Julian Doan’s Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart has taken the $100,000 first prize at the inaugural Ripcord Halloween Film Festival. The Los Angeles competition announced its winners after screening 13 finalists. The winning short follows a young customer who brings his dead father back for a final conversation in Little Saigon.
Julian Doan has won the $100,000 first prize at the inaugural Ripcord Halloween Film Festival, a short-film competition in Los Angeles. His Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart follows a young customer who brings his dead father back for one last conversation behind a Little Saigon convenience store. Winners were announced on October 30, after the finalists’ screening the previous evening.[1], [2]
All 13 finalists screened at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre the previous evening. The festival distributed more than $200,000 overall, with every finalist receiving an award. Sophia Parella’s Zippy’s House took the $50,000 second prize, while Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky’s Harold Eats Maude received 25,000 dollars for third place. J. Zachary Thurman’s It Helps received 4,000 dollars as runner-up.[1]
The competition began with 50 shorts selected from more than 500 submissions. Viewers could stream the films free and vote online. Founder Charlie Cleveland said close voting prompted the expansion from 12 finalists to 13. A five-person jury ranked the finalists: director Tim Miller, short-film programmers Jean Lauer and Lisa Ogdie, designer Neville Page and producer Peter Phok.[1]
