going on inside someone's head. Due to its strong message and great lead performance, OCD & Chips took home LFC's top prize.

But while it did earn the festival's highest achievement, OCD & Chips did not take home the most awards, that honor specifically went to Dear Dorothy by English filmmaker, Matthew McPherson. The short is based off of a chapter from the book, "Sapper Dorothy" by Dorothy Lawrence, and tells the story of a young woman posing as a man in the war trenches of World War I, a personal experience of Lawrence. Dear Dorothy ended up taking home the awards for Best Production Design, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. Out of all the films at last month's festival, it is certainly the most ready to become a feature. It's worth a watch if you were a fan of Kate Winslet's recent film, Lee.

The LFC festival last month also awarded Best Debut to the familial drama, Mersea by English filmmaker, Jamie McCormack. It's one of the more feature-ready projects you'll see at a short film festival, and that is due to the brilliant, clean cinematography by Adam Singodia and a relatable script. The crown jewel however is the cast and their performances, specifically Dylan Corbett-Bader and Henry Lawfull. It's definitely a film to keep an eye out for if you're a fan of Kenneth Lonergan.

With the May festival having such a strong lineup, only time will tell what new talent the London Film Club's June festival will showcase!