Premiere
Award-winning short film now live
Andrea's international multi-award-winning short 5-minute film 'Don't Cry' based on her book White Sorrow is now available to view following its launch at a special Parliamentary Screening and Panel to mark International Women's Day 2023.
Don't Cry
Andrea Aviet's primary aim is to help and inspire other women who are or have been victims of domestic abuse and especially coercive control. As a survivor and campaigner she wants to inspire others through telling her own story through as many international media formats and channels as possible. Film, drama and documentary are powerful ways to connect with people around the world.
Andrea's first production is a self produced and funded short dramatic film which highlights her own experience.
Andrea also appears in the short film which she commissioned from director Linzy Attenborough at Thought Juice Films. It’s based on her book White Sorrow, which charts her journey from a dream wedding that descended into a nightmare marriage of starvation and mental torture, only summoning the courage to escape her controlling husband when she feared for the safety of her two children.
She now campaigns on behalf of other victims and empowers them to take back control of their lives, move on and not to be defined by their past.
Andrea hopes her book can be turned into a full-length feature drama for international television or theatrical release and that screenings at international festivals will demonstrate the potential for a film which tackles these dark times in a way that offers hope of escape for millions of domestic abuse victims around the world today
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Award winning first short film
Andrea's first film - Don't Cry - is receiving awards and accolades around the world at major international film festivals. The first was at the Cannes International Film Festival in April 2022 where the film won in the category of Best Social Concern Film at the Global Short Film Awards Gala.
Honours and awards
In addition to the GSF award at Cannes, Don’t Cry made the official selection in the Cannes World Film Festival 2022 and has also been honoured with Winner - award of recognition - at the Best Shorts Competition; Best PSA at the Bangalore Film Festival, India; received Certificates of Excellence at the Beyond the Curve Film Festivals, Depth of Field International Film Festival 2022 in the PSA category, the WRPN Women's International Film Festival 2022 and was also a winner with an award of merit at the Accolade Global Film Competition. See the full list below synopsis.
Official Selections
The film has been screened at 19 additional festivals, including the Oregon Short Film Festival as a finalist in the ‘Best Dark Drama Micro Film Award’; Finalist in San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival 2022 and the Aphrodite Film Awards 2022; It was also a semi-finalist in the Courage Film Festival 2022; and made the official selection for the Australian Inspirational Film Festival 2022 and the North Europe International Film Festival – London Edition 2022. See full list below synopsis.
Don't Cry - Synopsis
“Throughout our lives we wear many different faces,” says Andrea Aviet in the opening sequences of this short campaigning film in which she appears as herself. It chronicles three faces of her experience. First as the happy expectant bride, subsequently contrasted with the face of despair in the depths of coercive control, belittled by her controlling partner. We hear her husband’s voice taunting her “Do you think anyone could love you…you are worthless. Don’t you dare leave the house looking the way you do. You should be ashamed.” We see Andrea pray for the strength to walk out and take her children with her, to start a new life. Her young children try to comfort her: “Don’t cry mummy,” they plead. Finally, she escapes and regains dignity, hope and a face of confidence. She concludes, “My happiest face is the brave one I wear today.”
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Awards:
Global Short Film Awards (Cannes) – Best Social Concern Film
11th Bangalore Shorts Film Festival – Best PSA
WRPN Women’s International Film Festival – Award of Excellence - PSA
Best Shorts Competition – Winner/Award of Recognition – Public Service Programming/PSA
Depth of Field Int Film Fest – Award of Excellence - PSA
Accolade Global – Winner award of merit
London Rocks International Film Festival – Winner: Spirit of London award
International Film Festival Manhattan – Silver Achievement Award Winner – commercial
My Hero International Film Festival – Honourable Mention – Narrative
Selection/nomination:
Cannes World Film Festival – official selection
Beyond the Curve International Film Festival – Nominee Best Women’s Film
San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival – finalist
Oregon – Best short drama award finalist
North Europe – Official selection
Australian Inspirational – Official selection
Brighton Rocks – official selection
Courage – semi-finalist
Aphrodite Film Awards – Nominee/Finalist Best Commercial
Fusion Film Festival – Best Short Film Nominee
Overcome Film Festival – Jury Prize Nominee – Best International Short Film
Utah Film Festival and Awards 2023 – Nominee – Commercials/PSA
Alder International Short Film Festival, Chicago – Selection
International Cosmopolitan Film Festival of Tokyo – Selection
Awareness Festival – Selection
International Women’s Film Festival – Nominee
Perth Christian Film Festival - nomination
ARTS x SDGS Festival - selection
Reel Deal Film Festival - Selection
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