10th Annual NBCUniversal Short Film Festival Reveals Winners

The NBCUniversal Short Film Festival announced its 2015 award winners at its West Coast festival finale at the Director's Guild of America in Hollywood Wednesday, followed by a red carpet after-party, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the festival.

Surpassing more than 2,100 submissions this year, the four-day bi-coastal festival seeks the next generation of writers, directors, producers and actors, while celebrating innovative storytelling from diverse backgrounds.

The evening was hosted by Loni Love, who was joined by presenters from other NBC series, including Oscar Nunez, Amber Stevens West, Judith Shekoni and Asif Ali (an #NBCUshortsFest alum). Winners were selected by a prestigious panel of high-profile executives and top industry players, including Justin Lin, Kahli Small, Phil Breman, Teri Dean, Brian Dorfman, Beth Colleton, Karen Horne, Jandiz Cardoso, Wil Sylvince, Heather Washington, Maradith Frenkel, Beth Klein, Grace Wu, Reggie Lee, Monica Raymund, Janina Gavankar, Amir Arison, Doug Atchison, Jose Rivera, Kevin Seldon, Will Packer and Academy Award winner Geena Davis.

"We at NBCU want to congratulate all the winners and finalists," said Karen Horne, Senior Vice President, Programming Talent Development & Inclusion, NBC Entertainment and Universal Television. "We continue to be impressed by the extraordinary filmmaking talent and diverse creative voices that this festival celebrates and grows. We look forward with excitement to the next decade and beyond."

AWARD HIGHLIGHTS

Mouzam Makkar won for best actor for her role in the comedy "The First Session" while Joshua Chang won for his supporting role in the drama "Touch." Both were offered talent-holding deals with NBC.

Best writer went to Christopher De Las Alas for his film "For Ofelia," receiving a prize package that included annual subscriptions to Variety, HollywoodReporter.com and Variety Insight, as well as a Final Draft product suite and a 16g iPad Air.

The G-Technolgy Audience Award went to writer/director Solvan Naim for "Stanhope," and he received a 12TB G-Raid hard drive. Naim also took home best director honors, receiving a development meeting with Universal Pictures and a $60,000 camera package donation from the Panavision New Filmmaker Program to be used toward his next project.

Lastly, Best Short went to writer/director Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr. for his film "Born With It." He received a prize package including a $10,000 cash grant provided by XFinity from Comcast.

In addition, for the first time in 2015, the NBCU Short Film Festival presented two new custom awards. As part of NBCUniversal's unifying vision for social impact, Open Possibilities NBCU also celebrated Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.'s "Born With It" as the film with the greatest social impact to inspire change. He was awarded a prize package that included two passes to the 2016 AFI Docs Film Festival in Washington, D.C., plus travel, accommodations and a $5,000 cash grant.

The second custom award from Oxygen Media celebrated Cayman Grant, the writer/director of "The Boy," as best female filmmaker with a prize package including a new iMac computer, as well as development meetings with top executives at the network.

All 2015 finalists will be announced in both the Hollywood Reporter and Variety and will receive the opportunity to air their film in more than 21million homes via Xfinity OnDemand, as well as on the NBCU Short Film Festival Hulu Channel, alongside past festival winners and select finalists.

ADDITIONAL 2015 FINALISTS INCLUDE

Writer/Director: Lulu Wang, "Touch"

Director: Robert Enriquez; Writer: Deborah Puette, "Cash for Gold"

Director: Ryan Logan; Writer: Fawzia Mirza, "The First Session"

Co-writer: James Peoples, "The Boy"

Writer/Director: Minji Kang; Co-Writers: Storm Garner, Willem Lee, "The Loyalist"

2015 #NBCUshortsFEST partners include: Comcast, NBC Entertainment Open Possibilities NBCU, Xfinity, the Hollywood Reporter, Universal Pictures, Oxygen Media, Hulu, NBCUniverso, Bravo Media, USA, Syfy, Telemundo, E!, Chiller, Esquire, Variety, Focus Features, Outfest, Panavision, G-Technology, Entertainment Partners, Final Draft, Here TV, Variety Insight, SAG-AFTRA, PGA, WGA West, WGA East, DGA, SAGIndie and Keldof Marketing.