"The Narrative Short category was quite competitive this year with nineteen films, but we all felt drawn to the same standout work of Stomach Bug. Matty Crawford's film so viscerally depicts the 'too real' horror of aging as an immigrant single parent contending with an escalating and overwhelming level of loneliness and discomfort. Crawford accomplishes the near-impossible balancing act of depicting repulsive body horror side by side with emotionally vulnerable exchanges in such a succinct film. The intentionality of how and when to employ language is exemplary."
