“Maoussi” and “The Ball” take top honors at 12th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival

Winter Film Awards showcases films from emerging filmmakers from around the world in all genres, with a special emphasis on highlighting the work of women and under-represented filmmakers. End Quote

New York, NY (1888PressRelease) February 29, 2024 - Charlotte Schiøler’s feature film “Maoussi” took the award for Best Picture and Malgorzata Saniewska’s documentary “The Ball” was awarded Best Documentary Feature at the 12th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival, which came to a glittering close on February 25th in New York City.

Best Picture winner “Maoussi” is a 75-minute romance from France and stars Charlotte Schiøler (Babette), Moustapha Mbengue (Edo), Elsa Wolliaston (Nora) and Rodrigue Tounta (Bienvenu). Two strangers, Edo, a Congolese refugee, and Babette, a Danish dancer, unexpectedly find themselves thrust into the confines of a Parisian apartment. When Maoussi, an escaped lab mouse, makes itself known, their lives are turned upside down as they try to navigate cultural misunderstandings and conflicting expectations about what love and parenthood are supposed to look like in 2023.

Best Documentary Feature winner “The Ball” takes you on an intimate journey into the underground Ballroom culture created by marginalized LGBTQ people of color in early 1970s NYC. Thirty years after “Paris Is Burning,” the Ballroom is thriving worldwide, and “The Ball” gives you an in-depth perspective of courage in the face of adversity. Narrated by Ballroom icon Jack Mizrahi Gucci, the film features some of the Ballroom’s most influential and larger-than-life personalities, including Kelly Gucci, Omari Oricci, Chi Chi West, Meah West and Trace Gucci, opening up about family rejection and acceptance, introducing the chosen family concept, its importance to the LGBTQ community and its contribution to the entertainment industry.

The complete list of winners and nominees are as follows:
BEST PICTURE - Maoussi (Charlotte Schiøler/France). Nominees: City of Tigers (Jan Vardøen/Norway), Real Estate Sisters (Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt/South Africa), Unpacking (Michal Sinnott & Alexandra Clayton/USA)

BEST DIRECTOR - City of Tigers (Jan Vardøen/Norway). Nominees: The Ball (Malgorzata Saniewska/USA), Unicorns (Alex Lora Cercos/Spain), Unpacking (Michal Sinnott & Alexandra Clayton/USA)

BEST NYC FILM - Wonders (Huriyyah Muhammad/USA). Nominees: How Not To Date While Trans (Nyala Moon/USA), Night Sweats (Andrew Lyman-Clarke/USA), The Ball (Malgorzata Saniewska/USA)

INDIEPIX VISION AWARD - Playing Sam (Ramon Pesante/USA), The Ball (Malgorzata Saniewska/USA), Unicorns (Alex Lora Cercos/Spain)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - The Ball (Malgorzata Saniewska/USA). Nominees: Matter of Mind: My Parkinson's (Anna Moot-Levin & Laura Green/USA), Pianoman (Sunny Liu/USA), Stuntwomen (Elena Avdija/Switzerland)

BEST SHORT FILM - How Not To Date While Trans (Nyala Moon/USA). Nominees: Just a Rehearsal (Hugo Sanz/Spain), Wonders (Huriyyah Muhammad/USA), Wuss (Nadine Wilson/UK)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - The Other Side - A Portrait of Nikki Bell (Aubrey Franchell/USA). Nominees: Living Loud (Carin Van Der Donk & Sarah Teal/USA), Never Fade Away (Donna Weng Friedman/USA), Unite For Bissau: Agroecology And Feminism In Guinea Bissau (Iara Lee/Guinea Bissau)

BEST HORROR FILM - Leaving Yellowstone (Kayla Arend/USA). Nominees: Catching Spirits (Vanessa Beletic/USA), Oddities (Tyler Savage/USA), Sleep Study (Natalie Metzger/USA)

BEST ANIMATED FILM - Pigsy (Li Wei Chiu/China). Nominees: Extinct (Raúl Díez Rodríguez/Spain), Lover Boy's Little Dream (Ritvick Mehra/Canada), Ovo (Stiv Spasojevic/France)

BEST MUSIC VIDEO - Hold You Down (Jean-Charles Charavin/USA). Nominees: I Cherish Women (Judith Lynn Stillman/USA), Quick (Belle Butler/Australia), The Wu (Maxwell Carrier)

BEST WEB SERIES - Room For Rent Season Two (Steven St. Pierre/USA). Nominees: FragilExpress Presents: Prologue I (Eric Louis Jimenez/USA), TransGenerations (Brady Peeti/New Zealand), Unravelling Anxiety EP01 (Charlotte Wanhill & Soana Aholelei/New Zealand)

BEST STUDENT FILM - Doorway (Siddharth Gautam/USA). Nominees: Dreamy Fragrance of Spring Blossoms (Hera Khanmirzaei & Amirhosein Saqafi/Iran), Glass Works (Norman Ng/Hong Kong), Pier 35 (Raina Yang/USA)

Winter Film Awards International Film Festival is committed to inclusivity and supporting emerging filmmakers. The event places a special emphasis on highlighting the work of women and under-represented filmmakers. For the 2024 Festival, which ran from February 21-25 in New York City, the festival showcased 82 films from around the world - from animated films, documentaries, dramas, horror films and music videos, 13 student films, 27 first-time directors and more than half of the films made by women and half by BIPOC directors.

Visit https://winterfilmawards.com/wfa2024/ for more information.

ABOUT WINTER FILM AWARDS
Winter Film Awards is an all-volunteer, minority and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. Our mission is to promote diversity, bridge the opportunity divide and provide a platform for under-represented artists and a variety of genres, viewpoints and approaches. We believe that only by seeing others’ stories can we understand each other and only via an open door can the underrepresented artist enter the room.

Winter Film Awards programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Promotional support provided by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.

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