Pregones/PRTT presents the 6th Anniversary of 21 Islands International Short Film Fest as a FREE ONLINE event, February 9-23, 2022.
Selected from thousands of multilingual submissions originating in hundreds of qualifying locations worldwide, 21 Islands ISFF finalists compete for both Festival Jury Prizes and Audience Choice Awards.
Awards Ceremony
Live! Wednesday February 23, 2022 @ 4PM ET
See link below to re-watch.
And the 2022 Winners are
21 Islands Short Film Fest 2022
Playing February 9-23, 2022
Curated by:
Melisa Ramos
Films From
Australia | Canary Islands | Cuba | Dominican Republic | Hong Kong | Iceland | Indonesia | Ireland | Japan | Madagascar | Madeira Island (Portugal) | Malta | Manhattan | Montreal | Philippines | Puerto Rico | Sardinia | Sicily | Singapore | Taiwan | Tenerife | United Kingdom | Vancouver Island
The 2022 Winning Films are:
BEST FILM: HEDY, directed by Andy B Clarke from Ireland
BEST SCRIPT: MARTÍN’S VANTAGE POINT, directed by Chedey Reyes from Canary Islands
BEST EDITING: BEFORE THE BEAUTY IS GONE, directed by Mackai Sharp from Vancouver Island, Canada
BEST ANIMATION: THE HOLE, directed by Fang Hsin Kai from Taiwan
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: HELLO, directed by Oldren Romero from Cuba
BEST DIRECTING: NOSTOS ALGOS, directed by Juan Diego De Leon from Dominican Republic.
BEST DOCUMENTARY: PACING THE POOL, directed by Radheya Jegatheva from Australia
AUDIENCE AWARD: CACOS, directed by João Brás from Madeira Island Portugal
SPECIAL HONOR MENTION: JOB ORDER, directed by Richard Soriano Legaspi from Philippines!
Click any of the 5 Groups below to
VIEW THE FILMS ONLINE – FREE
GROUP 1
Duration: 1 hour 48 mins. >>
1. SLUSHY
United Kingdom – 2:00 Min.
Director: Callum Wylie
Two frozen soft drinks fall in love and must find a way to be together.
2. PRAWN NOODLES AND A DREAM
Singapore – 10:20 Min.
Director: Ding Jie (DJ) Ng
Hawker food culture is made of dreams, creativity and innovation. Despite making UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritages, Singapore’s hawker culture is endangered. That is, until a young man rises to the challenge.
3. HEDY
Ireland – 11:00 Min.
Director: Andy B Clarke
A savvy homeless girl creates a robot as a surrogate for her departed younger brother. Not everyone is happy with their partnership.
4. THIS ONE IS SWEETER
Taiwan – 7:23 Min.
Director: Li-Yu Liu, Shu-Yen Wang
The countryside Grandma seems to have magical superpowers. As time goes by, the boy gradually discovers a big surprise
5. NAAN BUT YOU
Hong Kong – 5:00 Min.
Director: Paulo Reyes
Two strangers brought together by the power of food. A reminder that our most unforgettable connections are often the most unexpected – regardless of place, language, culture, ethnicity, or time.
6. IIZUNA FAIR
Japan – 11:00 Min
Director: Sumito Sakakibara
In a frenzy night a man finds himself lost in time, not among monsters, as he was the phantom. Buried in memories of inhibitions and promises he never kept. Words washed up on the shore, poems now approaching through the waves.
7. SNAMH (SWIM)
Ireland – 3:00 Min.
Director: William Williamson
Colm Daly, a 70yr old veteran of open water swimming, tells of his fifty-year experience and passion for Irish water.
8. WALKING ANGELS
Montreal – 14:00 Min.
Director: Michael Fortin
Two Montreal skaters explore Rosemont in search of the best places to shoot a video. A choreographic, feminist tribute to an underestimated genre of cinema about the essence of freedom and the friendship between members of Les Vagabonnes.
9. BEHIND THE DOOR
Taiwan – 5:00 Min.
Director: Wei-Lin Zhu
A boy is afraid of the unknown and unable to face the world outside. The boy’s inner struggle and entangle mental state are seen through his repeated attempts and his abandonment.
10. MAM’S OLD CHAIR
Ireland – 2:27 Min.
Director: Sheena Walsh
By chance, an old chair is found. Repair, reuse, community, and the joy garnered from everyday objects reveal how locally sourced, locally made goods can find life across generations.
11. CANDLE AND PATH
Hong Kong – 3:00 Min.
Director: Kyle Wong
A young woman is celebrating her 17th birthday live on a social media platform. She thought her Dad had forgotten about her birthday.
12. AS EASY AS RIDING A BIKE
Ireland – 15:00 Min.
Director: Ronan Burke
Andy is heartbroken when his girlfriend dumps him. His friend Mandy tries to cheer him up by letting him ride her bike. He confesses he’s never ridden one. Mandy bets she can teach him in less than a week.
13. NUEVO RICO
Puerto Rico – 16:00 Min.
Director: Kristian Mercado Figueroa
Twin brother and sister stumble upon a celestial secret that changes their lives and launches them into Reggaetón stardom. In it, they discover that fame comes at a deep price.
WATCH GROUP 1 - Starting Feb 9, 2022
VOTE HERE
Voting begins February 9, 2022
GROUP 2
Duration: 1 hour 28 mins. >>
1. STORNI
Gran Canaria – 5:21 Min.
Director: Agustín Domínguez
She tried to search death for the answers she did not find in life.
2. MR. TEDDY IS ANGRY
Malta – 4:03 Min.
Director: Fabrizio Ellul
A Giant Teddy appears in the Valletta Harbour. Media goes into a frenzy. And havoc follows.
3. GOLDEN SURGE
Taiwan – 5:03 Min.
Director: Nan-Tung Lin
Hong Kong is facing tyranny, and two brothers are marching their own ways in the revolution. As horror approaches, it seems as if this City knew it all, and rebirth follows its collapse.
4. HORIZON
Sardinia, Italy – 15:00 Min.
Director: Daniele De Muro
In the borderlands, the protagonist, a refugee resigned to his faith in an underground shelter, observes the decline of society. That is, until an encounter builds his hope for the future of humanity.
5. TRICK
Taiwan – 2:41 Min.
Directors: Tai Ching Yun, Ye Ze Yu
Something’s wrong with the bathroom after class. What kind of quirky things will Mei and Yu bump into? Can they make it out alive?
6. PACING THE POOL
Australia – 8:29 Min.
Director: Radheya Jegatheva
A glimpse into the extraordinary life of Richard Pace. A different approach to life might have crushed him by the weight of physical and mental stress since childhood. But healing waters help him rise above it all.
7. NOH Men
Japan – 3:59 Min.
Director: Kimi Meguro
Atsushi, an old man, makes sculpture masks with his friends in the form of Japanese Noh theater. He has been absent there for a while.
8. SM9
UK – 15:00 Min.
Director: Makon Bessala
A young Sikh wrestles with forbidden queer desires and his faith. Set in a club against the backdrop of a recital of the penitential hymn Salok Mahalla 9. Will he have to choose between his faith and sexuality?
9. STORK (Bangau)
Singapore – 7:20 Min.
Director: Fanny Bratahalim
A film exploring the (de)construction process of the director’s diasporic identity. “Remember who you are, and how you were raised. At the end, you will return whence you came from.”
10. GRADATIONS
Japan – 7:17 Min.
Director: Nanami Saito
A girl and a boy set out to reach their ideal place. The girl realizes they have arrived at the place she wanted. As the scenery around them changes, they find their minds too exist in gradations.
11. CACOS
Madeira Island – 9:59 Min.
Director: João Brás
As a Portuguese family adapts to a different daily life, an irreversible situation occurs, re-defining their before-and-after and changing the direction of their lives.
12. MY LITTLE BOY’S – APOLLO’S BELT
Taiwan – 3:58 Min. Dir: Jack Shih
Nee-Gu Lo signs up his chubby father for bodybuilding competition. His father, touched by the support of his little boy, stepped up against the boos from the crowd, reversing the outcome with a heartwarming speech.
VOTE HERE
GROUP 3
Duration: 1hour 39mins. >>
1. CRACK
Japan – 1:00 Min.
Director: Forrest Schlage
If you or someone you know suffers from the horrors of smartphone addiction, the OK Boomers of America want you to know, there is help available.
2. TALKING TO MYSELF
United Kingdom – 7:43 Min.
Director: David Easton
While looking for something under his bed, Graham finds an old walkie-talkie and discovers he can talk to himself twenty years into the future.
3. A FISH FOR A FRIEND
Singapore – 8:53 Min.
Director: Javon Chan
Father and son catch a fish. The boy wants to share it with a bear cub that can’t catch any on its own. The father doesn’t want to waste their food, but the boy insists on sharing the fish with the cub.
4. SOL SOL
Canary Islands -10:40 Min.
Director: Àlex Arroyo
Xavier is a Menorquin teenager who is not comfortable at home. When a Catalan tourist visits the island, he tries to feel better by exploring his sexuality and preferring to grow up in Sa Mesquida.
5. THE TRIGGER’S EDGE
Manaus, Amazonas – Brazil – 12:00 Min.
Director: Lucas Martins
Max, a private detective in decline and addicted to gambling, looks for suspects who may be responsible for the murder of a man who was also addicted to gambling.
6. NOSTOS ALGOS
Dominican Republic -13:56 Min.
Director: Juan Diego De León
Going through his memories, Adrian rekindles feelings linked to his father’s lack of support throughout his life towards his choice of becoming a theater actor.
7. BEFORE THE BEAUTY IS GONE
Vancouver Island – 13:58 Min.
Director: Mackai Sharp
An unfortunate reality: our fish are disappearing. Not our Salmon or our Halibut, though those will soon follow. Forage fish, key to the marine ecology, is vanishing off the coast of British Columbia.
8. HER WALKS
Philippines – 20:00 Min.
Director: Julius Lumiqued
While preparing lunch on a Sunday, an Igorot elderly woman hears distant explosions. She flees her home. Despite her disability, she crosses through her hometown in the middle of an insurgency.
9. THE HOLE
Taiwan -11:39 Min.
Director: Fang Hsin Kai
A soldier hides in a cave to avoid the big snake in the woods. He rests a bit in the cave, even makes a little bat friend. But then, after eating all the food, he hears a hiss. It’s the snake. Again.
WATCH GROUP 3
VOTE HERE.
GROUP 4
Duration: 1hour 32mins. >>
1. HIPERREALIDADES
Canary Island: 1:23 Min.
Director: Carlos S. Peña
Understanding ‘hiperreality’ as an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality, this work tries to represent the seek of a memory, a longing, which finds itself within a virtual realm; a dilema about the connection between the outside and the inside, the imagination and reality.
2. DANTE
Manhattan – 9:00 Min.
Director: Christian Peña
Dante grew up in an orphanage. His mentor was Circe, a clown, whose dark influence throws Dante into isolation. In it, Dante develops a strange obsession with hair, and he will do anything to satisfy this obsession.
3. PAINTINGS, SKETCHES, FILMS and U.F.O.s
Australia: 4:45 Min.
Director: Tom Vogel
Derek Erskine talks about his art, his films and about that time he saw an U.F.O.s while he was living in Tasmania.
4. AMANAH DANGIANG
Indonesia – 13:14
Director: Yudha Nugraha
Once, Ki Kasta (abah) told his students that his knowledge came from the Book of the Tulunjuk Sakti. One of his student warriors, was obsessed the book. One day the book was stolen. Ki Kasta had a hunch.
5. A VISIBLE HEART
Taiwan: 4:00 Min.
Director: Yu-Ting Chang
After a conflict with her mother, a girl runs out to the street. Her ability to see through the color of one’s heart irritated her. Then something happens that changes the way she thought of her powers.
6. ICEBERG LICKING SOCIETY
Iceland – 4:40 Min.
Director: Nathan Ceddia
A never-before-seen look into the mysterious world of the Iceberg Licking Society, at the moment in which the association faces iceberg-licking’s greatest threat: global warming.
7. SOPHÍA
Canary Islands – 13:55 Min.
Director: Alex Duck
Sophía, a kid who lives in a cottage with her brother and grandmother, has been forced to grow up fast. With remarkable tenacity, she becomes responsible for the home, animal care and the field.
8. BEHIND THE SCENE
Taiwan – 13:29 Min.
Director: Wu Yen Sheng
A writer is experiencing a creative block when he is drawn to the life of violence of the couple next door. He peeks through a hole in his room. He does nothing to stop it, in fear of losing his inspiration.
9. ARGOS
Sicily – 9:50 Min.
Director: Fabio Bagnasco
This film, inspired by the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia, tells of a child who gets lost in a garden and meets a magical dog who opens a new dimension for him.
10. A PIECE OF CAKE
Taiwan – 5:20 Min.
Director: Wen-Yi Tseng
A man is abducted to a planet of pastries, fruits and natural goods. He falls in love with a magical creature, half cupcake, almost human. But must battle through obstacles to get to her.
11. HELLO
Cuba – 13:00 Min.
Director: Oldren Romero
In the process of creation, in a state of ecstasy, this Painter can’t find a definite line between reality, dreams, madness and death. Then a call, one word, will decipher the enigma.
WATCH GROUP 4
VOTE HERE!
GROUP 5
Duration: 1hour 30mins. >>
1. FIRST MISSION
Singapore – 3:48 Min.
Director: Yao Jiaqi
First Mission is a 3D comedy, animated film about a novice Grim Reaper on their first job to reap an old man. But there is the limitation of Maya’s hardware 2.0 renderer to achieve an Arnold-like quality.
2. THE FRUITFUL
Ireland – 7:00 Min.
Director: John Collins
From classic Georgian townscapes to the lush landscapes of rural Ireland, a young woman struggles for restitution in the shadows of her recent past. Enchant Irish recitation of an antique Asian anecdote.
3. [be e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ‘e e]
Tenerife – 19:00 Min.
Director: ziREjA
A sensory and contemplative experience involving film and performative co-creation about forgotten spaces and realities. A journey through wool mediated by the body and voice of its protagonists.
4. HIT LIST/THE LOVE PROJECT
Japan – 10:50 Min.
Director: R.Jamie Kassler
An eager thief hits the jackpot as he takes on the city. That is, until he steals from an unassuming young woman who might jeopardize his biggest heist yet.
5. JOB ORDER
Philippines- 1:11 Min.
Director: Richard Soriano Legaspi
An experimental film reflecting on the daily journey of migrant workers in Taiwan. The geography and culture of the Island seen through a fast-moving narrative, and a reflection of their limited time.
6. DETECTIVE BUCKERS
Ireland – 6:34 Min.
Director: .Alan Power
Detective Buckers arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder. Instead of searching for clues, he wastes time, clumsily checking the scene, reading the victim’s diary and getting a little paranoid after a smoke.
7. FOG
Ireland – 6:57 Min.
Director: Lisa Marie Dwyer
Two daughters, one mother – fractured by fate.
8. ERASER
Japan – 11:33 Min.
Director: Jamie Kassler
A fiery young schoolgirl would do anything to protect her best friend from a merciless bully. She stumbles upon a dark, mysterious ring with magical powers that just might make her problems disappear.
9. MARTIN’S VANTAGE POINT
Canary Islands – 12:51 Min.
Director: Chedey Reyes
Lorena arrives at the viewpoint of the cliff. She meets with José, whom she is divorcing. Their phones are tapped, their accounts locked. The circle tightens. Nothing is what it seems.
10. SIMPLE LOCURA
Puerto Rico – 10:00 Min.
Director: Melvin Audaz
Henry Cole is an enigmatic Puerto Rican drummer/composer. The film crew follows Cole from NYC to Añasco, PR, where he reunites with old friends, relatives and the rhythms that gave birth to his music when he was just a child.
WATCH GROUP 5
VOTE HERE!
ABOUT
Pregones/PRTT is proud to present the 6th Annual 21 Islands International Short Film Fest. Starting February 9, 2022 with online WATCH & VOTE periodthrough February 23rd.
Selected from thousands of multilingual submissions originating in hundreds of qualifying locations worldwide, 21 Islands ISFF finalists compete for both Festival Jury Prizes and Audience Choice Awards. YOU GET TO VOTE!
Special thanks to our media broadcast partners at BronxNet Community Television.
This program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For a full list of our funders, visit www.pregonesprtt.org.