2025 Festival Award Winners

FIRST PLACE:
A Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion
by
Zefu Chen

 

The Children Were Taken from the Land,
Now the Land is Being Taken from the Children
by
Eriel Lugt and Carmen Kuptana

 THIRD PLACE:
Modern Man
by
Eliot Cho

Return to Sender
by
Kiran Arain

Plastic Trees
by
Evan Pan

HONORABLE MENTION:

STRATA
by
Tudor Postolache

Thwaites Glacier
by
Aleka Agre

When the Fire Dies
by
Noah Lazar Abraham

We Don’t Decompose
by
Julia Andrade Rozario and Akira Sky

Lessons From Our Grandfather
by
Ashley Qilavaq-Savard and Jennifer Kilabuk

Marché du Film
Cannes, May 19
and
Icefjord Center
Ilulissat, June 6
KANGIATA ILLORSUA
(THE ICEFJORDS CENTRE)

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MEET THE FILMMAKERS:

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FIRST PLACE

ZEFU CHEN

A DIAMOND THAT CUTS THROUGH ILLUSION

The Alchemy of Saving the Planet

An experimental travelogue coalescing contemporary spiritual malaise with climate anxiety, “A Diamond That Cuts Through Illusions” is filmed entirely on expired Super 8mm and 16mm film in the Elysian villages at the foot of the mythical Namchabarwa Peak in Eastern Tibet. The manifesto film traces its genesis in the revered Diamond Sutra, diagnosing the illusory solastagia (the grief from one experiencing an environmental crisis) of our time with ancient Buddhist wisdom. As the film’s author wander through the diamantine landscape in search of a ecological nirvana, the melancholic decay of the expired celluloid metaphorically paints by the frame a paradisiacal world besieged by Anthropocene destruction. The camera becomes a prophetic whisperer of our planet’s stoic threnody, transmitting its mighty powers and beauty with existential awe. Through this short cinepoem, the author experiments with his aesthetic and social theory of symbio-poeisis, which posits that the ecstasis of posthumanist freedom, the end goal of all sublimated art, will be at the instant of the full integration of man into Earth.

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ZEFU (b. 2003, Canton) is a filmmaker, poet, and transdisciplinary artist based in New York working across all avant-garde media. Incubator of the meta-poiesis of a transhuman self, his mytho-autobiographical work aims to induce the state of ecstatis through generative enstatis. Adhering to the etymology of “poetry” as “to make, to create,” his often scientific-fantastical worlds are deeply informed by studies of antiquity, esotericism, existentialism, and posthumanist theory, while remaining faithful to his artistic roots in surrealism and mysticism. Centering his artistic nucleus in the power of the ancient poet equipped with modern technologies, his immaterial narratives aim to delineate an individual portal to a collective higher consciousness unbounded by historical spacetime. 

Zefu’s motto is that life is greater than art. He is currently completing his BFA at New York University in avant-garde cinema with a concentration in philosophy. His next major project, SØMÄLGEBRA (the body’s algebra) is in the pre-production stage. The film will explore humanity’s future potentiality in transcending beyond the physical-temporal plane through the Ancient Greek myth of Narcissus retold with the knowledge of 20-century quantum mechanics. He is looking forward to collaborating with scientists, artists, and producers on the exciting project.

Instagram @zefustudios

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SECOND PLACE

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Oh. That’s Sad by Alissa Hsu

Oh, that’s sad.’ ‘Oh, that sucks.’ ‘Well, what can you do?’ These are all phrases we’ve heard, maybe even said, when faced with devastating information about climate change. But brushing it off or feeling inconsequential only validates the small, everyday ways we unknowingly hurt the planet. This normalizes the damage we cause without even realizing it. But if small actions can hurt the planet, it can help it too and it starts with the recognition of those “small” things.  Software: Procreate, Premiere Pro Alissa Hsu is a director, producer and editor. She is a CAS student studying Computer Science with a minor in Web Development. She is passionate about the intersection of art and technology, constantly creating in different creative tech mediums. She loves New York, her family and friends, and her dear bunny (in no particular order). Portfolio (to see list of projects, click “project list” on top left corner in “tech + art” section): Github | Instagram | LinkedIn |

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The Children Were Taken from the Land,
Now the Land is Being Taken from the Children
by
Eriel Lugt and Carmen Kuptana

Carmen Kuptana and Eriel Lugt are Inuvialuit filmmakers from Tuktoyaktuk, NT, whose work centers on climate change, cultural resilience, and youth perspectives in the Arctic. Their debut film premiered at the Skábmagovat Indigenous Film Festival, and they’re now developing a new project that deepens their exploration of land, identity, and environmental justice.

You can read more about their journey and current work here:
Arctic Focus

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THIRD PLACE

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Modern Man by Eliot Cho and Jinsung Park

Camera used: Sony a7R V Editing Software: Premiere ProThis film was co-directed by Eliot Cho and Jinsung Park.Eliot Cho is a director and cinematographer, and he is studying film and television at Tisch. Jinsung Park is a director and writer, and he is studying dramatic writing at Tisch.This is Eliot and Jinsung’s third project together, but their first time co-directing with each other.

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Return to Sender
by
Kiran Arain

Return to Sender is a quiet short following a lone narrator as she tries to maintain some sense of normalcy whilst reaching a loved one in a climate-devastated world. The film reinforces the crucial message that all hope is completely irrational; and yet still staunchly necessary. Despite the world crumbling, human beings will always try to do what they have always already done; reach out to each other even when there is no logical path forward; because it is the only way we know how to live. The film was written, directed, and edited by Kiran Arain, a rising senior in the Collaborative Arts program at NYU Tisch. Her work for this  film aims to focus on the intersection of personal memory, climate anxiety, and the irrational ways we cope with grief and loss. She enjoys experimenting with new methods of storytelling and using her multi-media art skills to create unique and interesting projects at NYU. This film was shot on a Sony A6700 with no additional hardware or software. It was edited and color graded in Adobe Premiere Pro, and scored with Ableton.

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Plastic Trees
by
Evan Pan

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HONORABLE MENTION:

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STRATA
by
Tudor Ric Postolache

To escape a toxic surface, the remnants of humanity ascend within a flying mega-strucuture, but time continues to run out. 

STRATA is an sci-fi animated short film exploring an apocalyptic future brought to a final brink. 

Created with Photoshop, Toon Boom Harmony, Blender

Tudor Ric Postolache is an acting graduate from Tisch Drama and multidisciplinary artist who pursues storytelling as a path to a more empathetic world. He created STRATA while taking Intro To Animation at the Kambar Film Institute and continues its development as an ongoing project. With its world-building he aims to highlight how the structures we inhabit must be reckoned with if any lasting and meaningful change can be achieved. 

Connect with him @tudoric0

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Thwaites Glacier
by
Aleka Agre

Thwaites Glacier, often referred to as “the doomsday glacier”, is melting faster and faster every year. What that means for us and our planet lies in the ice, with ground-breaking technology helping to decode what the future of Thwaites looks like.

Aleka Agre is a Motion Designer and Illustrator. She’s a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is currently working full-time as the Lead Animator at Mess Kit Inc.

Connect: Instagram, alekaagre.com