Randall Christoper’s “The Driver Is Red,” a gripping hybrid documentary and animation short about the hunt for a Nazi war criminal, won the Industry Prize at TheWrap’s Shortlist Film Festival.
Andrea Brusa and Marco Scotuzzi’s “Magic Alps,” about an Afghani refugee who bring the Italian immigration bureaucracy to a grinding halt when he attempts to bring his goat into the country, took the Audience Prize at an awards ceremony held Thursday at the AMC Century City 15.
“The Peak,” a short about an elaborate scavenger hunt in Hong Kong directed by Savannah College of Art and Design student Mark Alex Vogt, won the top prize in the student competition.
Chosen for the Industry Prize by a jury of industry veterans and award-winning filmmakers, “The Driver Is Red” tells the true story of a Israeli secret agent who hunted down a war criminal known only as “Ricardo Klement” in Argentina in 1960.
The jury called the film “an incredibly crafted, elegant, and possibly timely story of the execution of civilized justice under circumstances where no civility was due.”
“The Driver Is Red” and “Magic Alps,” which received the most votes in an online poll over the last two weeks, will each receive a $5,000 cash prize.
The ceremony on Thursday featured a screening of the prize winners as well as panel discussions with the filmmakers and jury members moderated by Sharon Waxman, editor-in-chief of TheWrap. The evening wrapped up with a reception where industry vets and up-and-coming filmmakers mingled.
The 12 films in the main competition were a mix of foreign language, drama, comedy and animation created by filmmakers from around the globe.
The eight student films from top colleges and universities listed in TheWrap’s ranking of film schools included filmmakers who studied at UNCSA, USC, UCLA, AFI, LMU, Northwestern, UT, and SCAD.
The 2018 Shortlist jury featured Dana Gills, Director of Production and Development, Lionsgate; Jihan Robinson, Vice President of Non-Fiction Programming, Topic; Irene Taylor Brodsky, Director, (“Beware the Slenderman”); Rafael Casal, Writer, Director, Actor, (“Blindspotting”); Jim Cummings, Writer, Director, Actor, (“Thunder Road”).
TheShortlist Film Festival is presented with the generous support of Topic and AMC.