BHFF
Archives

2021

Award Winners

The 21st Anniversary Edition of the Beverly Hills Film Festival has warmly welcomed an exceptional set of filmmakers and writers.

Remaining dedicated and focused on its artists’ creative vision, the Beverly Hills Film Festival® is more than honored to present the 21st Edition of its Awards with the close collaborative efforts of the Beverly Hills Film Festival Executive Directorial Team and the Beverly Hills Film Festival President of the Jury.

2021 Beverly Hills Film Festival Golden Palm Award

Bloodless: The Path To Democracy

Director: Bared Maronian

Country: United States

RT: 88min

Synopsis: In the course of history, only a few revolutions have been successful, let alone those without Bloodshed. Nikol Pashinyan, a charismatic former journalist and political prisoner, galvanized support among the youth and women, by using non-violent civil disobedience protests and social media. In a short period of 6 weeks, a corrupt oligarchy was toppled and democracy restored. Deemed short of a miracle, Bloodless is a riveting political thriller, capturing the story as events unfold in the spring of 2018 in Armenia. ...

2021 Screenplay Awards

GOLDEN PALM AWARD

Caravaggio

Richard Vetere

1ST RUNNER UP

Winter Bird

Stephen Delos Treacy

2ND RUNNER UP

The Advantages of Whiskey Over Dogs

Michael Begg & Barry A. Lemoine

2021 Film Awards

Best Actress

Forbidden to see us scream in Tehran

Country: United States

RT: 18min

Director: Farbod Ardebili

The frontwoman for an Iranian death metal band risks everything as she plots to call the cops on her own underground concert in the hopes that the raid will help her secure her asylum in another country....

Best Editing, Best Feature Film

Ten Tricks

Country: United States

RT: 88min

Director: Richard Pagano

This steamy romance centers around a brothel madam (Lea Thompson), who is desperate to find love and settle down for family life after years of managing loveless one night stands...

Best Short Documentary

The Clown Without a Mask

Country: United States

RT: 36min

Director: Oskar Dektyar

The world's most celebrated living clown - philosopher Slava Polunin with his Slava's Snow Show and Academy of Fools reveals the Truth of Happiness. They are traveling around the world and even participating in the famous Nevada Desert Festival "Burning Man". "Slava Polunin may well be the world’s greatest clown. He may even be the world’s greatest magician!” Variety weekly ...

Best Producer

Life & Larry Brown

Country: United States

RT: 37min

Director: Scott D. Rosenbaum

Born in 1953 amidst the oppression and abuses of the Jim Crow South, Larry Brown reflects on his tumultuous life that led to a murder conviction, subsequent 34-year prison sentence and the salvation that a mother's love and a guitar provided...

Best Cinematography, Best Documentary

Nuclear Forever

Country: Germany

RT: 52/94min

Director: Carsten Rau

Germany is turning away from nuclear power in 2022. Yet the country’s nuclear nightmare goes on: with umpteen thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste and the hazardous dismantling of power plants which will take decades....

Best Director

The Appointment

Country: United States

RT: 20min

Director: Alexandre Singh

Disturbed by a mysterious entry in his diary, novelist Henry Salt embarks on an obsessive quest to uncover the identity of his 12 o'clock appointment....

Best Actor, Best Foreign Film

The Journey of Murder

Country: China

RT: 105min

Director: Jun Wang

Sha Tao is a village girl with mental disorders. She is married to gambler Ma Saike, who plans to take Sha Tao to a boss in Shanxi Province in exchange for money, so that he can pay off his gambling debts and get treatment for his cancerous mother. When Ma Saike finds out the Shanxi boss Feng San is going to use Sha Tao for "ghost marriage", he receives a phone call telling him that urgent money is needed for his mother who is in a critical condition. He decides to kill Sha Tao for money. At the third attempt of killing Sha Tao, Ma Saike is told that his mother has died. In his grief, he wants to send Sha Tao home, only to find the debtor Shan Ji has been looking for him. Ma Saike plots an encounter between Feng San and Shan ji. After a fight between the two parties, Ma Saike takes Sha Tao to escape, but gets killed with a dagger. Sha Tao is free....

Best Student Film

Concrete

Country: United States

RT: 9min

Director: Ryan Mercatante

After fate gets in the way of his suicide attempt, Charlie must now find a way out of the Los Angeles River base with a broken leg and an open wound....

Best Animated Film

Kapaemahu

Country: United States

RT: 8min

Director: Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Long ago, four extraordinary beings of dual male and female spirit brought the healing arts to Hawaii and imbued their powers in four giant boulders. The stones still stand on Waikiki Beach, but their true story has been hidden - until now...

2021 SPECIAL JURY AWARDS

Best Feature Documentary

Bloodless: The Path To Democracy

Country: United States

RT: 88min

Director: Bared Maronian

In the course of history, only a few revolutions have been successful, let alone those without Bloodshed. Nikol Pashinyan, a charismatic former journalist and political prisoner, galvanized support among the youth and women, by using non-violent civil disobedience protests and social media. In a short period of 6 weeks, a corrupt oligarchy was toppled and democracy restored. Deemed short of a miracle, Bloodless is a riveting political thriller, capturing the story as events unfold in the spring of 2018 in Armenia. ...

Best Short Film

Stalin Unlimited

Country: Russia

RT: 25min

Director: Yury Vorobev

The unemployed liberal Yegor gets a job as double of the Soviet leaders. The working day goes badly, therefore he finds an extreme way out – an absurd Stalin’s “”self-promo””....

Best Editing, Best Feature Film

Ten Tricks

Country: United States

RT: 88min

Director: Richard Pagano

This steamy romance centers around a brothel madam (Lea Thompson), who is desperate to find love and settle down for family life after years of managing loveless one night stands...

2021 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

Best Cinematography, Best Documentary

Nuclear Forever

Country: Germany

RT: 52/94min

Director: Carsten Rau

Germany is turning away from nuclear power in 2022. Yet the country’s nuclear nightmare goes on: with umpteen thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste and the hazardous dismantling of power plants which will take decades....

Best Short Film

Blue

Country: United States

RT: 16min

Director: Ziad Foty

Stuck somewhere between his idyllic life and his haunting memories, all Blue wants is to go fishing with his son. His son Daniel is everything to him, most importantly the person who makes him forget the difficulties of his own troubled childhood of poverty. But when Blue takes Daniel fishing one day, the child keeps going missing, turning his world blue. His childhood priest notices that something is not right when he runs into him at the local diner and follows Blue. In the world of Blue, it's what's in the background....

Best Feature Film

Stand Up! Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Country: United States

RT: 89min

Director: Timo Jacobs

Charlie Schwarzer’s great career in comedy just won’t take off as planned. On top of it all the love of his life, Emilie separates from him and is involved in a car accident.But does this mean ‘game over’ for Charlie? The answer is: no. His motto is “Stand Up!”...