This year Super Shorts London Film Festival was privileged to receive more than a thousand six hundred entries. Fifty one wonderful films made it to the final selection for 2020. 

Unfortunately, with COVID-19 throwing a spanner in the works, this year's festival did not turn out exactly as we had hoped. With a second national lockdown set to end only the day before the 2020 edition would have taken place, the Super Shorts London team decided to postpone the event by a year. Our primary concern remains the health and safety of our guests. It is with deep regret, as we were very much looking forward welcoming you this December. This means Super Shorts London Film Festival will organise a double edition in the fall of 2021, in which both the 2020 and 2021 official selections will be screened.

And while these gems won't be shown to the public until next year, members of the jury were able to view the entire 2020 selection and cast their votes. After careful consideration, they declared the following films to be this edition's finest:

The prize for the Best Narrative Film went to 023_GRETA_S (Germany) by Annika Birgel. A young actress' audition quickly spirals out of control, turning into an intimate and manipulative interrogation. As she fights to stand her ground, one pressing question will remain: how far will she go to get the role? 023_GRETA_S is a disquieting drama about the abuse of power in the film industry.

Malka Malka (Israel) by Maya Yavin was awarded as Best Documentary Film. In her twilight years, Malka must take care of her elderly husband Shmulik, while at the same time coping with her son's, Roee, ALS disease. Despite the many tribulations, Malka takes part in making the film, which was created in the spirit of jest combined with dark humor that surrounded Roee during his illness. The film develops in two parallel yet intertwining tracks: one being the documentary, in which the harsh reality that Malka and Shmulik are facing is exposed; the other, fictional, depicting the fantasy world that Roee and the director create.

The prize for the Best Animated Film went to On (Australia) by Jelena Sinik. In our age of attention scarcity, ‘On’ explores just where our gaze is falling. Take a curious and playful glimpse into both the connectedness and enduring loneliness of the modern condition, through this intimate and unexamined lens.
 

Shanghai Windows (China) by Carlo Lin won Best Experimental Film. This short film mainly shows a quarrel between young lovers who live in front of a window in Shanghai Nongtang. The pressure of life and the relationship between the two families create a gap between them. The local middle-aged couples on the other side of the window also seems to have their own problems...

Best Underground Film was awarded to Union Jake (Netherlands) by Luuk Walschot. Leading character Jake questions his identity in a politically and religiously divided community. He is done fighting and is in search of something which unites us all.

It's been decided (Latvia) by Bingi Bongi a.k.a. Mārcis Lācis received the prize for Best Music Video. 

Multipass (UK) by Sol Baldi won Best UK Film. A deeply intimate and loving portrait of Barcelona’s underground queer community shot through 2017/8, MARICAS explores the lives, loves, adventures and inner lives of Celia (17) and Apolonio (22), two of its wildest and most colourful free spirits who come together at ¨Maricas¨ Party shot over 2 years by an insider and friend; the film echoes the look and energy of the Cindy Sherman expose of New York party kids in the seventies, offering new insights into the very different challenges facing of queer millennials coming to adulthood in a world of social media.

Last but not least, the Best Super Super Short Film award went to Kevin & Irena (UK) by Prashanti Aswani. An interview between Kevin and Irena on how they met for the first time.

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 has 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 London Film Festival has continued since 2018 to emphasize lesser known, vanguard cinematic works and further its tradition of galvanizing budding talent. In 2020, under the wings of Cinematory LLC, Super Shorts brought to life two new festivals at new exciting locations. The first editions of Super Shorts New York and Super Shorts Los Angeles are planned in late 2021, both festivals are accepting entries now.

See you all next year, for a happy reunion at our double edition!