2024 43rd Season of the Thomas Edison Film Festival Program

JURY’S
CITATION AWARDS
Our Males and Females – Narrative
11 min. by Ahmad Alyaseer, Amman, Jordan
A father and mother are faced with the painful task of washing and shrouding
their deceased transgender daughter. Shrouding is an Islamic religious practice
that is deemed obligatory to carry out upon death. But when no one agrees to
wash her and shame falls onto the family, how far is the father willing to go
to make sure his “son” is washed?
JURY’S
CITATION AWARDS
Pilipala – Animation
1 min. by Yinan Liang, Jersey City, NJ, USA
An animated short inspired by the annual Spring Festival in China. Spring
festival is a traditional Chinese festival with thousands of years of history.
The filmmaker’s idea is to convey a strong feeling of happiness and joy to the
audience.
Pacifier – Experimental
5 min. by Xiaoxuan Han, Beijing, China
“I invited six people of different ages to talk about their fears, and then tried
to comfort them with pacifiers. People outside the cradle seem to no longer
need pacifiers. Faced with a more complex world, they have learned to make
their own pacifiers.”
Reversal – Experimental
6 min. by Diane Nerwen, Brooklyn, NY, USA
“Reversal” combines images and sounds from movies released or broadcast
in 1973, the year the Supreme Court decided Roe v Wade. In the strange new
reality ushered in by the Dobbs decision, the slogan “We won’t go back” is
recalled with bitter irony. This collage piece evokes the spectre of regression
and repression that has followed the Court’s decision.
62 www.TEFilmFest.org
©2024 The Thomas A. Edison Media Arts Consortium, Inc., All rights reserved. 63