Seattle International Film Festival: Wavemaker Award Grand Jury Prize ROOM (USA 2022) | dir. Ian Dani Kim

JURY STATEMENT: We are proud to announce the winner of our FutureWave Shorts Award, ROOM! This film was absolutely stunning with its fine details and thoughtful story. The set design was jaw dropping and the animation was so realistic that it made you do a double take. We loved this film and the message it brought and can’t wait to see more work come out of this filmmaker!

www.thenewcurrent.co.uk/room

18th BFI Future Film Festival, 2024

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18th BFI Future Film Festival, 2024

"...when I read the review by the Jury at SIFF, I was greatly moved and comforted by the compliment that they overpraised but recognised and understood the intention of my work."

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ROOM won the Wavemaker Award Grand Jury Prize at SIFF 2022, and you’ve won a host of awards including, what has it meant to you to see your film win these prestigious awards? 

The Jury at SIFF said about ROOM: The set design was jaw dropping and the animation was so realistic that it made you do a double take. We loved this film and the message it brought and can’t wait to see more work come out of this filmmaker! Did you imagine you would get this type of response to your film?

BFI Best New Talent award supported by Warner Brothers Discovery

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The best new talent award recognizes young raw talent an eye for film and potential someone who can demonstrate creativity and passion with an eye for film.

JURY STATEMENT: We just want to say to all the nominees that as filmmakers ourselves were absolutely Blown away by the films and the New Talent section but before announcing the winner we would like to give a special mention to a film and a filmmaker whose innovative approach left us excited for their career ahead though an ambitious combination of live action and animation the film successfully emulated a feeling that many of us can relate to we love to give a special mention to Ian Dani Kim.

The Port Townsend Film Festival is partnering with OWL 360 and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) to help highlight youth mental health issues through its second “Focus Film” installment in May. OWL 360 seeks to provide the youth of Jefferson County with opportunities for sustainable independence, while NFFTY is the world's largest film festival for emerging filmmakers who are 24 years old and younger.

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Ian Dani Kim, the 16-year-old East Coast filmmaker of 2023’s nine-minute ROOM, is an award-winning film director. He wanted to inspire similarly melancholic feelings in others, and he’s already made films about adolescent psychology. Kim is preparing an arts non-profit organization that would seek to create artistic activities that could eliminate prejudice and stigma against youth with mental health issues.

CAFF: The Cultural Animation Film Festival

A film festival that aims to connect people of various cultures from around the globe will commence this month at the Honolulu Museum of Art's Doris Duke Theatre.

The Cultural Animation Film Festival was inspired by young animators creating culture-based stories, according to Michael Ceballos, a cofounder of the festival and owner of O‘ahu-based animation studio Twiddle Productions.

LUCAS – Internationales Festival für junge Filmfans präsentiert: »Filmgespräche vorab«! ROOM läuft bei LUCAS #46 am Freitag, 6. Oktober 2023, um 14 Uhr im Kino des DFF im Wettbewerb »Teens« | Kurzfilm und ist nach seiner Deutschlandpremiere am 6. Oktober bis zum 23. Dezember über LUCAS-Streaming fürs Klassenzimmer verfügbar. In unserem »Filmgespräch vorab« stellt sich Regisseur Ian Dani Kim den Fragen von Nina unter Moderation von Simon Schmidt. Ian Dani Kim ist ein 15-jähriger Filmemacher, der Digital Media Arts an der Bergen County Technical High School-Teterboro in New Jersey, USA lernt. Er interessiert sich insbesondere für Filme über die Psychologie von Jugendlichen. ROOM ist sein erstes Werk.

YOUKI International Youth Media Festival

Jurybegründung:

Ein Film, der uns alle in der Jury auf den ersten Blick beeindruckt und berührt hat. Die technisch versierte Kombination aus detailverliebter Stop Motion Animation und Live Action Elementen ist beeindruckend, die Erzählweise einfühlsam, ruhig und klar. Das eigene Zimmer wird zum Safer Space der jungen Hauptfigur, der Rückzugsort, an dem Depressionen und soziale Angst nicht ganz so stark wirken, wie außerhalb der eigenen vier Wände. Die Außenwelt wird mit geschickten Kniffen im Film sichtbar gemacht, ohne dass wir als Zuschauer*innen den Raum verlassen. Mit nur 15 Jahren gelingt dem Regisseur mit seinem ersten Film die authentische Inszenierung des Innenlebens eines jungen Menschen in all seiner Stärke und Fragilität zugleich.

Der Gewinnerfilm in der Kategorie 13 – 17 Jahre ist ROOM von Ian Dani Kim.