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 Producer (Additional Category)


Directed by: Ettore Zito

Julia faces challenges that will bring about big changes and it will all start when she puts on her laceless sneakers.


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


Directed by: Jeny Poquet, Oscar Gómez

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 Cinematography (Main Category)
Best Makeup (Additional Category)
Best Costume Design (Additional Category)
Best Horror (Additional Category)


Directed by: Aaron William Bennett

Hongsik lives in a redevelopment village.
The home where family memories exist is everything to Hongsik and a space he cannot leave.
Hong-sik always misses his son, but is cautious about contacting him because he feels like it will be a burden to him.
Hong-sik, who was preparing for death as if he were organizing his life alone, takes a picture of his face reflected in the mirror with his cell phone and leaves a memorial photo.
And he meets the son he has longed for so much.


Best Short Film (Main Category)


Directed by: SE KWON SEO

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

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

An uprising stirs when a Sheriff raises taxes and uses violence to punish those who can’t pay. The oppressed seek support from the dangerous Wood Elves, who have their own designs on the city they were once banished from.


Best Feature Film (Main Category)
Best Composer (Additional Category)
Best Costume Design (Additional Category)


Directed by: Stuart Brennan

The film PRIMORDIAL establishes an inner dialogue between poetry and a timeless landscape. Through cinema, word and music the film reflects nature’ s abandonment, spiritual emptiness and end times through the eyes of a woman, who could be nature, history, an idea or just a human being of our times.


Best Experimental Film (Main Category)
Best Symbolic Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: George Zorbas, Nana Papadaki

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

Ornithologist and artist Dr. Rob Butler explores the complicated and beautiful lives of crows while looking back on a lifetime of corvid obsession.


Best Short Documentary Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Mike McKinlay

„OFF THE MARK” is documentary about climate change, the “Green Shift” and plastic pollution in the Norwegian Finnmark.
Temperatures in Northern Norway are rising steadily and the destruction of the environment is increasing.
For years, the German dog mushers Willem and Steffi Betzel have felt the big changes in the wilderness first-hand. So, they decided to become active themselves to protect the fragile Arctic nature.
A first starting point is microplastic, because this clearly shows the influence of humans on the environment. Knowing how much pollution there is and where it comes from is the cornerstone of a nature conservation approach.
The people most affected by microplastics and climate change in the North are the Sámi,
one of the last indigenous peoples in Europe.
For the Sámi, living with nature means using nature.
The Arctic is warming three times as fast as the global average and it has already devastating consequences on wildlife, but also on cultural practices, like reindeer herding.
The Norwegian government believes that with the so called “Green Shift” the country will challenge energy security and climate change. The quest towards a low-carbon society requires the development of more renewable energy and the mining of more minerals.
But when the “Green Shift” becomes just an extraction of resources in Sámi areas it creates an existence-threatening situation that pushes the Sámi people to their physical and mental limits!


Best Feature Documentary Film (Main Category)
Best Cinematography (Main Category)
Best ECO Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Wera Uschakowa

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

This Animated Action Comedy which takes place in the groovy era follows a sunshine rock band called Apology None that has always struggled to make a hit record. A promising demo gives them hope but is stolen by a rival record company. A raunchy band called The Hoglies takes their song toward the top of the record charts. Apology None, with the guidance of their genius keyboardist, attempts to reclaim their song using methods seen in espionage action films.


Best Animation (Main Category)


Directed by: Tim Ross

Three young misfits, fresh from a successful theft, find themselves seeking shelter from a storm near a cave where a young girl is taking refuge with them. Two are convinced they have had luck again, while the third doesn't think it's the right thing to do, but perhaps this time the prey is the wrong one.


Best Short Screenplay (Main Category)


Written by: Guido Pecorelli

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 the mystical realm of the Vale, where elves and vampires hold dominion, an ancient prophecy foretells impending destruction unless two unlikely heroes unite. A courageous elf and a reclusive vampire must overcome deep-seated prejudices and personal demons to fulfill their intertwined destinies. As they embark on a perilous journey, they confront formidable adversaries, unravel hidden truths, and discover a profound connection that could alter the fate of their world. "Child of Dawn" is a spellbinding tale of magic, love, and destiny, weaving a narrative that transcends reality and invites audiences into a world where ancient magic converges with contemporary challenges.


Best Feature Screenplay (Main Category)


Written by: Leslie A Lee

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

Felicia, a trendy millennial, receives a necklace from the 1920s in the mail from her grandmother. Putting it on, she slowly transforms into Cassandra, who moved to Stockholm in 1924 expecting it to be a haven for free-spirited young women. Instead, she ends up abused by the married man she has started a relationship with and falsely accused of his death, committing suicide in prison. 100 years later she seeks redemption through Felicia, seducing and avenging men who remind her of the man who deprived her of her freedom.
Cassandra Insköld’s Last Word (its title also alluding to the popular 1920s cocktail) is a visual love letter to a forgotten era in Stockholm – the 1920s. It's full of vibrant hues, flappers, art deco locations and glowing neon signs. At the same time the film serves as a reminder that everything wasn’t better in the past, that the veil of nostalgia hides dark secrets and grave injustice (especially for young women).


Best Original Screenplay (Main Category)
Best Actress (Main Category)
Best Original Song (Additional Category)
Best Opening Credits (Additional Category)


Directed by: Dan Asenlund

It's 1962. Five Avon ladies go head to head with the local sheriff as they cover up a brutal murder.


Best Unproduced Screenplay (Main Category)


Written by: Pete Hewitt, Ally Hamilton

Un commerçant d'abat-jour à Paris décide de se suicider à cause de ses dettes, quand à la dernière minute tout change pour lui...


Best Micro-Short Film (Main Category)


Directed by: Alastair Romãno

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

In the 1990s, an archaeologist ventures to an abandoned Greek island in search of a tomb from the Homeric era. What begins as an expedition quickly descends into a world where myth and reality collide in ways no one could have imagined.


Best Actor (Main Category)
Best Actress (Main Category)
Best Fantasy Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Alastair Romãno

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


Directed by: Jarett Bellucci, Nafsika Antypas

"Somewhere.. between reality and dreams, The Artist begins his Descent... towards the light"
"Devil's Cry" is a short film that blends visual art and music.
All Music and Sound Design were Composed and Performed by Michele Fraternali using only electric bass.
This Opera and the Caracters were inspired by the timeless journey of Dante's Divine Comedy and the magical world of Devil May Cry.


Best Music Video (Additional Category)
Best Original Score (Main Category)


Directed by: Michele Fraternali

In a world saturated by social media, a young influencer obsessed with the perfect image and absolute control over her virtual life finds herself trapped in her own addiction. Her fixation on regaining her ex’s attention— a relationship that fell apart due to her obsessive nature—leads her to cross paths with a mysterious 60-year-old taxi driver. What begins as an improvised alliance to get back what was lost quickly spirals into a dangerous web of manipulation and secrets that will lead her into a dead-end, putting her life at risk. Through a romantic satire with thriller elements, loaded with absurd situations, Sombras Chinas examines the cost of obsession, betrayal, and deceit in the digital age.


Best Director Debut (Additional Category)


Directed by: Sebaztian Baz

A man, a plan, and a code, on June 22, 1991, a night where the smell of gunpowder began to imbrute him.


Best Student Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Edison Sun

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

A long-awaited reunion of two estranged stepsisters after 20 years unearths old wounds and dark family secrets. The younger sister is thrilled to see her elder sibling, but their conversation takes an unexpected and tense turn when the older sister begins to share painful memories involving her stepfather—the younger sister's biological father. As the story unfolds, the shocking revelation threatens to shatter everything the younger sister believed about her family. In a room filled with memories and conflicting emotions, the two sisters must confront the question: how can they move forward with a truth that changes everything?


Best Drama (Additional Category)


Directed by: Natalia Arjona

A forgotten goddess wanders the desert only to realize we are never truly alone. We are the angels we seek.


Best Symbolic Film (Additional Category)
Best Mobile Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Starry Venus

A prequel to JUMPING AT SHADOWS.
Also, the origin story for the character "Agent Nixon".


Best Sci-Fi (Additional Category)


Directed by: Locky Boaretto

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

Four wildly different co-workers arrive and get ready for the morning meeting. However, their thoughts are on anything BUT work. These are their inner resentments, insecurities, worries, and feelings.


Best Comedy (Additional Category)


Directed by: Breanne Nicole Wilson

"The Chameleon Man" plunges us in the wake of Alfred, a young man whose
existence seems punctuated by a succession of romantic ephemeral conquests,
all built on a foundation of lies about the real nature of his intentions and commitments. The story takes a turn when it develops sincere feelings for one of them, Giulia. However, the truth comes out, revealing his duplicity and leading to their rupture. In an attempt to regain his confidence and her affection, Alfred volunteered for the film festival that she is organizing, and was entrusted with the delicate task of finding patrons.
Faced with the refusals, he chooses to use his talents of seducer with a potential patron, winning. Yet, unable to give up his old habits, he continues to navigate between his different relationships, multiplying unfulfilled promises. The film is inspired by real events, which anchor its message in a contemporary resonance.


Best Dark Comedy (Additional Category)
Best Independent Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Jonas Alfred Marcel Graf

creation is timeless..
Commissioned by English Heritage and National Youth Ballet, Beyond The Plaques is a dance film inspired by the lives of four female Pioneers; sculptor Eleanor Coade, author Frances Burney, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and astronomer Annie Maunder. These women's overlooked achievements provoke a contemporary response from four young female artists, weaving themes of cultural ephemerality, societal expectations of women, and exploration amidst isolation.
The film celebrates endeavour and creativity, highlighting the enduring need to amplify the voices of women in history, as we venture Beyond their Plaques.


Best Dance Video (Additional Category)


Directed by: Joeley Anne, Amy Groves, Hannah George, Catherine Sleeman

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

In the multiverse, an umbrella meets vastly different fates in each world: in one universe, it is the deadly weapon of an assassin; in another, it is a tool of a boy’s dreams…


Best AI Film (Additional Category)


Directed by: Zhang Yiban

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

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 Television Script (Additional Category)


Written by: Ragan L Mozee

“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

When a rogue physiatrist, abducts one of his patients and coerces her sister into a satanic ritual, he must navigate the twisted path his grandfather began, leading to a harrowing battle for sanctity and sanity.


Best Trailer (Additional Category)


Directed by: Francis Juarez

Set in 1940s New York City – ONCE UPON A CRIME is an homage and tongue-in-cheek parody to the gritty black-and-white film noir crime dramas of the past, featuring snappy, fast-paced dialogue, intrigue and melodrama, peppered with some comedic performances and chock full of twists and turns. It tells the story of a jaded private detective who is hired by an alluring femme fatale who suffers from amnesia and is engaged to an arrogant socialite, whom she doesn’t completely trust. Her fiancé’s diabolical master plan nearly comes to fruition but not before a number of suspicious events take place at a secluded mansion over the course of the reading of an eccentric billionaire’s last will and testament. Throw in an impromptu séance where spirits of the deceased are summoned and things from there start to unravel and go sideways. Several suspects emerge but who really had the means, motive and opportunity to murder this billionaire? Only after a last-minute wedding ceremony and a final showdown will life-changing revelations come to light.


Best Web-Series (Additional Category)


Directed by: Doug MacDougall