Ripcord Halloween Film Festival: ‘Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart’ Director Julian Doan Takes $100,000 Grand Prize — SkimNews
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- Ripcord Halloween Film Festival awarded Julian Doan the $100,000 first-place prize for “Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart” at its inaugural edition, the largest amount ever awarded at a short film festival.
- Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart runs 17:53 and follows a young customer in a Little Saigon convenience store who reanimates his dead father for one last conversation.
- Charlie Cleveland said 13 filmmakers saw their work play on one of the world’s most famous screens; a close fan vote led Ripcord to expand the finals to 13 because every film had earned its place.
- Sophia Parella took the $50,000 second prize for “Zippy’s House,” a 12:40 film about a teen attending a strange classmate’s birthday and discovering he is the only guest.
- Harold Eats Maude earned the $25,000 third prize for Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky; the 12:32 short follows an unlikely friendship between Coffin Feeder, who eats priests, and his cannibal-curious stalker Faith.
- It Helps took the $4,000 runner-up prize, while nine listed shorts received $3,500 honorable mentions each, including “Rat!” and “We Need to Talk About Balloons.”
- Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) served on the jury with Jean Lauer of Fantastic Fest, Lisa Ogdie of Sundance Film Festival, Neville Page (“Avatar”) and Peter Phok of A24’s “X” trilogy.
Why it matters: Ripcord distributed $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 to its top three films at its inaugural festival, with the top prize setting the record for a short film festival. Beyond Doan’s win, the runner-up received $4,000 and nine honorable mentions carried $3,500 apiece, while a close fan vote expanded the final to 13 films.
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