Thank you to all the filmmakers who participated in the 2025 Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival!
The festival platformed hundreds of films, each project worthy of recognition and celebration. We want to extend a giant thank you to everyone who took part and a special congratulations to all the incredible talent that went into making these projects.
The judges' scores have been combined with the audience's choices, and after careful scrutiny, it's our pleasure to announce the Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival winners!
Winners: Los Angeles Network Round Shorts
The Missing Post Office
Director/Cinematographer: Clement Lefer
Country of Origin: France
Genre: Short Documentary Film
Synopsis: In the Seto Inland Sea, the abandoned post office of Awashima was transformed into a sanctuary for undelivered letters, sent to the lost, the dead, or no one at all. At 91, postmaster Katsuhisa Nakata continues to care for these fragments of memory. The Missing Post Office is a quiet, cinematic meditation on time, absence, and the emotional weight of words that may never be read.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Short Documentary
#BetweenYouAndMe
Director/Writer: Peter Bjørklund Andersen
Writer: Albert Scott
Producer: Ida Birk Hansen
Country of Origin: Denmark
Genre: Short Narrative Film
Synopsis: The young and popular high school student Lukas, has his life turned upside down when a sex video of him and a girl from school is shown at a morning assembly. The whole school instinctively believes that Lukas is behind it, but he insists he is innocent. When the video starts to spread on Facebook Messenger, he is forced to go back through Messenger's cobwebs, to prove his innocence. But is it even possible to track and remove something once it has been shared?
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Short Narrative, Best Acting Ensemble
Fuel
Director/Writer: Marc Cleary
Writer: Austin Spacy
Producers: Nicole Rivera,Tim Jack
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Short Narrative Film
Synopsis: An introspective, avant-garde short delving into Wayne's journey- a recovering bulimic navigating the minefield of triggers while returning home for Thanksgiving
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor (Austin Spacy)
The Will Beneath
Director/Writer/Producer: Diag Mikelan Govender
Producer: Daniel Mohseni
Country of Origin: South Africa, United States
Genre: Short Narrative Film
Synopsis: In this bold reimagining of African history, Naomi has spent years silently enduring Cecil Rhodes’ cruelty, but beneath her obedience lies a plan for revenge. Turning his own excess into a deadly weapon, she joins forces with another woman trapped in his grip to orchestrate his downfall and reclaim the power stolen from them.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best First-Time Filmmaker, Best Art Direction
Out of Tune
Director:Audrey Levy
Country of Origin: France
Genre: Animation
Synopsis: Désaccordé is an animated short film that transports the viewer to an enchanting Paris of 1910, where Maurice Ravel’s music comes to life through visual and poetic transformations. In this magical universe, characters, settings, and everyday elements transform to narrate a segment of the composer’s Piano Concerto. Désaccordé explores the question: "What would music look like if it were revealed in images?" Visual and auditory harmony blend in a world where poetry and magic meet, paying tribute to Ravel’s musical universe.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Animation
Futuro
Directors: Lisa Mazzei,Leonardo Fiori
Producers: Eclettica,Lyzard Film
Country of Origin: Italy
Genre: Music Videos
Synopsis: "Futuro" is immersed in a sterile space, with a sky that turns on and off in the background, where the marching silhouettes of characters stand out. The band, Manitoba, steps into the role of rock storytellers, as each character is tied to a track that bears their name on the album. Decontextualized and stripped of their stories, the characters are placed in an artificial and fictional setting, resembling a kind of sterile vintage group photo. The video evokes the video art of Bill Viola, where slowed time verges on stillness, and resembles an expressive version of the march from The Path.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Music Video
Winners: Los Angeles Network Round Features
Penalty
Director/Writer: Ivan Francisco Barrera
Producers: Fernando De Fuentes,Juan Sebastian Rojas
Country of Origin: Mexico
Genre: Feature Documentary
Synopsis: Two former World Cup soccer players, Germán Villa and Isaac Terrazas, have spent over five years visiting prisons across Mexico to deliver sports equipment, play with incarcerated individuals, and share a message of hope: "Sport is freedom."
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Feature Documentary
Every Man For Himself
Director/Writer/Producers: Gary Gardner
Producers: Mónica-Tezla Solís Vega-Görsün, Suzanne Lenz, Hillary Cutter
Jason Shahinfar,Anuj Gupta, Nicholas Logan
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Feature Narrative
Synopsis: A reformed ex-convict with a debt to repay picks up his former cellmate from prison and drives him wherever he wants to go.
As they travel the desolate landscape, both men seek redemption and a second chance.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Feature Narrative
16th Annual Lift-Off Season Awards
The Lift-Off Season Awards is an annual event that celebrates the very best of indie film. Following each Lift-Off film festival, films that have excelled in their respective category are short listed for a Season Awards Nomination. At the end of the year, once all the 12 city-based festival have taken place, the shortlisted nominated films are reviewed again by the jury and Official Nominations are designated. Click here for more information about the Lift-Off Season Awards.