On Recognition, Responsibility, and the Shadows We Shape

As the writer‑director of Melodies of the Abyss, I was honored with the Best Director Award at the Paris International Short Festival and the Vienna Indie Short Film Festival. Awards are not the destination, but they mark a pause — a moment when the journey reflects back at you.

Directing is often described as control — the orchestration of light, sound, and performance. Too often, control is mistaken for dictation. In truth, directing is leadership: guiding with a clear vision that the crew shares and carries forward. And once that vision is alive in others, surrender becomes possible — the trust to listen to silence, to embrace the actor’s fragility, and to let the camera hold contradictions that words cannot resolve. Melodies of the Abyss was born from that surrender — from fractured identities, spectral encounters, and the courage to let ambiguity breathe.

Vienna Indie Short Film Festival celebrates voices that dare to step outside convention. To be recognized here is to be reminded that cinema thrives not in certainty, but in risk. The award affirms the collaborative spirit behind the film: the actors who carried raw vulnerability, the crew who shaped atmosphere from shadows, and the unseen hours of rewriting, refining, and believing.

I accept this honor with gratitude, but also with responsibility. To direct is not only to lead, but to empower — to give space for others to carry the vision, to trust their instincts, and to let the film breathe beyond the boundaries of one mind. The recognition in Vienna is a reminder to continue walking that line between vision and vulnerability, between authority and trust.

The journey of Melodies of the Abyss continues — toward new audiences, new conversations, and new stages where the abyss might echo differently, yet still resonate.

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