Summer/2023 winners of Venice Shorts

Venice Shorts of California is devoted to the promotion and screening of international and US short film projects. The festival has a seasonal competition and an annual festival with live screenings and networking events which happens every year in LA. It is our pleasure to announce the winners of the Summer/2023 seasonal competition of Venice Shorts.

Best Narrative Film Mother Director: Salomon Ligthelm

Best Documentary To Kyiv and Back Director: Ricardo Daniel Kauffmann Lee

Best Indie Short Everyday Shit Director: Lorena E. Gonzalez ​

Best Director Fog of War Director: Steven Lundgren ​

Best First Time Filmmaker Vadder Director: Dário Coelho ​

Best Actress Kate Hardy Clingy ​

Best Actor BreadWinners Bary Del Sherman ​

Best Experimental Who is God? Director: Oscar Adan Lopez Parres ​ Best Animation The Brave Locomotive Director: Andrew Pierce Chesworth ​

Best Web/TV Pilot-Series Gemini Director: Tadeu Vieira Marinho ​

Best LGBTQ Like Son, Like Father Director: Mark Bethea ​

Best Thriller A Call Director: Chengyu Guo ​

Best Science Fiction DARK CELL Director: Jean-Michel Tari ​

Best Music video Yar (friend) Director: Fran Menchon ​

Best Horror Eye Catcher Director: Jeremy Shipp ​

Best Comedy Insufferable Breakup Director: Aiden Troy Weber ​

Best Producer Lorena E. Gonzalez & Cristina Castro Everyday Shit ​ Best Cinematographer Anti-Social Chris Van Valey ​

Best Editor Rob Kraut ZIB ​

Best Composer Marcel Alexander Barsotti La Línea Imaginaria ​

Best Youth Actor/Actress Sophia Nesterova Receding ​

Best Student Film The Grassland Whisper Director: Jiaqing Lin ​

Best Student Animation A Paw Over Dark Directors: Dorian Saisse, Marisa Molson ​

Best Female Director Tracy Spottiswoode Sally Leapt Out of A Window Last Night ​

Best Screenplay (Produced) Christina Connerton The Recruit ​

Best Unproduced Script Family Trust Writer: Christina Macaulay ​

Honorable Mention Documentary Bleed for Me: Art of the DeathMatch Director: Matthew L Lenz ​

Honorable Mention Actor Shadow C. LaValley The Can ​

Honorable Mention Actress Desiree Coleman Jackson Two Little Fish ​

Honorable Mention Debut Short Cupcakes Director: Brit Morgan ​

Honorable Mention Sci-Fi Foreign Planetary Director: Tiffany Lin ​

Honorable Mention Student Film Fili Director: Peter Filimaua ​

Honorable Mention Music Video Time - Ariel Levine Director: Antonio D Gamboa

Honorable Mention Student Script Chrysanthemums Writer: Samantha Mendelsohn ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​