Awards
Narrative Feature Film
The winner of the Best Feature Film selected by the Jury is MAL DE OJO (EVIL EYE) from Director Isaac Ezban.
Documentary Feature Film
The winner of the Best Documentary Film selected by the Jury is THE PEZ OUTLAW from Directors Amy Bandlien Storkel & Bryan Storkel.
Short Film
The winner of the Best Short Film selected by the Jury is GNOMES.
GNOMES – (W/ PROJECT WOLF HUNTING)
Ruwan Heggelman, 6 mins, Netherlands
A jogger runs afoul of some particularly nasty gnomes.
Jury Members
Feature Film
Brenda Lieberman
Brenda is the Lead Programmer for the Calgary International Film Festival and Festival Director, co-founder, and Lead Programmer for the Calgary Underground Film Festival, now going into its 20th year. She has film production experience, a member of IATSE 212, and has been involved with several other start-up film festivals. She participates on industry juries and panels Internationally and in 2009 was awarded Avenue magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, and in 2018 was awarded Distinguished Alumni from MacEwan University’s Arts and Cultural Management program. Most recently was Executive Producer of EVENTS TRANSPIRING BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER A HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL GAME (2020).
Michael Peterson
Michael is an award-winning filmmaker from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He’s written, directed and produced short films, music videos, commercials, documentary and feature films. He graduated the Canadian Film Centre’s Directors Lab in 2013. His films have appeared across the world in over 75 film festivals. He did his undergrad at York University (Communications Studies and Humanities) and his M.Arts, focusing on documentary films, at The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. He started out as a writer and making documentary film and moved into making scripted shortly after.
Short Film
Cameron Burns
A founding member of Paper Street Pictures, Cameron is a graduate of the film department of Full Sail University. He worked various crew positions on multiple Central Florida productions before moving to Austin and has co-written and produced several feature films including CAMERA OBSCURA, SCARE PACKAGE, THE PALE DOOR, and SCARE PACKAGE II: RAD CHAD’S REVENGE.
Currently serving as the Head of Development at Paper Street Pictures, Cameron has shepherded a diverse slate of upcoming films that include, Lucky McKee’s OLD MAN, Emily Hagins’ SORRY ABOUT THE DEMON, Noah Segan’s directorial debut TRIM SEASON, and the 2022 Fantasia Film Festival Best International Feature award winning film, THE ARTIFICE GIRL.
Aaron B. Koontz
A former producer at Universal Studios Production Group with two decades in the film industry, including key crew on multiple studio features, Aaron set out to create his own production outlet, founding the boutique genre studio Paper Street Pictures in 2012.
With Paper Street, Aaron has Written, Directed, and Produced multiple genre bending films, including CAMERA OBSCURA, a psychological thriller released by NBC/Universal. SCARE PACKAGE the cult hit horror-comedy anthology via AMC’s SHUDDER as well as THE PALE DOOR a horror-western he co-created with renowned author Joe R. Lansdale with RLJE Films.
In 2014, Aaron was a producer on the SXSW Midnighter STARRY EYES, and is currently leading the Producing team for a horror doc and in post of five other horror-thriller films, including the Lucky McKee directed and Stephen Lang starred thriller OLD MAN, the Alicia Silverstone lead shark infested thriller THE REQUIN and a horror adaption of the growing internet mystery SHELBY OAKS from YouTuber Chris Stuckmann.
Cameron Macgowan
Cameron Macgowan is a Canadian filmmaker whose eccentric films have explored subjects ranging from Murderous Suburbanites to Erotic Trolls. His work has won awards and garnered critical acclaim at international film festivals across the world including SXSW, Fantasia, and the Toronto International Film Festival.
His debut feature film Red Letter Day was distributed by Epic Pictures after a highly successful film festival run and his short film Liebe (Love) screened at 25 film festivals and was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Cameron is also a Lead Programmer with the Calgary Underground Film Festival, the Executive Director of the New University Television Society, and Founder/Managing Partner of Awkward Silencio.