Christina Brennan (US), Ben David Sharp, Josh Madison Lewis (Scotland), and Elijah Boulton (Canada) are awarded top prizes for their films in AGBO’s virtual short film festival.

AGBO is proud to announce the winners of their fourth annual 48-hour filmmaking competition, “No Sleep ‘til Film Fest.” As part of AGBO’s commitment to championing emerging filmmakers, the two-day festival challenges participants to make films that are three minutes or less for a chance to win prizes and receive ongoing mentorship from the independent studio. This year’s prompt required participants to create a short film that explored the dynamics of an unlikely alliance: whether it’s an unusual friendship, a partnership between adversaries, or a connection between seemingly incompatible beings, filmmakers were challenged to show how the most unexpected collaborations can lead to the most profound outcomes. This year’s winners are Christina Brennan, an emerging filmmaker from New York City, winning first place for her short “Dear Nora,” which follows a young woman confronting her inner critic as she struggles to embrace her own worth and find beauty in life’s small moments.Second place is awarded to the directing team of Ben David Sharp and Josh Madison Lewis from Glasgow, Scotland, for their apocalyptic short “Fall,” a wordless drama where two unlikely allies face the decision to cooperate or fight for survival. Elijah Boulton, an independent filmmaker from Nova Scotia, takes third place for his film “The Universal Language,” a quirky narrative about a man who orders a synthetic girlfriend only to discover a unique language barrier between them. 

The top three winners receive a filmmaking prize package equipped with essential resources and best-in-class equipment to use for future filmmaking opportunities. They will also join the AGBO Storytellers Collective, an alumni network of winners from other AGBO-sponsored festivals and fellowship programs such as the RussoBrothers Italian American Filmmaker Forum and the Slamdance Film FestivalFellowship, the same festival the Russos received their start at in 1997 as emerging filmmakers.

The festival’s panel of judges include AGBO Co-Founders Anthony and Joe Russo, Partner Donald Mustard, Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot, Chief Innovation Officer Jake Aust, Chief Marketing Officer Marian Koltai-Levine, Co-Presidents of Story Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely, President of Film Michael Disco and President of Television Scott Nemes. The current members of the Storytellers Collective voted on a winning film to receive the “AGBO Storytellers Collective Award” which brings in another filmmaker to the mentorship and alumni program with their colleagues. The recipient of this year's award is Seattle filmmaker Tommy Heffernan for “Body Buddies,” a dark comedy where a wedding photographer and a mobster keep a body hidden in the middle of an engagement shoot. This marks Heffernan’s fourth time placing among No Sleep’s top entries.

“Each year, we are amazed by the ingenuity and passion these filmmakers bring to life in just 48 hours,” said AGBO’s Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot. “This year’s submissions came from every corner of the world, with hundreds of entries from over 47 countries, showcasing a variety of thematic and story explorations that resonate with and connect us all. We are honored to provide a platform that celebrates global voices and empowers storytellers at all levels to share their unique perspective and vision.”

All winners and honorable mentions from the Fourth Annual “No Sleep ‘til Film Fest” include:

First Place

Dear Nora, directed by Christina Brennan (New York, NY, US)

Second Place

Fall, directed by Ben David Sharp and Josh Madison Lewis (Glasgow, Scotland, UK)

Third Place

The Universal Language, directed by Elijah Boulton (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)

AGBO Storytellers Collective Award

Body Buddies, directed by Tommy Heffernan (Seattle, WA, US)

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Honorable Mentions

- Hard Sell, directed byDavid Moravcik, Max Emerson Taylor (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)

- A New Leash on Life, directed by Joe Daru and Alessandro “Axia” Serradimigni (Los Angeles, CA, US)

- SHUT UP (닥쳐), directed by James Cutler(Provo, UT, US)

- Butterflies, directed by Akshay Ravi (Los Angeles, CA, US)

- Trauma Bonding, directed by Gary Baughan (Inglewood, CA, US)

- The Garage, directed by Joshua Joel Ortiz (San Francisco, CA, US)

- Number Neighbor, directed by Dillon Hoover (Menifee, CA, US)

- Desperate Times, directed by Isaac Ruth (North Hollywood, CA, US)

- A Simple Job, directed by Ayman Chaudhry (Manchester, England, UK)

- A Light Goes Out, directed by Michael Heislbetz (Vienna, Austria)

The filmmaking prize package includes high-level, industry standard tools to provide the winners with the best gear for their storytelling endeavors, supplied in sponsorship by RED Digital Camera, Blackmagic Design, GoPro, Avid, happy®coffee and AGBO.

AGBO recently released “Citadel: Diana,” the latest installment in the world of Citadel, which broke records for Amazon Italy premiering at number one in Italy, the U.S. and UK, and entered the top five in nearly 150countries. It was recently announced that AGBO is producing “Avengers:Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” alongside Marvel. In addition to AGBO’s record-breaking releases which “The Gray Man” and both “Extraction”installments for Netflix, AGBO has produced multiple films for emerging filmmakers including Sam Hargrave for the “Extraction” franchise, The Daniels for theAcademy Award-Winning Best Picture film “Everything Everywhere All At Once,”Natalie Erika James for “Relic” which was named a National Board of Review top ten film of 2020, and Ari Costa and Eren Celeboglu for the Asa Butterfield-Natalia Dyer horror thriller “All Fun and Games.” AGBO’s upcoming production, “The Bluff”, for Amazon MGM starring Priyanka Chopra-Jonas has another emerging director at the helm, Frank E. Flowers, directing his second feature film.

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All the winning shorts are available to watch on agbo.com/nosleep.