Sundance Film Festival is in Full Swing in Utah, and it’s Awards Time.

Abdel Moneim Amayri appears in Aziza by Soudade Kadaan, an official selection of the Shorts Programs at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Elsy Hajjar.

Almost 10,000 shorts from the U.S. and other countries were submitted to the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. According to Kim Yutani, the Festival’s Director of Programming, this year Sundance programming team ‘took in a full spectrum of human experiences across genres and formats’. In short film category, the 73 selected stories ranged from man-machine communication enabled by Huawei to fear of dating, and examining the deeper questions of the ownership of the Sami land through the ballet performances.

This year, Aziza by Soudade Kaadan took the Grand Jury Prize in Short Film nominations. A 13-minute dark comedy presents a dynamic take on the life of Syrian refugees. Soudade Kaadan, who also edited and co-wrote the film with May Hayek seems to be having a good year. Her first feature fiction film The Day I Lost My Shadow scooped up prizes at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival and LA Film Festival. Now her new work Aziza takes the Grand Jury Prize home from Sundance short film program, a centerpiece of the festival’s year-long support of short-form storytellers. Select short films will be presented as part of the Festival’s travel program in 70 cities across the U.S. and Canada.

Check out Sundance official website for the full list of winners in Short Film category, and stay tuned for other big wins of this year’s festival ongoing in Utah until February 3rd.

Soudade Kadaan, director of Aziza, an official selection of the Shorts Programs at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Julien Chalala.