2023

2023 Films

A Bad Romance: Bex Bradshaw
(a human) being: Pier Marton
A.i. Movie: Zahm Waters
A Flame in Our Midst (Ang Kalayo sa Gintung-an): Elvert Bañares
balaena: Alessia Lupo Cecchet
Bloody Gravel: Hojjat Hosseini Esmail abadi
Book: Anthony Oberbeck
Bronko: Isaac Ulam
The Coupon: Laura Seay
The Cradle: Massimo Meo
The Dark Odyssey 2: Ice Nexus: Michael Lavine
Deadline: Idan Gilboa
Demi-Gods: Martin Gerigk
Demon Box: Sean Wainsteim
Dorlis: Enricka M.H.
Draught: Weston Terray
Drawn: Ty Clancey
Eatversity: Keisuke Sakuma
The Encounter: G. Gotham Smith
The Expectation of the Observed: Stephanie J Williams
False Start: Cody Newman
Girl at Party: Jess O'Kane
Gnomes: Ruwan Heggelman
guarda vieja 3458 timbre 3/6: Karen Akerman, Miguel Seabra Lopes
Horny Kid - A Film Essay: Josh Whiteman
Hunny Bunny: Jayden Barrial
I Can't Cry: Paul Santoli
I Used to Be a Table: Nicole Hewitt, Vida Guzmić, Ivan Slipčević
imum: Ali Graba
In The Mirrors: Merlin Camozzi
Ion Shine: Jason Lee
Juxtaposing Carrots: Peter Sircom Bromley (PBSKY)
KC: Mike Palmer
Let's Be Friends: Arno Coenen, Rodger Werkhoven
Man in a Can: Henk Pringels

(Manic)quin: Lauren Ebner
Meantime: Guillaume Scaillet
The Microscope: Elliot Vick, Reuben Vick
Minus Me: Hossein Shojaei
Nail Clippings: World Without Sun: Artemis Evlogimenou
Nordo: Kyle Taubken
Oh To Love Without Possession: Lauren Falvo
The Passing of Time: Nathan Le Graciet
Please Ask for It: Allison Waid
Possum Kingdom: Virginia Yearick
The Road: Serhiy Luchyshyn
Rome: Death To America: Kevin Ronca
SABORRRR!: Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz
Sauce: Sam Osborn
Something You Said Last Night: LUIS DE FILIPPIS
The Space Between Us: Julianne Martin
Survival: Philippe Sfez
That's Enough Now Thanks: Aquila Chase-Daniel
This Is How I Felt: Josh Weissbach
Thrifted Pants: Elisabeth Donaldson
Two Women: Chrimmons
Ukrainians in Exile: Janek Ambros
Uncle Ivan: Ben Walters, Nathan Walters
Unintended Country: Alfredo Hueck
Upper Chambers: Leigh Powis
#ValleyMan: John Santo
Violent Textures of Nature and Flesh: Matthew Strasburger
The Voice in Isabel Fleiss's Office: Jim Haverkamp
Wake Up: Josh Kasselman
The Waltz: Yulia Ruditskaya
Way of the Season: Steven Palassis
We Forgot About the Zombies: Chris McInroy
When the Seeds Say Enough: Dominick Rivers
Wrought: Anna Sigrithur, Joel Penner

2023 MAUREEN SAARI-WILDMAN MEMORIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DEFIANCE (“the moe”) winner:

DORLIS

Best of 2023:

BEST OF FEST - FEATURE: Something You Said Last Night
EXCELLENCE IN FEATURE FILM: Rome: Death to America
BEST OF FEST - SHORTS: Dorlis
EXCELLENCE IN SHORT FILM: Demon Box

Learn about the Defy Awards HERE.

2023 Press:

we own this town

NASHVILLE SCENE

JudgeS

ALLISON INMAN (Judging Shorts)

Allison Inman is education and engagement director at the Belcourt Theatre, Nashville's nonprofit film center -- a dream job that allows her to watch and discuss films with people of all ages. She hosts filmmaker Q&As, panel discussions, performances and film seminars and teaches visual literacy/cinema appreciation in schools and community centers with the Belcourt’s Mobile Movie Theatre. She previously worked in film engagement for ITVS and Rocky Mountain PBS, hosting public screenings and discussions of social-issue documentary films in Nashville, Denver and New Orleans. In 2011, directed MUD ON THE STARS: STORIES FROM ELIA KAZAN’S WILD RIVER, a documentary about the first big studio film shot in Tennessee. She served as a producer of the Moving Picture Boys’ SAINT CLOUD HILL, which profiles a tent city in Nashville facing eviction, and which was broadcast on PBS’s Reel South in 2019. Most recently, she is working on a series of short documentaries with The Moving Picture Boys (Jace Freeman and Sean Clark), capturing the culture of workplaces in middle Tennessee. Carthage House of Beauty, which profiles a day in the life of a small-town beauty shop, and Hi Tech Service, about a beloved, now-closed stereo repair shop on Nashville’s Nolensville Pike, premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in 2021 and 2022 and aired on Nashville Public Television in May 2023. Carthage House of Beauty was named Best Tennessee Short at the 2021 Nashville Film Festival.

SHERONICA HAYES (Judging Features)

Sheronica is a freelance visual artist, amateur journalist, and poet from Nashville, TN. She works full time as the Special Projects Associate for Nashville’s only nonprofit film institution, The Belcourt Theatre, and she is currently enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University completing her BA in English Literature and Secondary Education. When she’s not busy with work or school, she enjoys traveling, exploring Nashville’s rich culinary scene, and supporting local live music and performance arts.