The Super Shorts Film Festival London has announced the award winners for the 2019 edition.

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Best Narrative Film award went to "Love" (Canada) by Benoit Ouellet. The friendship between Sam and Mathieu ends. The jury loved the concept of Ouellet's film, found it to be “absolutely hilarious” and “to the point”, and praised its “very clever black humour”.

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The prize for the Best Documentary Film was for “The Bitter With The Sweet" (Germany) by Ann Sophie Lindström. A love story on the verge of madness between Ricky, 62, an aging cowboy and Gretchen, 55, an eloquent former drug addict. Ricky and Gretchen live a thin line between love and hate as they try to grow old together. A “real look at a relationship: good, bad and everything in between” according to the jury, who found this documentary film to be “raw and uncomfortable, bleak and yet hopeful”. “A wonderful documentary about love, poverty and moving on, [a] nice snippet into the lives of others”.

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The Best Music Video was for “Kite” (Portugal) by João Pombeiro. The jury found the video to be “visually interesting” and praised its “charming handcrafted animation” and “good direction”.

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The Best Animated Film award went to “Petty Thing” (China) by Li Zexi. The summer afternoon was no special, until the kids, also gun fight lovers, hung around in the village and found a replica pistol. As the trigger was pulled, the whole wood was awakened. The jury was taken with the “amazing animation” and the “great voice performances”.

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"Pain is Mine" (Australia) by Farshid Akhlaghi was awarded as Best Experimental Film. One day, One room, One take. After her spinal surgery, she was always in pain, intense pain, unendurable pain. Painkillers have been her refuge for a long time, but one day, she decided to stop. Our jury members praised the “very strong concept”, and thought the choice to use POV was strong and resulted in a very fitting uncomfortableness.

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"Diva & Astro" (United States) by Angel Barroeta won Best Underground Film. A streetwise posse idly roams the evening in the hood they call home. Diva and Astro follow parallel paths in real time, hurtling irrevocably toward the consequences of the habits they find hardest to overcome. The jury was taken with the “great choreography” in particular.

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The award for Best UK Film went to "Fifteen" (United Kingdom) by Peiman Zekavat. A private video of Maria goes viral during a volleyball class in a school in Lima. The jury described the film as “devastating, beautifully shot” and praised the “very skilled filmmaking”. The acting was particularly appreciated, with a “great performance from lead, [who] really tapped into the emotion of the story”.

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Talent Circle in London founded the Super Shorts London Film Festival in 2003, to focus explicitly on short films in all its forms and shapes. During its original eleven year run, the festival shown over 2,000 incredible short films, from slick 35mm shorts to weird and wonderful experimental films. Unfortunately, in its original incarnation, the festival came to an end in 2014. Inspired by that original movement, the revived Super Shorts Film Festival London continued in 2019 to emphasize lesser known, vanguard cinematic works and further its tradition of galvanizing budding talent. As in its earlier years, the 2019 festival created an intimate atmosphere and space for unique visionaries and voices.

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During this edition the festival was happy to welcome special guests Louis Brandt, Aleksandar Nikolic, Zina Al-Askari, Sam Buffery, Elzbieta Piekacz, Guli Silberstein, Madeleine Rose, Orlando Cubitt, Hugo Alves, Victoria Oyoko, Isaac Crutchley, Peiman Zekavat and Victor Ridley.

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A special thanks to the wonderful people at BFI Stephen Street who've assisted us to made this event run smoothly and professionally.

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See you all next year.