From Minutes to Movies Shortfest: American Dreaming Reveals Recipients

From Minutes to Movies ShortFest: American Dreaming, the documentary shorts competition, has announced winners for its second edition. The top shorts will be featured on Nov. 10 at a special screening and celebration hosted by the Stand Together Theater at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream in Washington, D.C.

The event is presented by Imagine Entertainment, The Film Zone, Stand Together, and MCAAD. The festival will feature the placement announcement and the screening of the first-place winning film, Ziyu Lous’ “American Daydream.” The project follows the story of an undocumented immigrant who has always relied heavily on her legal daughter to get through life in America, but everything begins to change when her daughter wants to pursue her own dreams.

Lou will receive the Moonshot Grant, which offers filmmakers the opportunity to develop, fund, and produce a new project with digital content company Portal A and Imagine Entertainment.

Second place will go to Gregg Bishop’s “The Many Worlds of George Goodman,” a sci-fi adventure where a high-school baseball coach struggles to get back home to his family after he is attacked by his alternate self from another dimension, sending him into an unfamiliar parallel world. Third place at the competition will be awarded to Slava Denisov’s “The Ride,” following a ’76 Plymouth as it reflects on its journey and changes throughout human life while changing from one owner to the next.

The event, now in its second year, hopes to continue to elevate new creators across scripted, unscripted and experimental formats with an emphasis on personal stories. The festival offers opportunities for short-form media alongside long-form development and distribution.