Real Men won the R&A Shorts Award

The HIFF short film award winners have been announced. The winner of the National Competition’s R&A Shorts Award is Iiti Yli-Harja’s animated short documentary film REAL MEN. Other awards were the Uusi Aalto award, the student award, the audience award and the jury’s honorable mention.

The winner of the HIFF’s short film main award R&A Shorts Award is Iiti Yli-Harja’s animated documentary film REAL MEN. The film tells about three men who share their thoughts and surviving methods in a strange but warm-hearted forest trip.

– The short documentary told through animation is moving and sincere, a respectful depiction of the sensitivity of the young men at its centre. The film’s subject and form are beautifully balanced, says the jury in their statement.

The 1 500 euro R&A Shorts Award is sponsored by Helsinki Casting.

The Uusi Aalto Award for a new talent in Finnish cinema goes to Sawandi Groskind for his film WHERE TO LAND. The award, sponsored by the Finnish Film Foundation, is a trip to an international film festival.

The first ever student award was given to Lauri-Matti Parppei’s THE LAST DAY. The award is accreditation to next year’s HIFF and its industry sidebar Finnish Film Affair.

The jury’s honorable mention goes to Laura Rantanen’s short film ON HOLD.

This year’s HIFF audience awarded Uzair Amjad’s PAPER PROMISES. The audience award is sponsored by Marski by Scandic.

The awarded films were screened one more time on Saturday in the R&A SHORTS: AWARDS & WINNERS screening at Kinopalatsi.

The jury of HIFF’s second National Competition consisted of film director Pia Andell, the producer and CEO of Balansia films Swati Goyal, director-screenwriter Mikko Myllylahti and journalist Anton Vanha-Majamaa.

This year’s National Competition included 36 Finnish short films completed in 2019-2020.

Last year’s R&A Shorts Award was won by Jussi Sandhu for his documentary short film 27 First Years.