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The 14th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival
Awards & Special Mentions
The festival kicked off on the evening of October 15th. The 14th annual festival included 64 films from over 30 countries. In line with the Science New Wave principles, our program celebrates cinematic work that encourages bold and hybrid new forms of scientific storytelling. It has never been more important to communicate science in a compelling and accurate manner. Every year, our categories are not based on form but rather on principles of singularity, riveting narrative storytelling and bold audiovisual aesthetics. In each category, we have fiction, documentary, animation and hybrids of all sorts.

Below are the winners and special mentions of the 14th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival. Congratulations to all filmmakers who have been selected this year as well! We are indebted to our team, partners and jury for making this edition happen despite the current situation in the world.


You can still watch most festival titles with the REPLAY Pass on Labocine till Sunday, October 24 by midnight EST.

Watch the six 2021 Symbiosis films!
FEstival Awards
Awards given out by the 2021 Jury
Holgut (Dir: Liesbeth De Ceulaer)
SCIENCE NEW WAVE AWARD - Presented by WarnerMedia 150
— Science New Wave Award
Features in competition that propose bold, singular and oftentimes hybrid ways to communicate science. These films are considered to be visionary and outside of the (science) box. Cash Prize: $2,000 for the winner.

Winner: Holgut (Dir: Liesbeth De Ceulaer)
presented by Warner Media | One Fifty
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The Siberian permafrost is melting, ancient bones rise up from the ground and wild animals seem to have disappeared. Holgut is a contemporary tale based on historical, mythological and current stories.

Honorable Mention: We Are As Gods (Dir: Jason Sussman & David Alvarado)
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Facing the twin environmental crises of mass extinction and climate change, counterculture legend Stewart Brand proposes a potential pandora's box for conservation: using biotechnology to resurrect extinct species like the wooly mammoth.

Honorable Mention: The Mushroom Speaks (Dir: Marion Neumann)
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What if the fungi could help us address and radically change our relationship to this world?

Stolen Fish (Dir: Gosia Juszczak)
THEME-SENSITIVE AWARD
The Return (Dir: Eriiberto Gualinga)
THEME-SENSITIVE AWARD
— Theme-Sensitive Award
Shorts in competition that embrace in a compelling visual and narrative manner this year's theme of Resistance - presented by Warner Media One Fifty. Winner Cash Prize: $1,500 (divided in case of a tie).

Winner: Stolen Fish (Dir: Gosia Juszczak)
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Stolen Fish examines the devastating impact of overfishing in The Gambia.

Winner: The Return (Dir: Eriberto Gualinga)
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While millions of people around the world have been forced into lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis, a family in the Ecuadorian Amazon has opted to move deeper into the relative safety of the jungle.

80,000 Years Old (Dir: Christelle Lheureux)
IN VIVO AWARD (presented by Nautilus)
— In Vivo Award
Shorts in competition that provide a realistic and human depiction of a scientist or science on screen - presented by Nautilus magazine.

Winner: 80,000 years old (80 000 ans) (Dir. Christelle Lheureux)
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It's summer in Normandy. Celine spends a weekend in her childhood home during a digging site work. Her archaeological research are mixed up with more or less probable reunions during her walks.

Swallow the Universe (Dir: Nieto)
AVANT GARDE AWARD (presented by Labocine)
— Avant-Garde Award
Shorts in competition that offer bold singular storytelling with hybrid aesthetics and narrative - presented by Labocine.

Winner: Swallow the Universe (Dir: Nieto)
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The grandiloquent blood-and-thunder saga of a young child lost in Manchuria's deep jungles. His sudden presence creates complete anarchy in the fauna's primitive world, which was until-then perfectly organized.

UNDER CONTROL (Dir: Ville Koskinen)
HONORABLE MENTION
A LITTLE STONE WORTH GOLD (Dir: Alize Arnal, Virginie Texier, Ludovic Plisson, Quentin Greiner)
HONORABLE MENTION
Jury Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mention: Under Control (Dir: Ville Koskinen)
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Under Control shows human action from the insect's level. The botanical garden is an artificial nature-like installation where each room has its own microclimate. Despite human attempts to control the environment, pests are spreading and eating the plants all over the garden.

Honorable Mention: A Little Stone Worth Gold (Dir: Alizé Arnal, Virginie Texier, Ludovic Plisson, Quentin Greiner)
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Little stone is a mineral necessary for the manufacture of electronic devices. An epic story that begins in the mines of Congo, goes through the assembly factories in China, lands in the hands of consumers, and ends up in electronic waste dumps in Ghana.

SYMBIOSIS AWARD
Awards given out by the Symbiosis 2021 Jury
supported by Science Sandbox
i invite you by Arianna Zuanazzi & Yashaswini Raghunandan
SYMBIOSIS 2021 SCIENCE SANDBOX AWARD
— Symbiois Competition 2021
This is the 8th edition of the Symbiosis competition. This year, Symbiosis brought together six scientists and six filmmakers to create a science-inspired short film over the course of one week and inspired by the theme "Resistance." Winner Cash Prize : $1,500

To learn more about Symbiosis, how to apply for next year, key dates and awards, visit the Symbiosis page.

Winner: i invite you - by Arianna Zuanazzi (scientist) & Yashaswini Raghunandan (filmmaker)

I invite you is a sensory journey that illustrates the challenges that the brain faces in our everyday conversations, where the linguistic signal is often unclear, disrupted or obstructed.

Honorable Mention: When Monsters Walked the Earth - by Isabelle Carbonell (filmmaker), Jaime Jover (scientist) & Duane Peterson III (editor)
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Through the collective memory of a 250 million year old species which has survived two mass extinctions, structures of exploitation, industrial monoculture, and interspecies relations are reframed through the plantationocene.

Learn more about the participants of Symbiosis 2021
Check out the six 2021 Symbiosis films on Labocine.
For past Symbiosis Films, watch them on the Labocine Symbiosis Playlist.
See you next year for ISFF15 in October 2022. Our 15th Anniversary!!
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