(Charles Mudede, US, 2020, 90 min)

“This award means a great deal to me and my Thin Skin team because of the importance and gravity of the Northwest Film Forum, an institution that has supported my career as a filmmaker from the very beginning. I also want to thank the organizers of the festival for emphasizing safety during this pandemic. That took a lot of work but it was worth it.” – Director Charles Mudede

FILM SYNOPSIS
A struggling single dad clings to his dream of being a musician, much to the chagrin of his absent Nigerian father, until a mysterious illness throws his world into chaos. Thin Skin is a music-infused, darkly comedic true story about keeping it together when you’re falling apart, starring Ahamefule Oluo as its main character, and with support from Annette Toutonghi, Ijeoma Oluo, Dwayne Kennedy, and Hari Kondabolu.

(Gilda Sheppard, US, 2020, 105 min)

“I am honored to receive this award for Best Documentary Feature from Local Sightings 2021 jury. Northwest Film Forum has always been a beacon of light and possibilities for independent film makers. The opportunities that NWFF has presented to me and filmmaker colleagues gives us hope in the role of art to inspire, provide hope and a platform for which to imagine and breathe life into our vision for a better world. This is the power of creating art and storytelling. I/we love NWFF!“ – Director Gilda Sheppard

FILM SYNOPSIS
Since I Been Down shines a brilliant, harsh light on the fundamental dysfunctionality and raw corruption of America’s “criminal justice system.” The case study of Kimonti Carter, a Hilltop, Tacoma-born man sentenced to 777 years as a teenager, offers a dramatically different take on what justice can look like. The prisoner-led education program that Carter works within, T.E.A.C.H. (Taking Education and Creating History), creates a growing community of victims of the carceral state who are committed to personal growth, self-knowledge, and one another.

(Kolby Rowland, Seattle, WA, 2021, 70 min)

“I am deeply humbled to have been selected for this award. Thank you to everyone who brought this piece to life. Thank you to the Northwest Film Forum for lifting up my freaky voice and for believing in me. And thank you to the lands, seas, and critters that make up our magical home.“ – Director Kolby Rowland

FILM SYNOPSIS
Blurring the filmmaker’s personal childhood experiences with mythic representations set around Seattle, City By the Sound explores the boundaries that make up documentary, fiction, and video essays, as seen through the sights of a hiker who can see through time and space. What unfolds is a non-linear series of vignettes ranging in complexity and duration, from a Sasquatch sighting and a ghost story, to an old woman telling a story about a tree; all are woven together to create a strange tapestry of personal and collective memories.

(Jean Parsons, Canada, 2020, 20 min)

“Thank you so much to the Local Sightings team and jury, and the talented, generous cast and crew who worked so hard to bring Spring Tide to life. It is an honour to share this award with you all! Local Sightings was one of the first festivals that programmed my work, and I am so grateful for the support they offer the Pacific Northwest filmmaking community.” – Director Jean Parsons

FILM SYNOPSIS
Emily is excited for her best friend to stay with her in a seaside vacation town for the summer, but their different appetites for risk and romance threaten to shake their friendship to its core.

(Amar Chebib, Canada, 2021, 16 min)

“On behalf of the team, thank you so much for this award. We are honoured and grateful to have been a part of Local Sightings 2021 and look forward to screening future work at the festival!” – Director Jean Parsons

FILM SYNOPSIS
Joe Buffalo is an Indigenous skateboard legend and survivor of Canada’s notorious Indian Residential School system. With a traumatic childhood and decades of addiction behind him, Joe must face his inner demons to realize his dream of turning pro.

(Melina Kiyomi Coumas, US, 2020, 3 min)

“I shot the footage for Call Me Back a while ago, a few years after my Grandmother’s passing. Anything I tried to make with the footage never felt right until one day (while I was trying to free up storage space on my phone), I came across some old voicemails from my Grandma. One in particular teared me up a bit because it sounded like a call from any other day in my childhood, a message that would have just been deleted without thought or appreciation. I could vividly picture my Baachan in her apron by the window, calling me on her landline to see if my mom and I were coming over for dinner that night. I decided to pair this audio with the fuzzy, shakey visuals I shot back home in Hawaii to create this warbled short that I hoped would capture the emptiness and spiraling loss I now felt whenever I returned home.

“Being an experimental filmmaker who usually makes analog films on my own, it’s often hard to tell if anyone actually connects to the work I make. This is why I was completely shocked by the news that my film won Best Experimental Short! I’m so honored to hear that my work resonated with viewers, and am so incredibly honored to have had my work included amongst such wonderful PNW creators. Local Sightings is truly one of my favorite festivals to attend, and I’d like to give a huge THANK YOU to this year’s amazing filmmakers, Jury, and the NW Film Forum staff for all their hard work!” – Director Melina Kiyomi Coumas

FILM SYNOPSIS
The last voicemail from the filmmaker’s grandmother forms the foundation of an experimental film meditating on loss and haunted space. Shot on Super 8mm film.

(Barb Hoffman, US, 2020, 7 min)

“Attending the Local Sightings Film Festival was such a delight to experience this year. The community there is so supportive, and all I can say is I wish I had submitted years earlier. This was the best way to come back to in person festivals, and I look forward to coming back to this festival every year from now on.” – Director Barb Hoffman

FILM SYNOPSIS
Over the phone, friends of the filmmaker tell her what they see in cloud photographs that she sends them. Their visions are then animated over the clouds in a loving study of imagination and long-distance friendship.

(Frances Grace Mortel, US, 2021, 3 min)

“Dear Nanay sprang out of an unfinished photography series I had been (and still is) working on during the start of the pandemic — an introspection of my domestic role as a mother and artist — and the required matrilineal labor and service as a brown woman and immigrant. I am grateful and honored for my little film to be recognized by the jury in this year’s Local Sightings Film Festival. I dedicate this award to my Mama and Nanay, and all the mothers and parents who came and cared before me.” – Director Frances Grace Mortel

FILM SYNOPSIS
A love letter to her grandmother that explores the filmmaker’s early memories in the Philippines, and the search for refuge from pandemic anxiety and domestic claustrophobia.