WINNERS SEASON: February 11, 2026 - April 15, 2026
ALL THE SUBMITTED WORKS BECAME WINNERS IN THE CATEGORIES
Dear winners of our film festival!

We cordially congratulate you on this outstanding victory! Your creations have become bright stars in the sky of art, inspiring and delighting the audience.

You have put your soul into your work, and it is impossible not to notice it. Your talents, amazing skills and boundless passion for cinema have made this festival truly unforgettable.

We wish you prosperity, new creative achievements and inspiration! Let your career develop and bring even more success, and each new project will be even more vivid and memorable than the previous one.

May the muse be with you, and creative ideas do not leave you for a moment!
-Best Feature Film-
White Shadow
GLORIA CHEE, EILEEN CHENG
An untimely diagnosis of a terminal illness sends Ren Jie into a tailspin. Determined to experience love in the limited time she has left, Ren Jie sets out to give her all to Kai Ting, a premature widow still grieving the tragic death of her husband. Through her relentless pursuit, Kai Ting eventually softens. The two friends who have known each other for decades experience the most powerful emotion - love. A moving journey ensues - two individuals learning to trust, communicate, be brave, and vulnerable, but neither are prepared for the agony and heartache in their inevitable separation.
One God
Kavi Raz
A story of intertwined fate and faiths set against the backdrop of the tragic true events of the 2012 Sikh Temple Shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
The story follows the lives of three individuals, a former marine turned white supremacist, a weathered cop, and a despondent young Indian man, whose paths intertwine as they try to contend with their traumatic pasts and navigate their personal struggles, relationships, and purpose.
A tragic event will determine their fates and future. This poignant story explores themes of redemption, resilience, family and the transformative power of faith and human connection.
One last chance
Fabien Grare, Jean-Michel Lejeune
Jeanne, an elderly and isolated woman, lives in a timeworn Provençal house. Her children, absorbed in their own lives, neglect her and hire Justin, a young man with a troubled past, to help her.
At first opportunistic, Justin takes advantage of her vulnerability, but Jeanne’s dignity and resilience deeply move him. As the days go by, their relationship evolves, gradually transforming initial mistrust into a genuine bond. The house, a silent witness to their journey, becomes a symbol of renewal. Together, they begin to heal, finding a glimmer of hope and redemption in their shared wounds.
Without A Doubt "God is Always There"
Mike T Tremblay
While battling Stage 4 cancer, Erica chooses to carry her baby, defying the odds with faith, love, and strength—leaving behind a powerful legacy.
-Best Director Feature Film-
Schizophrenia is not Played Alone
Barış Demirkaya
Is love a mental illness, or is mental illness, like love, a giant lie? A monumental story of love, illness, and redemption, confined within four walls by Cenk, a writer labeled an outcast with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. As he searches for true love between two women—one real, the other imaginary—Cenk philosophically questions life and his illness, reminding us all of the meaning of love long forgotten in the 21st century.
A writer known for his novel "Diary of a Serial Killer," Cenk leaves behind a deep secret as he searches for true love.
Finding Kate Hawaii
Kendrick D Simmons
Kate Keenan, a production assistant with a genius for code, disappears just as she finalizes revolutionary software that could change the film industry forever. Her disappearance unravels a deadly web of conspiracies, secrets, and betrayal across Hawaii.
The Laundress
Wayne Watkins
"The Laundress" is the first original screenplay by Jennifer Moriarty - who also takes on the leading role of Delilah Frankstone.
The Frankstone estate, a dilapidated mansion in Charleston, may be built of brick and stone, but the secrets rooted to the foundation of the family home haunt Delilah Frankstone as she returns after a tragic series of earth shattering events. Accompanied by her rebellious teenage daughter Vivi, the damaged mother must confront the sinister caretakers of the family home and face the new reality that the bloodline hides-an evil past, insidious secrets of abuse and diabolical plans to involve her fragile family in decades old malevolence.
The Laundress is a beautifully portrayed Southern Gothic drama of passion, survival and ultimately redemption; intricately woven around a dysfunctional family tree and the woman that must choose between conformity or love to avoid the danger that threatens them all. Deeply evocative, the performances reveal the underbelly of oppressive evil and an atmosphere thick with vengeance and hatred; a richly compelling film to the gut-wrenching end
-Best Editing Feature Film-
Finding Kate Hawaii
Kendrick D Simmons
Kate Keenan, a production assistant with a genius for code, disappears just as she finalizes revolutionary software that could change the film industry forever. Her disappearance unravels a deadly web of conspiracies, secrets, and betrayal across Hawaii.
Sunday Ninth
Kendrick D Simmons
After a lifetime of missed opportunities, brothers Horst (65) and Franz (59) finally meet again.
Horst, now struggling with Alzheimer’s, has grown tired of life. Franz is in dire need of money and eyes his brother’s inheritance. Enter Andrea (54), Horst’s first love. She reappears, determined to win back what she once lost.
Old passions flare, deep wounds reopen, and the brothers’ rivalry runs deeper than they realized.
Their animosity is tied to a long-buried family mystery, one that traces back to their childhood. In a battle between love, loyalty, regret and greed, each will be forced to ask: how far am I prepared to go to mend the past?
-Best Cinematography Feature Film-
Coffee with Golconda
Marc B Goodman
Golconda, the universe knows his name but his true identity is a mystery. From robot samurai to dimension locked scientists and time traveling delivery men, Coffee with Golconda is a head spinning adventure told through captivating short stories. The connecting thread between them is a shocking and poignant ode to being human. This film is an adaptation of the first story of the collection. When a post office in Durham England receives a mysterious package to be delivered to an antique store thirty years in the past, Fred, a simple yet intrepid delivery man, is thrust into a journey spanning two thousand years. When the contents of the package and its recipient are revealed, Fred is faced with a mind blowing truth about the nature of reality.
Tired Light
Kati Jägel-Paal
Daniel spends his days unravelling the vast mysteries of the universe while haunted by shadows and illusions from the past. When he meets Anna, her quiet confidence unsettles him but he fails to recognize true light. As their conversations drift between science and solitude, Daniel is forced to face the disconnect between his intellect and his emotions. Under the city’s fading glow, he begins to question whether meaning is something to be discovered or something to be chosen. The heartbroken physicist invents his own ideology, substituting unreliable human connection with the glow of physical light.
The Laundress
Wayne Watkins
"The Laundress" is the first original screenplay by Jennifer Moriarty - who also takes on the leading role of Delilah Frankstone.
The Frankstone estate, a dilapidated mansion in Charleston, may be built of brick and stone, but the secrets rooted to the foundation of the family home haunt Delilah Frankstone as she returns after a tragic series of earth shattering events. Accompanied by her rebellious teenage daughter Vivi, the damaged mother must confront the sinister caretakers of the family home and face the new reality that the bloodline hides-an evil past, insidious secrets of abuse and diabolical plans to involve her fragile family in decades old malevolence.
The Laundress is a beautifully portrayed Southern Gothic drama of passion, survival and ultimately redemption; intricately woven around a dysfunctional family tree and the woman that must choose between conformity or love to avoid the danger that threatens them all. Deeply evocative, the performances reveal the underbelly of oppressive evil and an atmosphere thick with vengeance and hatred; a richly compelling film to the gut-wrenching end
Without A Doubt "God is Always There"
Mike T Tremblay
While battling Stage 4 cancer, Erica chooses to carry her baby, defying the odds with faith, love, and strength—leaving behind a powerful legacy.
-Best Producer Feature Film-
One God
Kavi Raz
A story of intertwined fate and faiths set against the backdrop of the tragic true events of the 2012 Sikh Temple Shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
The story follows the lives of three individuals, a former marine turned white supremacist, a weathered cop, and a despondent young Indian man, whose paths intertwine as they try to contend with their traumatic pasts and navigate their personal struggles, relationships, and purpose.
A tragic event will determine their fates and future. This poignant story explores themes of redemption, resilience, family and the transformative power of faith and human connection.
Finding Kate Hawaii
Kendrick D Simmons
Kate Keenan, a production assistant with a genius for code, disappears just as she finalizes revolutionary software that could change the film industry forever. Her disappearance unravels a deadly web of conspiracies, secrets, and betrayal across Hawaii.
-Best Short Film-
UNDERDOGS
OLIVIER PANIER
Karim, a homeless boy, and Gégé, his drug-addicted father, are finally eligible for social housing. Estranged from him, Karim finds him in a dreadful squat, sacrificing his dignity to afford drugs. Karim must make a drastic decision to turn things around.
RIMA'S RECIPE
Bashar Durr
A date, a dish, and a dark secret.
Rima is expecting a blind date, but she already knows everything about him.
Cannibals of Capitalism
Dodge Madison
Cannibals of Capitalism is a 5 minute animated dark comedy uniquely consisting of hand painted watercolors and digital artistry, and loosely seen as a precursor to a modern reimagining of CS Lewis' allegory of betrayal, The Screwtape Letters.
-Best Director Short Film-
RIMA'S RECIPE
Bashar Durr
A date, a dish, and a dark secret.
Rima is expecting a blind date, but she already knows everything about him.
REST
Aaron Michael Leong
Cameron seeks help with his insomnia and is given an experimental drug that knocks him out for a few days. After waking up he finds himself in a zombie apocalypse.
Watched
Evie Smith
A struggling artist is confronted by the physical manifestation of her own psyche, a girl with video camera.
-Best Editing Short Film-
REST
Aaron Michael Leong
Cameron seeks help with his insomnia and is given an experimental drug that knocks him out for a few days. After waking up he finds himself in a zombie apocalypse.
Watched
Evie Smith
A struggling artist is confronted by the physical manifestation of her own psyche, a girl with video camera.
Hot
Mark Renken
Amber is living in a world where global warming has reached the tipping point and life has become a race to survive. While the people who live in the most affected areas are relocated north, middle America needs to wait it's turn, and it's timing is being pushed back. The heat is rising and things are getting worse by the day. It is so hot and becoming unbearable, or is it. Maybe the heat is closer than you think.
-Best Cinematography Short Film-
The First Tone
Thida Nathalie
The tale of three villages and the power of sound.
Rat Park
Elizabeth Bluhm
Friends who become frenemies. Three people who meet together for the holidays become adversaries.
The Tahquitz Myth
Harrison Pierce
A Palm Springs college student sets out to disprove an ancient Coachella Valley myth... only to discover a terrifying truth...
-Best Producer Short Film-
Writer's Block
S. Christian Roe
Mary is a writer. She has just written a book hailed for its exquisite explanation of the human experience. But Mary knows what the rest do not: she did not write it. Victor (AI) did. Now, in the wake of its sublime success, Mary must decide if their collaboration will continue.
-Best Feature Script-
A Poppet for the Priest
Jonah Jones
England in the fifteen thirties. Superstition clashes with the institutional corruption of the church and the State clashes with the status quo as Henry V111 is becoming psychotic. In the dark forests, the animals and their gods walk freely amongst those people who accept their place in the world.
Tamsin Woodward is the wise-woman of the area. She makes potions and acts both as a physician and a psychological healer, even though she is dying of cancer; a condition that is causing her to doubt the church and to become more involved with the ancient dark forces around her.
William De Clare – the king’s lieutenant, arrives and searches Tamsin’s cottage. He has been sent to the area to hunt down subversives, particularly one named Twm Beynon – an itinerant trader, known to have connections with France, where the new Tyndale Bible has recently been printed in the English language.
Under the influence of her own pain-killing potions, Tamsin meets the Great Summoner, together with the Lord of the Forest and Jesus. Her perspective is changed from this world to the next and how she might effect change with her own death.
Twm brings Tamsin a copy of the Tyndale Bible which she reads out loud to the townsfolk in defiance of the church’s teaching. Some of her audience begin to plot against her and her sister.
Beatrice, the priest’s secret lover, becomes ill and is tended by Tamsin, who discovers more about the Church’s corruption. She also discovers that the Summoner’s wife wants to take over her sister’s house. When told about it, her sister explains that she feels safe, being protected by the king’s pension.
Tamsin’s sister and her niece are burned at the stake under the combined auspices of both Church and State. Tamsin becomes an avenger and begins to consider how she might use her talents and her impending death as a means of changing the world. She begins by creating four poppets for her principal enemies, with the twist that she is to be one of the poppets, meaning that she must die for it to have the desired effect.
De Clare arrests Tamsin during one of her bible readings and ransacks her cottage, finding one of the poppets.
In prison, Wickham and De Clare show Tamsin that they have the poppet, believing that she can no longer harm them. They also show her the Tyndale Bible that they intend to burn publicly before they burn her. The Bishop, her last hope, washes his hands of the affair.
Tamsin and the Tyndale Bible are burned in public. Because she made herself his poppet, to his surprise and horror, Wickham burns with her.
She also throws a poppet crucifix into the flames, causing the church to collapse onto the bishop and De Clare.
Twm the Skipper sees the destruction as he arrives with more copies of the Tyndale Bible. Jane the Seer comes and buys a copy from him. He sets off for the next town, she returns to her cottage with the Bible, leaving the black smoke rising from the town behind them.
SEQUENCE
Mack Wilder
SEQUENCE is about COVID as seen through the eyes of those closest to the epidemic. It is science based. I didn't want to spread information that was hear say. Sequence is a science thriller not a documentary. The characters are used to tell a story. I am very proud of the script it was three years in the making. I sincerely hope you enjoy SEQUENCE.
Ricardo Fuentes of Chavez Ravine
J. E. Robinson
The pilot for "The Missed Adventures of Dick Jones," "Ricardo Fuentes of Chavez Ravine" introduces people important to Dick Jones' life in 1934, and the happenstance leading him to escape Los Angeles for New York City.
Invisible Gods
William F Wu
Following a nanotech apocalypse, a determined loner named Dannon seeks the secret to control software that can disintegrate or create almost anything, any time, without warning—before the leader of a brutal militia can find it. Artificial intelligence is out of control and Dannon gathers a group of strangers to face the violent militia.
-Best Short Script-
Hidden treasure
Bárbara N. Giménez
A man obsessed with finding a hidden treasure in his backyard digs relentlessly, unaware that his wife is planning to bury him in that very same hole.
A Small Living Thing
Thadeus Kevin Brown
A solitary man climbs a winter mountain, testing how much he can carry and how much he can let go.
THROUGH THE CLOCK
Ani Alanakian
Leila waits for her lover’s plane to land at five o’clock.
But when the clock suddenly stops and a small black stain appears on her wall, something in time begins to fracture.
As the stain slowly spreads, Leila finds herself trapped in a moment where memory, loss, and reality begin to collapse into each other.
-Best Author-
Ricardo Fuentes of Chavez Ravine
J. E. Robinson
The pilot for "The Missed Adventures of Dick Jones," "Ricardo Fuentes of Chavez Ravine" introduces people important to Dick Jones' life in 1934, and the happenstance leading him to escape Los Angeles for New York City.
In a dream...
J. E. Robinson
The movie "In a dream" takes us on a delicate line between reality and illusion, allowing us to understand the extent to which the power of art can embody the inner world of the author. Similar to a living self-portrait, the film invites the viewer to look into the depths of the artist's soul and discover new, captivating worlds that lie beyond reality.
-Best Original Screenplay-
The Last Choir
Tom Rivers
As the end of the world approaches, a mourning former musical director is pulled back into life when she leads a group of strangers in a ragtag choir — turning their final moments into an act of defiant beauty.
DIVING BLIND
Franck Benayoun
When a bloodthirsty shark traps a blind scuba diver in a sunken ship, she must use her heightened senses and instincts to outsmart the relentless predator and escape with her life.
ROOM 13
Angelo Garcia
Marcus Ripoll, a comedian suffering from schizophrenia, is committed to a psychiatric hospital after assassinating his director. Behind the walls, he suffers violence from an unscrupilous nurse and security officer. Against all odds, a few months later, Marcus is released. But beware appearances are deceiving, and no one is really what they claim to be..
-Best Feature Documentary-
SUSTRAIAK, lost roots.
Luis Arrieta Etxeberria
This is the story of Hiba, Bachir and Manan. Three young people who migrated from their countries as children and arrived in Navarre without any adult with them and alone. Here they have discovered climbing and the mountains, a place where they can forget their problems, a place to feel free and capable of anything. But their paths will gradually begin to diverge.
The Tenderness Tour
Andie Redwine
In his hardest physical challenge to date, complex, dedicated and irreverent activist Richard Propes fights for the very tour that saved his own life. Can Richard raise a million dollars to offset $155 million in medical debt - when he's never raised more than $20,000?
Featuring music by Grammy legend John Mellencamp, Grammy-award winning composer Max Lombardo, and Grammy-recognized Carrie Newcomer and The Fruit Bats, The Tenderness Tour is executive produced by Thirst Project CEO Seth Maxwell and two-time Emmy winner Mike Manning (The Bay, The Edge of Everything). Cinematography by Emmy-award winning Peter Alton (Science Fair).
Nature Provides - The Ancient Wisdom of Plant Stem Cells
Isabelle Courtney Weissman
Jennifer Payeur, a stage-4 breast cancer survivor, battled a cancer that kept returning until she was introduced to a seemingly lost and ancient healing practice that transformed her body and life completely.
We dive into the science of Embryonic Plant Stem Cells in what's known as "Gemmotherapy” and hear from doctors around the world that utilize it in their practice.
We travel to Italy to experience the harvest and creation process of the plant stem cells as the buds are grown in the Italian Alps and the extract is bottled in the Forza Vitale Laboratory.
We hear from Dr. Joseph Cannillo, the founder of Forza Vitale, and the leading scientist pioneering the future of plant-stem cell research.
Throughout the course of the documentary, the film's producer, Isabelle, conducts an experiment on herself to find out if the plant stem cells are able to help her pre-existing condition of PCOS involving a severe hormonal imbalance.
Join us to follow her journey and the final results of the 7-month experiment.
-Best Director Feature Documentary-
The Tenderness Tour
Andie Redwine
In his hardest physical challenge to date, complex, dedicated and irreverent activist Richard Propes fights for the very tour that saved his own life. Can Richard raise a million dollars to offset $155 million in medical debt - when he's never raised more than $20,000?
Featuring music by Grammy legend John Mellencamp, Grammy-award winning composer Max Lombardo, and Grammy-recognized Carrie Newcomer and The Fruit Bats, The Tenderness Tour is executive produced by Thirst Project CEO Seth Maxwell and two-time Emmy winner Mike Manning (The Bay, The Edge of Everything). Cinematography by Emmy-award winning Peter Alton (Science Fair).
Minna: A Boat for Everyone
Yuki Nishiyama
A documentary film that records the two years it took a total of 1,600 people to build a giant dugout canoe with stone axes.
Taming the Fish
Jiancheng Ding
In the winter of 2001, in the village beside Yang Lake (羊湖), the pressures of working in the city and the persistent sense of not belonging finally led Desheng to return home and raise fish in his family’s pond. After getting married and having a child, his life seemed to settle into a peaceful harbor. When I first filmed Desheng, he was 29 years old and his daughter was three. The family lived with Desheng's parents. I lived with them for several months and felt deeply that their home was full of happiness and contentment.
Twenty-four years later—I returned to film this family again. Desheng is 53 years old. Over the past 24 years, his life has undergone tremendous change. His parents passed away, one after another; his family has fallen apart. His wife has long since divorced him and left the village.
Today, Desheng still tends the fish pond and lives with his now-grown daughter.
"Taming Fish" evokes the ancient Chinese legend of "the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate," in which a Yellow River carp, after leaping over the gate, transforms into a dragon.
But in the human world, isn't he also a kind of "fish"? Unlike the fish he breeds, he is the one who once tried to leap over his own Dragon Gate—the untamed "fish." He once left the small square pond of his hometown to swim toward a wider river and sea, only to return to the place where he was born and raised. Was Desheng "tamed" by fate?
Escape from Extinction Rewilding
Matthew Brady
Meryl Streep takes us on a journey as global wildlife experts race to save Earth's most beloved animals from mass extinction and environmental collapse - armed with a radical new approach to conservation called ‘rewilding’ that restores entire ecosystems, from the cloud forests of Rwanda to the California coast
-Best Feature Documentary Cinematography-
The Tenderness Tour
Andie Redwine
In his hardest physical challenge to date, complex, dedicated and irreverent activist Richard Propes fights for the very tour that saved his own life. Can Richard raise a million dollars to offset $155 million in medical debt - when he's never raised more than $20,000?
Featuring music by Grammy legend John Mellencamp, Grammy-award winning composer Max Lombardo, and Grammy-recognized Carrie Newcomer and The Fruit Bats, The Tenderness Tour is executive produced by Thirst Project CEO Seth Maxwell and two-time Emmy winner Mike Manning (The Bay, The Edge of Everything). Cinematography by Emmy-award winning Peter Alton (Science Fair).
Minna: A Boat for Everyone
Yuki Nishiyama
A documentary film that records the two years it took a total of 1,600 people to build a giant dugout canoe with stone axes.
Bread for tomorrow
Carmelo Puglisi
The story of Hélène Ehret begins in the small village of Sewen, in Alsace, on the border between France and Germany. She spent her childhood enduring cold, hunger, and homelessness during the Second World War.
Despite facing severe psychological breakdowns and undergoing electroshock therapy and neuro-vaccinations throughout her life, Hélène remained deeply committed to helping others and spreading kindness. Her early hardships inspired her to reach out to Mother Teresa, who helped her establish an NGO to support people in India. Over time, her mission expanded to other countries, including regions in Africa, Thailand, and Ukraine.
Through remote sponsorships and the construction of homes, hospitals, and schools, Hélène’s work brought vital aid to the slums of Kolkata and many rural communities.
In 2014, Missione Calcutta celebrated its 30th anniversary, and Hélène turned 90. This film honors both of these remarkable milestones.
Escape from Extinction Rewilding
Matthew Brady
Meryl Streep takes us on a journey as global wildlife experts race to save Earth's most beloved animals from mass extinction and environmental collapse - armed with a radical new approach to conservation called ‘rewilding’ that restores entire ecosystems, from the cloud forests of Rwanda to the California coast
-Best Feature Documentary Editing-
The Tenderness Tour
Andie Redwine
In his hardest physical challenge to date, complex, dedicated and irreverent activist Richard Propes fights for the very tour that saved his own life. Can Richard raise a million dollars to offset $155 million in medical debt - when he's never raised more than $20,000?
Featuring music by Grammy legend John Mellencamp, Grammy-award winning composer Max Lombardo, and Grammy-recognized Carrie Newcomer and The Fruit Bats, The Tenderness Tour is executive produced by Thirst Project CEO Seth Maxwell and two-time Emmy winner Mike Manning (The Bay, The Edge of Everything). Cinematography by Emmy-award winning Peter Alton (Science Fair).
Minna: A Boat for Everyone
Yuki Nishiyama
A documentary film that records the two years it took a total of 1,600 people to build a giant dugout canoe with stone axes.
Just call me Sai, Master Sai
Sibylle Bettina Gollwitzer
Where the sacred meets the ordinary-a rare look into a spiritual master's daily life.
An Indian guru has been touring the German countryside teaching energetic healing for almost 30 years while his Swabian wife is taking care of the rest. The film "Just Call Me Sai, Master Sai" tells of their goals and everyday challenges.
-Best Short Documentary-
Any Other Day: A Cholera Story
David Jobanputra
In 2022-23, Malawi experienced the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history.
It is now suffering from the worst drought in over a century, which has caused harvests to fail and water sources to run dry.
This poses further risk to life though hunger and disease, with the UN warning of a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe.
Sisters Christina (22) and Chifuniro (19) lost their grandmother to cholera. This film is a unique first-hand account of this devastating illness - and the stigma that accompanies it.
Cholera kills thousands of people in the world each year. It is entirely preventable.
Unbound
Vince Beeton
Unbound tells the powerful story of a community coming together to uplift those most impacted by severe mental illness through art.
1500 people created a striking 80-foot long sculpture at one of California’s largest psychiatric facilities, the Department of State Hospitals-Napa. Never before had an artwork of this magnitude been created inside a secure facility in partnership with the outside community.
Over 500 patients, 200 hospital staff and 800 community volunteers built a sculpture of collective liberation of hundreds of winged hearts flying free from a cage and together forged an innovative new model of participatory public art.
Emerging from one woman’s personal quest to heal from her family’s journey with schizophrenia, the Unbound project was conceived and offered as an antidote to the despair and isolation often associated with mental illness.
Unbound offers an inspiring example of personal and collective healing through art and serves as a powerful reminder of the boundless potential of the human spirit, showing what is possible when we open our hearts, lift each other up, and embrace the transformative power of art.
Quit Laughing God, This is Serious!
Michael Weissman
In Quit Laughing, God, This Is Serious! an unexpected calling propels an American mom from the quiet rhythms of home into a smuggling odyssey deep in the heart of 1980s Communist China. Immersed in a world of unfamiliar sights, guarded streets, and unpredictable encounters, she discovers just how far faith can take her.
A first person account documentary from bible smuggler and 40-year missionary, Chris Salas.
In The Shadow of Grace
Jessica Lee Wrabel
Our stories are never fully written, and within these pages are stories of healing. In exploring the raw and real depths of the human experience, we uncover a chapter of the heart where redemption and healing meet. In the Shadow of Grace follows three individuals who share honest testimonies of mental health struggles, addiction, and family trauma. Their journeys reveal how faith carries them from brokenness into restoration, and a closing message from a local pastor reminds us that hope and renewal remain possible even in our darkest seasons.
Iinii & Nitsitapii: Bringing Bison Back to Blackfeet Lands
Stephen Anthony Taglieri
The Blackfeet Nation is working with the National Indian Carbon Coalition (NICC) to increase forest resiliency, promote a diversity of tree age classes in their woodlands, improve wildlife habitat, maintain important watershed features, and consider the dynamic conditions brought on by climate change and on-going drought. Through the enrollment of 69,000 acres of land into an Improved Forest Management carbon project with NICC, the Nation is stewarding lands across 40 years to provide critical habitat for the reintroduction of American bison (Iinii in the traditional Blackfeet language) while sequestering carbon into healthy woodlands.
-Best Director Short Documentary-
Kailash
Aleksandr Larin
From the sunlit shores of Cyprus to the heights of the Himalayas, a pioneering expedition sets out on a journey unlike any before it — the first Cypriot quest to Mount Kailash.
The film traces their path through the city of Kathmandu and shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva, before rising onto the vast Tibetan Plateau. The expedition then reaches its spiritual climax: the holy Mount Kailash and the shimmering waters of Lake Manasarovar, revered by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Bon practitioners alike.
More than a travelogue, the film unfolds as an ethnographic exploration of the Kailash Parikrama — the ritual circumambulation of the mountain — capturing the devotion, traditions, and timeless stories of the pilgrims who walk this path of faith.
A cinematic bridge between Cyprus and the Himalayas, Kailash: The Cypriot Pilgrimage is both a chronicle of adventure and an invitation for future explorers to step into one of the world’s most mystical landscapes.
Unbound
Vince Beeton
Unbound tells the powerful story of a community coming together to uplift those most impacted by severe mental illness through art.
1500 people created a striking 80-foot long sculpture at one of California’s largest psychiatric facilities, the Department of State Hospitals-Napa. Never before had an artwork of this magnitude been created inside a secure facility in partnership with the outside community.
Over 500 patients, 200 hospital staff and 800 community volunteers built a sculpture of collective liberation of hundreds of winged hearts flying free from a cage and together forged an innovative new model of participatory public art.
Emerging from one woman’s personal quest to heal from her family’s journey with schizophrenia, the Unbound project was conceived and offered as an antidote to the despair and isolation often associated with mental illness.
Unbound offers an inspiring example of personal and collective healing through art and serves as a powerful reminder of the boundless potential of the human spirit, showing what is possible when we open our hearts, lift each other up, and embrace the transformative power of art.
In The Shadow of Grace
Jessica Lee Wrabel
Our stories are never fully written, and within these pages are stories of healing. In exploring the raw and real depths of the human experience, we uncover a chapter of the heart where redemption and healing meet. In the Shadow of Grace follows three individuals who share honest testimonies of mental health struggles, addiction, and family trauma. Their journeys reveal how faith carries them from brokenness into restoration, and a closing message from a local pastor reminds us that hope and renewal remain possible even in our darkest seasons.
Sky Sisters: Oversexualization in the media
Selah Rayne
"Sky Sisters" is a poignant film series examining the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). Through powerful storytelling, it sheds light on the interconnected systems—historical, social, and institutional—that contribute to and sustain this issue. Each episode strives to amplify voices and spark dialogue for justice and change.
Iinii & Nitsitapii: Bringing Bison Back to Blackfeet Lands
Stephen Anthony Taglieri
The Blackfeet Nation is working with the National Indian Carbon Coalition (NICC) to increase forest resiliency, promote a diversity of tree age classes in their woodlands, improve wildlife habitat, maintain important watershed features, and consider the dynamic conditions brought on by climate change and on-going drought. Through the enrollment of 69,000 acres of land into an Improved Forest Management carbon project with NICC, the Nation is stewarding lands across 40 years to provide critical habitat for the reintroduction of American bison (Iinii in the traditional Blackfeet language) while sequestering carbon into healthy woodlands.
-Best Short Documentary Cinematography-
Unbound
Vince Beeton
Unbound tells the powerful story of a community coming together to uplift those most impacted by severe mental illness through art.
1500 people created a striking 80-foot long sculpture at one of California’s largest psychiatric facilities, the Department of State Hospitals-Napa. Never before had an artwork of this magnitude been created inside a secure facility in partnership with the outside community.
Over 500 patients, 200 hospital staff and 800 community volunteers built a sculpture of collective liberation of hundreds of winged hearts flying free from a cage and together forged an innovative new model of participatory public art.
Emerging from one woman’s personal quest to heal from her family’s journey with schizophrenia, the Unbound project was conceived and offered as an antidote to the despair and isolation often associated with mental illness.
Unbound offers an inspiring example of personal and collective healing through art and serves as a powerful reminder of the boundless potential of the human spirit, showing what is possible when we open our hearts, lift each other up, and embrace the transformative power of art.
In The Shadow of Grace
Jessica Lee Wrabel
Our stories are never fully written, and within these pages are stories of healing. In exploring the raw and real depths of the human experience, we uncover a chapter of the heart where redemption and healing meet. In the Shadow of Grace follows three individuals who share honest testimonies of mental health struggles, addiction, and family trauma. Their journeys reveal how faith carries them from brokenness into restoration, and a closing message from a local pastor reminds us that hope and renewal remain possible even in our darkest seasons.
Falldown
Bill Heath
A call to action, emerging from the front lines of ecological and cultural
survival.
“Super Natural” British Columbia is home to some of the most biodiverse,
carbon-rich forests on Earth. People travel here to be among living giants,
cathedrals—forests older than the ancient cathedrals of Europe. For millennia,
Indigenous Peoples have stewarded these sacred ecosystems, knowing
intuitively that people are not separate from the natural world but woven into
its very heartbeat. Yet, industrial clearcut logging has torn its way through
these ancient forests for the last century, threatening ecology and cultural
identity. Today a fight is on to decide the fate of the very last of these ancient
forests, and the communities that forests support.
Through evocative visuals and soulful storytelling, the film follows a coalition
of Indigenous leaders, scientists and loggers as they seek a new path—one
rooted in reverence for traditional knowledge and informed by the insights of
Western science. Their collective vision is one of hope—a future where
ecological restoration and cultural renewal are inextricably linked, where
healing the land becomes a pathway to healing ourselves.
Falldown reminds us of what the First Peoples have always known: that our
futures are intertwined with the health of the land, and that true resilience lies
in our unity with nature.
Visually stunning and deeply resonant, this cinematic testament implores us
to reimagine our relationship with the natural world—before these ancient
forests are silenced forever—calling us to remember, to restore, and to listen
to the heartbeat of the land.
Iinii & Nitsitapii: Bringing Bison Back to Blackfeet Lands
Stephen Anthony Taglieri
The Blackfeet Nation is working with the National Indian Carbon Coalition (NICC) to increase forest resiliency, promote a diversity of tree age classes in their woodlands, improve wildlife habitat, maintain important watershed features, and consider the dynamic conditions brought on by climate change and on-going drought. Through the enrollment of 69,000 acres of land into an Improved Forest Management carbon project with NICC, the Nation is stewarding lands across 40 years to provide critical habitat for the reintroduction of American bison (Iinii in the traditional Blackfeet language) while sequestering carbon into healthy woodlands.
-Best Short Documentary Editing-
Unbound
Vince Beeton
Unbound tells the powerful story of a community coming together to uplift those most impacted by severe mental illness through art.
1500 people created a striking 80-foot long sculpture at one of California’s largest psychiatric facilities, the Department of State Hospitals-Napa. Never before had an artwork of this magnitude been created inside a secure facility in partnership with the outside community.
Over 500 patients, 200 hospital staff and 800 community volunteers built a sculpture of collective liberation of hundreds of winged hearts flying free from a cage and together forged an innovative new model of participatory public art.
Emerging from one woman’s personal quest to heal from her family’s journey with schizophrenia, the Unbound project was conceived and offered as an antidote to the despair and isolation often associated with mental illness.
Unbound offers an inspiring example of personal and collective healing through art and serves as a powerful reminder of the boundless potential of the human spirit, showing what is possible when we open our hearts, lift each other up, and embrace the transformative power of art.
In The Shadow of Grace
Jessica Lee Wrabel
Our stories are never fully written, and within these pages are stories of healing. In exploring the raw and real depths of the human experience, we uncover a chapter of the heart where redemption and healing meet. In the Shadow of Grace follows three individuals who share honest testimonies of mental health struggles, addiction, and family trauma. Their journeys reveal how faith carries them from brokenness into restoration, and a closing message from a local pastor reminds us that hope and renewal remain possible even in our darkest seasons.
Iinii & Nitsitapii: Bringing Bison Back to Blackfeet Lands
Stephen Anthony Taglieri
The Blackfeet Nation is working with the National Indian Carbon Coalition (NICC) to increase forest resiliency, promote a diversity of tree age classes in their woodlands, improve wildlife habitat, maintain important watershed features, and consider the dynamic conditions brought on by climate change and on-going drought. Through the enrollment of 69,000 acres of land into an Improved Forest Management carbon project with NICC, the Nation is stewarding lands across 40 years to provide critical habitat for the reintroduction of American bison (Iinii in the traditional Blackfeet language) while sequestering carbon into healthy woodlands.
-Best Feature Experimental Film-
TO THE HANDS
Marty Austin Lamar
TO THE HANDS is a choral-theatrical exploration breathing between social consciousness and live acoustic performance. Anchored by Pulitzer Prize-Winning Caroline Shaw’s 2016 eponymous work, itself responding to Buxtehude’s Ad Manus cantata from 1680, the film draws out a centuries-old question made urgent again: How do we tend to the wounds in our hands?
A plea that transcends time, it echoes from sacred texts to the realities of today’s fractured world, where millions are displaced, systems disintegrate, and human connection becomes both rare and more vital than ever. Consider your question and answer:
Would you harbor me? Would I harbor you?
Through a tactile blend of live performance, choreography, and immersive design, TO THE HANDS becomes both mirror and refuge, blurring lines between concert, ritual, and cinema. The film centers displacement and homelessness through the sensory languages of music, movement, and light. In a journey that is both intimate and universal, it is a reflection and reckoning on human fragility, strength, complicity, and care. TO THE HANDS is an invitation to imagine a world in which we hold and heal each other’s wounds, not in theory, but in practice.
What begins as a sacred lament expands into a powerful testament on community, vulnerability, and empathy. Our hands are open, reaching out. The question remains:
Would you harbor me? Would I harbor you?
The First Shapeshifter
Raúl Coria Martínez
The First Shapeshifter is a 76-minute independent science fiction feature film about human transformation in a world shaped by artificial intelligence.
Created outside traditional industry systems, the film explores identity, evolution, and survival through a dystopian narrative where adaptation becomes inevitable. Directed by Raúl Coria Martínez, the film blends cinematic storytelling with AI-assisted creation as an expression of independent auteur cinema.
-Best Feature Director Experimental Film-
Forever
Karim Kari
The ghostly reflection: An elegy for a dying art.
"Forever" directed by Karim Kari explores the beauty of an art that is disappearing.
Karim Kari, general manager of the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, has forty years of experience behind the scenes, rehearsals, tours. He knows what he's talking about.
He saw the theater gradually empty its verve, while the film industry took all the light.
So, he films this suffering, not as a manifesto, but as a procession of specters: the ghosts of the theater.
Passionate, mortified, sometimes disenchanted souls who continue to play despite the pain.
Their game is that of the true enthusiast: the one who still loves, even when everything collapses.
In Forever, there is a black beauty, a poetry of ruin.
Each shot becomes a living painting, a deep delirium of poetic black magic, where the bodies become troubled presences.
Behind the darkness, we can see the depth of the man stripped of his artistic mask.
The film is a theater in the theater, a dizzying abyss: a film shot in a theater where the ghosts of the red velvet wander.
A velvet box for an elegant denunciation of the degradation of the theater.
Like Dorian Gray's portrait, "Forever" reveals the double face of an art:
Sumptuous in appearance, but whose painting, in the shadows, crumbles and cracks.
Around him, a troupe; Delphine Depardieu, Michèle André, and other actors who came to lend their flesh to this ghostly dance.
All gathered around the same idea:
That art, even dying, remains a gathering space,
A place where we are alive,
Forever
Many Die Too Late
Julian Bonnin
Julian believes he has already died inside. Between dirty rooms, cigarettes and casual encounters, he survives in a state of emotional drift. Until love — real or imagined — erupts, and life fills with bodies, voices, lights, and promises. But what seemed like salvation begins to crumble, revealing the asymmetry between what is offered and what one is willing to receive. With a mise-en-scène made of fragments: cats, trains, spilled wine, and music that invades without asking permission, Many Die Too Late is a film diary of enamorment and loss. It is not about narrating what happened, but about recording what burned in the instant when there was nothing left to save.
-Best Short Experimental Film-
10001 Followers
Roman Villevoye
A courier for 'Remote Express' faces an unusually tough day while delivering a secure briefcase to a client in a remote location. After battling through a series of setbacks, what he discovers inside is a gender reveal item for a pregnant influencer. This leaves him devastated, all that hard work just for a useless impulse item that's neither important nor necessary for him to deliver in such a way. He went the extra mile because he thought he was making a difference but he is just another cog in the consumer society we live in.
NOWHERE!!
Alex Mendivil
Malcolm stumbles upon a strange store in the middle of the desert while lost. Once he enters, he is greeted by a mysterious salesman who seems to have quite the deal for him.
A Dance Away
Maxwell Gilbert
A Dance Away tells the story of Ava, a college dancer who breaks her ankle during a performance a few months prior. Still traumatized and scared to go back on stage, her best friend, Riley, gives her a strange necklace, which mysteriously transports her into a realm. From there, she meets three dancers who give her a dance away.
-Best Short Director Experimental Film-
NOWHERE!!
Alex Mendivil
Malcolm stumbles upon a strange store in the middle of the desert while lost. Once he enters, he is greeted by a mysterious salesman who seems to have quite the deal for him.
Withered
Alana I. Smith
When a clairvoyant on the run from the government steals a highly valued photo, he uses his supernatural abilities to find his family before a lunar eclipse erases everything in his memory. The mind of young teen [Aaron Brown] becomes empowered when he unlocks the secrets of his past. Aaron finds himself attached between two communities of different economic status, Lion Hill and Lakewood Heights. Lion Hill is an isolated society designed to function in its own statehood aside from other
communities. In this world, every civilian is subjected to think, dress, and speak identical under the rules
from “The Circle.” The Circle is a highly coveted group controlling
human activities. On the contrary, Lakewood Heights is the “outlier” society detached from the central system of Lion Hill
due to lack of resources, currency, and opportunity. Any resident in Lakewood Heights is a secondary citizen and performs
outlawed behavior to stay grounded with their traditional culture and beliefs.
Ocular Migraine
Michelle Roy
I suffer from a condition called Ocular Migraine that causes me to see various shapes/patterns. I made a short film about how this makes me feel and what I see.
-Best Short Experimental Cinematography-
A Dance Away
Maxwell Gilbert
A Dance Away tells the story of Ava, a college dancer who breaks her ankle during a performance a few months prior. Still traumatized and scared to go back on stage, her best friend, Riley, gives her a strange necklace, which mysteriously transports her into a realm. From there, she meets three dancers who give her a dance away.
Church of Lost Souls
Maxwell Gilbert
A location scout searches for a mystical, perhaps mythical, location with perfect light where an infamous and horrific masquerade ball took place. Will he find his perfect place or something else entirely?
-Best Animation Film-
If I must die - A Reading
Chris Daley
An animated piece dedicated to Palestine: the animator's interpretation of "If I must die", a poem written by the late Palestinian professor Dr. Refaat Alareer.
B Positive
Frances Chang
A young girl is plagued by nightmares following a life-saving transplant.
The Legend of Psaltery
Tatiana Kublitskaya
Brave heart and magic power of music stop war.
THE BLACK SMOKE OF PREDICTION...
Damir dado Šuša
...How the space forces of a small country headed to the newly discovered planet New Paradise as part of a space exploration program
-Best Student Film-
Face the Music
S.N. Watts
Rockstar Ryan Bentley faces addiction, a failing marriage, and a manipulative manager as he prepares for a high-stakes live interview. With pressure mounting, he must decide: keep up the act—or finally face the music...
Getting Back to You
Miranda Clapp
"Getting Back to You" unfolds the harrowing journey of David Warren, a young man in his early twenties, caught in a tempest of self-destruction and overwhelming responsibility. Fleeing from the debris of his crumbling life, David embarks on a solitary quest across the country, seeking refuge in the anonymity of the open road. His vehicle, a cluttered testament to his chaotic existence, becomes the stage for a profound exploration of grief, regret, and the quest for redemption.
As miles stretch into memories, David's only connection to the world he left behind comes through the series of voicemails that fill the silence of his journey. These messages, from the core people in his life who refuse to abandon him despite his flaws, paint a vivid picture of the escalating concern and unconditional love they hold for him. Among them are Adrian Torres, his fiercely loyal best friend; Madelyn Cassey, his dedicated and patient girlfriend; Mrs. Warren, his mother, whose love knows no bounds; and Mr. Warren, his father, a stern yet supportive figure urging his son to confront reality.
The narrative reaches a critical juncture when a voicemail from his father cuts through the noise, delivering the devastating news of his mother's passing. This revelation forces David to grapple with the magnitude of his escape and the repercussions of his self-imposed isolation. Torn between the urge to continue his aimless drift and the daunting prospect of facing his bereaved family, David stands at a crossroads between perpetual flight and the difficult path towards healing.
Sacred Heart
Christopher Cash
Aging songwriter laments loss of his first love, a vivacious
Catholic schoolgirl, who filled his heart with wonder and left
behind a bittersweet echo of joy and sorrow.
-Best Director Student Film-
Face the Music
S.N. Watts
Rockstar Ryan Bentley faces addiction, a failing marriage, and a manipulative manager as he prepares for a high-stakes live interview. With pressure mounting, he must decide: keep up the act—or finally face the music...
Dissolve
Daniel Daher
On his birthday party , Alex attempts suicide , only to wake up in a strange spiral where reality is confusing, he struggles to distinguish between life and death, questioning if he's alive or trapped under the reality.
-Best LGBTQ+ Film-
Unbroken
Kathy Moore
This is a story of gender discovery, a search for identity and wholeness. Unbroken is a musical drama showing the fight to become free from the bonds of society, history and shame.
Transtate
Sage Hammer
Transtate is a short documentary about the struggle that
transgender Americans are going through to feel safe. We learn
what it takes to move across the country while facing the weight
of countless anti LGBT+ bills. Some people pack their entire lives
into a car, spending thousands of dollars to make a new home for themselves. Others set up non-profits to help in any way they can and provide an intricate network of community to welcome
newcomers.
Big, Yikes!
Ibrahim Rana
-Best TV or Streaming Series-
The Mystery of Su-min episode 16
DELREY PEARSON
As the truth about Su-Min’s past finally brings her fractured family together, War De-Rea reconciles her father with her grandmother, honors her mother’s memory, and faces a life-changing night at the MBC Awards—where love, legacy, and a long-awaited father-daughter bond take center stage.
Navajo Highways
Pete Sands
NAVAJO HIGHWAYS follows the journey of young Sadie during her summer vacation on the Navajo Reservation.
Sadie, raised in an urban environment, embarks on a transformative experience as she immerses herself in Navajo culture and language, guided by her family and her warm community in Mitten Creek. Through interactions with her grandmother Sally, Cousin Ash, Uncle Al, and various local figures like the trader, burrito vendors, and a local teacher, Sadie discovers the richness of Navajo traditions, both past and present.

NAVAJO HIGHWAYS serves as an educational tool aimed at Navajo children from Pre-K to 3rd grade, encouraging language acquisition and cultural understanding. Led by puppets representing Sadie and her family, each episode features encounters with Navajo role models and community members (guest stars), fostering connection and learning among our young viewers.
With a total of 6 episodes, each ranging from 15 to 20 minutes, NAVAJO HIGHWAYS aims to inspire curiosity and appreciation for the Navajo language and culture.
-Best Pilot Episode-
The Ghost's Father
Delrey Pearson
The Ghost’s Father is a prestige supernatural thriller that fuses practical engineering logic with haunting, character-driven horror. Designed as a 2-hour pilot event, it plays like a contained feature film while seeding a serialized season arc. Think Haunting of Hill House meets MythBusters with the emotional weight of Manchester by the Sea.
Chicago's Most Wanted
Antonio Lenee Tucker
This is a pilot episode for a tv show I'm working on. It tells the story of Southside Chicago young adults and how one traumatic event connects all of these characters.
The Skywalker
George Robert Strayton
The Untold Tragedy of the Greatest Franchise in Film History
In 1962, eighteen-year-old George Lucas is a hotshot race car driver with dreams of going professional. But a devastating car crash that nearly kills him changes everything, forcing him to abandon racing and search for a new path. By 1973, Lucas has become a struggling filmmaker whose debut feature THX 1138 flopped, and whose follow-up American Graffiti faces studio rejection and potential burial.
When Universal threatens to sue Lucas for the entire $780,000 budget and blacklists him from the industry, he and his fellow "movie brats" - Francis Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and John Milius - hatch an audacious plan to steal a print of American Graffiti from the Universal vaults to show other studios.
As Lucas grapples with his wife Marcia's fertility struggles and mounting financial pressures from his disapproving father, he must find the courage to pitch his most ambitious project yet - a space fantasy that will either save his career or destroy it forever. The film explores how a young man's brush with death led to the creation of the most successful film franchise in history.
A character study of artistic vision versus commercial pressure, friendship versus ambition, and the thin line between dreams and delusion in 1970s Hollywood.
-Best Music Video-
Sacred Heart
Christopher Cash
Aging songwriter laments loss of his first love, a vivacious
Catholic schoolgirl, who filled his heart with wonder and left
behind a bittersweet echo of joy and sorrow.
The important thing
Don Ferone
Unplugged music track by Don Pasquale Ferone
On all digital platforms
Fishes & Clams
William Danton

A mildly philosophical, reggae style music video.
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Hibiki Toyama
A young man faces conflicts and decisions in his daily life.
-Best Music Video Editing-
Fishes & Clams
William Danton

A mildly philosophical, reggae style music video.
Made on
Tilda