Dylan and Lizzy are best friends, growing up in a typical dystopian suburbia. Dylan has a plan to take her mom's boyfriend's car for the night. The two of them drop acid, steal the car, and the wild sequence of events that ensue over the next nine hours is one for the books. Dylan is all gas, no brakes. Lizzy is more in touch with the risk verses benefit equation. The unlikely duo are still inseparable, and their journey is as entertaining as it is dangerous. In the end, we are reminded that life's a trip, so enjoy the ride.


Best Short Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Zac La Roc

The Joker (David Howard Thornton, "Terrifier") has captured Robin and after two days of awful torture his revenge plays out in front of a helpless Batman. Inspired by the 1988 DC comic "A Death In The Family"—with a horrific twist.


Best Short Film (Main Category)
Best Director (Main Category)
Best Actor (Main Category)
Best Cinematography (Main Category)
Best Makeup (Additional Category)
Best Costume Design (Additional Category)
Best Horror (Additional Category)


Directed by: Aaron William Bennett

the hidden face of pathological gambling in a scenario suspended between fiction and reality, Gamblers tells true stories of men and women trapped in the vortex of gambling.


Best Short Film (Main Category)
Best Director (Main Category)
Best Actor (Main Category)
Best Cinematography (Main Category)
Best Producer (Additional Category)
Best Poster (Additional Category)


Directed by: Ettore Zito

 When dedicated cardiologist Dr. Anastasia "Stacey" Dimas (Nafsika Antypas) becomes entwined with the ghost of Jason Walker (Jarred Harper), a charming stranger whose life she fought to save, she must navigate a perilous world of crime, love, and supernatural intrigue while uncovering the truth behind his mysterious death.


Best Short Film (Main Category)
Best Actress (Main Category)
Best Thriller (Additional Category)
Best Producer (Additional Category)


Directed by: Jarett Bellucci, Nafsika Antypas

Teacher that's teaching kids to smile in a post a dystopic school.


Best Short Film (Main Category)
Best Actress (Main Category)


Directed by: David Dulev

Caitlin's sister, Cassie, has Down's Syndrome.
She also has a love for writing stories, sea salt and chardonnay vinegar crisps... and "feng shui-ing" every room she enters. When she comes to stay for the weekend, she brings all this colour and character with her, decorating Caitlin's rigid routine.


Best Short Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Georgie McGuigan

EVA tells the story of two parents expecting a child. A routine scan reveals a rare genetic condition: the baby’s brain will never develop, and after birth it will survive only for a few hours. Confronted with this devastating truth, the couple faces an impossible choice – to end the pregnancy, or to bring the child into the world so that its organs might save the lives of other newborns.


Best Short Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Martin Genovski

Tired of being treated like a product to sell, a young model searches for happiness in her life and in the modelling industry.


Best Short Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Lee O'Connor

DYNAMICS (Frozen Movements) is an experimental, dreamy and surreal stop-motion film, created using everyday materials. The film offers a visual reflection on transformations that emerge through the intuitive blending of dissimilar elements. The result is a non-narrative art film where fantasy, form and texture merge into a sensory experience.
This short animation invites viewers to surrender to a world where logic gives way to atmosphere and intuition. The hypnotic soundscape enhances the avant-garde character of the film and leaves plenty of room for personal interpretation.


Best Experimental Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Teo Baehler

A journey into modern London's rock 'n' roll scene, featuring Laurie Wright and his band, exploring the genre's legacy, its cultural roots, and its fight for relevance in today's mainstream.


Best Short Documentary Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Milena Starkova

Into CONSCIOUSNESS is a documentary film that proposes an intimate and collective investigation into the meaning of consciousness. Through the voices of 12 protagonists - therapists, philosophers, artists, scientists, educators and spiritual researchers - the film composes a mosaic of reflections, experiences and insights that
challenge our ordinary understanding of self, time and reality.
The story unfolds through themes ranging from the memory of ancient grains to the constitutional identity of Italy, from Bert Hellinger's family constellations to the Mayan synchronarium, passing through contemporary archetypes such as Morpheus and Neo. Each encounter takes place in an intimate and authentic way, without forcing, creating a space in which the word becomes resonance.
Far from the rhetoric of the didactic or militant documentary, in CONSCIOUSNESS he searches for the invisible, the
unspoken, what vibrates beneath the surface. The editing is slow, essential, built to favour the silence between one word and another, offering the audience an inner space to take in, remember, question.
Conceived and directed by Francesco Majo and Nataly Cadavid, the film is the result of a totally independent and self-financed work. It is an artistic and human gesture of openness and connection, addressed to all
those who feel the need to return to a more conscious, profound and true dimension of existence.


Best Feature Documentary Film (Main Category)


Directed by: `Francesco Majo, Nataly Cadavid

In January 2020, amid sky-high U.S.–Iran tensions, a Ukrainian passenger jet is blasted out of the Tehran night sky . All 176 people on board perish in an instant—a tragedy that ignites the journey of The Great Game. Igor Lopatonok’s dramatic documentary uses the downing of Flight PS752 as a harrowing lens through which to examine over a century of foreign intervention, regime change, and war in Iran .
From the shadows of the 1953 CIA- and MI6-orchestrated coup that toppled Iran’s democratic government and reinstalled the Shah, to the 1979 Revolution that finally overthrew that U.S.-backed monarch , the film unearths history that mainstream narratives have long obscured. The Great Game challenges the comfortable Western storyline, revealing an alternative perspective on geopolitical events—one where empires and superpowers repeatedly treat Iran as a pawn on a global chessboard. It draws provocative parallels between past and present, showing how civilian tragedies like downed airliners are cynically exploited to advance regime-change agendas .
As new wars loom on the horizon, The Great Game issues an urgent call for peace. In stark contrast to standard newsreel soundbites, this sweeping and impassioned chronicle of empire and resistance is both bold and deeply humane. It demands that we heed the lessons of history—before they are doomed to repeat themselves.


Best Feature Documentary Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Igor Lopatonok

In this introspective story, a woman evaluates her worth and position in a relationship that has lost its fulfilment. Her journey centres on self-discovery and the decision to break free, embarking on a path filled with new opportunities.


Best Animation (Main Category)


Directed by: Txus Angulo

When four estranged sisters reunite for supper at their aging mother’s house, personal grievances and political differences fade as they confront Mother’s devastating news.
Trigger Warnings: Contains revenge baguettes, knife metaphors, fecal incontinence (implied--not shown), and spaghetti western-like showdowns with deep vulnerability and Xanax.


Best Short Screenplay (Main Category)


Written by: Juliet Colyer

Along the unforgiving stretch of the Southwest border, every day holds the potential for chaos.
In the quiet desert town of Deming, NM, a seemingly standard traffic stop reveals a van loaded with narcotics bound for Phoenix. But what begins as a routine smuggling case quickly spirals into something far more dangerous — a hidden operation that exposes a threat to both U.S. and Mexican national security.
As American law enforcement scrambles to unravel the conspiracy, south of the border, a brutal cartel cell scrambles to contain the fallout. Their goal: stay one step ahead of both governments while protecting a clandestine pipeline that holds global implications.


Best Short Screenplay (Main Category)


Written by: John P Martinez

The Red Hand symbolizes the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the North America, particularly among Native American communities. The red handprint is often seen printed across the mouth of those advocating for this movement, representing the silenced voices of these women who have been victims of violence, kidnapping, or murder, often without proper investigation or justice. This crisis is rooted in a long history of systemic marginalization, lack of proper law enforcement response, and jurisdictional challenges. In this novel and adapted screenplay, add the unsolved serial killer or a copycat, in and around Sheridan, Wyoming, the Medicine Wheel of the Big Horn Mountains, and Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming. Mary MacIntosh is the prosecuting attorney in Sheridan, Wyoming, and she is challenged with solving the latest murder of a local Native American woman, as part of the MMIW crisis.


Best Feature Screenplay (Main Category)


Written by: MAUREEN ANNE MEEHAN

In a strange mountain town that secretly serves as a gateway to the afterlife, two eccentric death agents keep rebellious souls in check—until an orphaned teen with a mysterious past arrives and threatens to unravel everything.


Best Original Screenplay (Main Category)
Best Drama (Additional Category)
Best Television Script (Additional Category)


Written by: Ragan L Mozee

Join Laura on this heartwarming journey, as she sets out to fulfill what she feels the Lord has called her to do... BE A MISSIONARY LIKE HER FATHER. Walk along side her as overcomes insurmountable odds in her attempts to see this thru. She is in WWII times, Father is away at war. Laura is paralyzed in a wheelchair. She's home tending the care of the house with her mother, her aunt, and her twin sister--who happens to fall on the dark side. This is a story of war times, family ties, romance, and a young woman's incredible journey of faith and love! And it all starts...IN THE GARDEN!


Best Original Screenplay (Main Category)


Written by: Christal Kahles-Jones, Kathy Krantz Stewart

A felting artist’s creative journey is inspired by her family’s love and encouragement. A story of art, passion, and family connections. You don’t just wake up and become the butterfly.


Best Micro-Short Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Branislava Dragovic, Sam Grima

Psychological thriller about the programming of television and how we are sheep in a land of lies.


Best Micro-Short Film (Main Category)
Best Experimental Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Rashá Robinson

While racing up Italy's wild coast to reclaim his stolen work, queer Renaissance painter Caravaggio realizes that leaving his beautiful lover behind, to chase glory in Rome, was a betrayal that will cost him his life. As his final moments unfurl like a fever dream, he glimpses at the angel who has been guarding him all along - and understands that even in death, his art will burn on.


Best Director (Main Category)
Best Composer (Additional Category)


Directed by: Paolina Weber

Efrain, a shy 14-year-old boy, is very much in love with Corina, a 15-year-old girl who has never really noticed him. Efrain discovers that Corina is fascinated by yellow roses, and he sets out to find one with the idea of being reciprocated.


Best Young Actor (Additional Category)


Directed by: GERARDO GOUVERNEUR

Gustavo Zimmermann, a young archaeologist, ventures into a dark forest trying to complete the last investigation into his missing grandfather. Once there, he meets a mysterious Old Man who keeps a vast collection of objects in his cabin, which arouses Gustavo's interest and suspicions.


Best Horror (Additional Category)


Directed by: Samuel Hernández

After a Texas rancher dies, his granddaughter and her girlfriend discover masked hunters at his ranch competing in a twisted game of life and death. Will the beauties and their already rocky romance survive the brutal carnage?


Best LGBTQ+ Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Mike McCutchen

Five powerboat-loving film-school slackers from LA shoot for a deadline in Costa Rica and stumble into a river poisoned by an illegal biogenetics laboratory. After their tepid thesis project fails, the team hatches a risky spring-break boondoggle to launch Golden-Fleece beach adventures.


Best Comedy (Additional Category)


Directed by: Daniel Stuelpnagel

A man searches for the life he once had.


Best No-Dialogue Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Joffre Faria Silva

Amanda is in a relationship that has her running off her feet and leaves her physically battered. Georgie, a stranger and well-intentioned busybody, encourages Amanda to share her pain in an earnest discussion that devolves into a comedy of errors.


Best No-Budget Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Barbara de la Fuente

The legend of William Boucher is a tale of vengeance.. He returns to New Orleans to find out that his beloved twin sister, Whisper, has been killed. Seeking vengeance, he embarks on a killing spree and, through a curse, is compelled to return to Earth to get his revenge.


Best AI Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Kedra l curry

Summer Triangle is a groundbreaking 65-minute feature film created entirely with AI-generated visuals. Set in a quiet rural village, the story follows three boys during one unforgettable summer as they set out on a quest to find a UFO they believe crashed in the nearby mountains.


Best AI Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Takeru Nakazawa

“Shade of You” is a cinematic composition that speaks in silence. It evokes the emotional depth of loss, reflection, and longing — the kind that lingers between moments. Designed for film scenes that require a quiet emotional pull.


Best Original Soundtrack (Additional Category)


Composed by: Teona Lagvilava

Millie is learning how to solve mysteries on her vlogging channel in the town of Willow’s Run.
With an uncle who is the Detective of The Colby County Police Station, she entrusts and unwittingly enlists him to help her put a face to the fingerprints in her mystery of murder
escapades. Mysterious Moments with Millie ‘Mills’ Mallory – is a heartfelt, suspenseful and engaging Mystery Drama, created with the same beloved overtones as Murder She Wrote and a keen sense of suspicious clue solving as seen in the Murder She Baked Mysteries series. Hang on to your trench coat and hat-it's gonna be an interesting ride!


Best Trailer (Additional Category)


Directed by: Mysti Smith