The 2015 Hollywood Film Festival was far from bereft of its competitive entries this year, with its leading films not only representing dynamic filmmaking, but also social justice agendas. This year in particular, the festival was noted for having the largest social impact initiative. 

Of these films, Alexander Peter Lercher's "Forward. Side. Close!" tied with Ian and Eshom Nelms' "Waffle Street" for the Best Narrative Jury Prize Award. Though 24 year-old film school graduate Lercher gathered high acclaim for his film, he humbly directed the praise to the rest of his crew, "It is not just my award, it's my team's award. It is a testament to the hard work that everyone involved put into the film. I'm absolutely thrilled and grateful."

The narrative of an aging man retracting from the spontaneity of life's whims, "Forward. Side. Close!" artfully illustrates the historical maxim of letting go and embracing each day without forced routine. The film's antagonistic protagonist, Dr. Reinhard Nagl (Heinz Trixner) spent years of his life hiding within his Austrian castle, surrounded by his fixed routines and consequently isolated from anyone save his help, Eva-Maria (Sandra Lipp) and Maximillian (Julius Kuhn). 

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It's not until Reinhard's birthday that he is greeted by an unexpected visitor: his old-time best friend, Lorenz Zweig (Christian Futterknecht). Irritable and frustrated by this disruption in his originally frame-worked life, Reinhard slowly starts to understand, with Lorenz's help,  the beauty of life in its natural, capricious being. With a hint of rap, hip hop, and the waltz, Reinhard starts to get into the rhythm of being present with each day and letting go of his controlling mentality.

Tensions start to arise when Lorenz suggests Reinhard to throw a party and invite guests, particularly his neighbor and former lover, Magdalena (Uschi Glas). Paralleling a difficult past between them and the two young lovers, Eva-Maria and Maximillian, the film touches on the universality of love and its imminent challenges. 

The award winning festival film carried through with spectacular cinematography, and phenomenal performances by Christian Futterknecht and Heinz Trixner. With the exception of Uschi Glas, who's performance felt stifled and immobile, the rest of the ensemble only added to the charm of the film. 

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Not only did fresh-faced Lercher direct the film, but he wrote its screenplay, "I based the lead character 'Reinhard' a little on myself and my neurotic sensibilities and fears. I wanted to express all my concerns of what I don't want to become when I turn 70 into one trouble protagonist."

The waltz dance played an integral role in Reinhard's metamorphosis into a more accepting and freeing existence, allowing him to take control of himself while also inviting chance and whim from outside to supplement him. On the significance of the waltz, Lercher addresses its cultural and metaphorical significance, "In Austria, everyone who is 16 or 17 years of age learns how to ballroom dance. It's a cultural thing over there. And, the slow waltz...creates a beautiful opportunity for two people to connect on an intimate and familiar level." 

Though much of Hollywood has seen successful German actors cross over to American films, German cinema is still gradually rising up to the global scale. On his hopes for the evolving German film industry, Lercher states " German cinema has its own humour and its own way of telling stories. I think the way stories are told in different countries will always remain the same in an ever changing world, because of the different cultural backgrounds we have...at least I hope it remains different. It is nice for us to be able to share different artistic visions." 

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Such artistic visions have worked to Lercher's benefit, seeing how successful his first feature film became at the 2015 Hollywood Film Festival. As a recent film school graduate, Lercher's advice to aspiring filmmakers is to use film school as an asset rather than a liability, "Ultimately, you get into your film degree, what effort you put into it. If you see it just as a degree to slack off, nothing will come of it. But if you see it as an opportunity to meet like minded people and learn your craft, it can be the greatest decision you ever make."

Congratulations to Alexander Peter Lercher and all the nominees and winners of the 2015 Hollywood Film Festival. 

Reach Staff Reporter Sahil Kaur here.