Contrition
Marco Beyermann
Director, Producer // Marco Beyermann
Director, Writer, Producer//Ben Keenan
Country of origin // United Kingdom
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Short Narrative, Best Actor (Ben Keenan)
Synopsis // Damien, a man in his 40s, is haunted by a traumatic childhood event—A violent IRA hostage situation, he can’t shake, After years of searching he finally tracks down Brendan, one of the masked men responsible, masquerading as a priest.
Driven by a mix of anger and a desperate need for closure, Damien arrives at Brendan’s church, filled with unresolved pain. As the two confront their shared past, the tension escalates, revealing the complex web of guilt, remorse, and the possibility of forgiveness.”
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Short Narrative, Best Actor (Ben Keenan)
Director //Kaia Fortis Scott
Country of origin // Canada
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Short Documentary
Synopsis //For Every Apricot is a short animated documentary that follows a story told by the filmmaker’s grandmother. As a young girl on Christmas Eve, she boards her first-ever plane alone, travelling in search of a rumoured “miracle drug” that could cure her father’s cancer. Blending live-action interviews, archival 16mm and 8mm family footage, and a range of animation techniques—stop motion, collage, and 2D—the film explores themes of aging, memory, and the circular patterns of life. As her grandmother reflects on her father’s illness alongside her own, Apricots becomes both a deeply personal family portrait and a universal meditation on resilience.
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Short Documentary
Director, Writer // Kaique Alves
Director// Thiago Eva
Writers & Creators// Audrey Nobrega, João Monteiro, Angerson Vieira
Country of origin // Taiwan
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Music Video, Best Cinematography
Synopsis // Inspired by real events and the alarming number of women who go missing in Brazil each year, this musical short film tells the story of a mother who vanishes without a trace—leaving behind three young sons.
As they grow, each son takes a radically different path: one becomes a musician, one becomes a lawyer, and the other falls into crime. The film explores how trauma, environment, and individual choices shape human destiny—underscoring how the absence of a mother can echo through generations.
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Music Video, Best Cinematography
The Missing Piece
Emanuel Fidalgo
Director,Writer, Producer// Emanuel Fidalgo
Producer//Cliff Noonan
Country of Origin// United States
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Director, Best Acting Ensemble
Synopsis //Clarence tries to recreate his late mother’s signature dish from a recipe she left him, but the last ingredient is an illegible smudge. Drifting through dual crises of grief and identity, he meets Emi, a bodega store owner insistent on helping with the dish but focused on mending his
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Director, Best Acting Ensemble
Director, Writer // June Sham
Writers// Samuel Wu, Thomas Wong
Producers//Wylie Chan, Kathy Wong
Country of origin // Hong Kong, Japan
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best First-Time Filmmaker
Synopsis //After spending the night in a cozy homestay, Quynh’s body grows weaker and weaker, to the point where she realizes she may no longer be able to leave this place.
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best First-Time Filmmaker
What Remains
Corey Bond
Director, Writer, Producer // Corey Bond
Producers// Marina Marangoni, Taylor Nodrick
Country of origin //Canada
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Art Direction & Best Editing/Post-Production
Synopsis //A couple in the late stages of pregnancy come face to face with a physical manifestation of their grief.
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Art Direction & Best Editing/Post-Production
Mu
Jessica Ngo, Hoang-Hai Luu
Directors//Jessica Ngo, Hoang-Hai Luu
Country of origin // Canada
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Animation
Synopsis //Mu is a young mage struggling to get through her day as she is mourning the loss of her late mother
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Animation
Mothership
Andronica Marquis
Writer // Andronica Marquis
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Screenplay
Synopsis //Mothership is a dystopian sci-fi thriller set on a starship where human reproduction is controlled by a brutal system harming men and women as Breeders.
Maeve, a survivor of that system, is placed in a privileged position caring for the captain—the damaged son of the man who created the Breeder Program.
When Maeve discovers her children have been smuggled onboard—one imprisoned, the other at risk of being trafficked—she’s forced into an impossible choice: save them, or protect the women whose lives now depend on her.
Ultimately, the women reach a breaking point, urging Maeve to risk everything to save her children and vowing to support her — because if they don’t, what are they surviving for?
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Screenplay
Director // Jake Burgess
Writer//Tony Burgess
Producers//George Mihalka, Mackenzie Muir, Susan Curran
Country of origin // United States
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Feature Narrative
Synopsis //Set in September of 1971, Lacy, a teenage hitchhiker, gets lost in a remote forest, where she spends many hallucinatory, surrealistic days and nights attempting to escape.
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Feature Narrative
'The Other'
Joy Sela
Director, Producer // Joy Sela
Country of origin // United States
Season Award #17 Nomination // Best Feature Documentary
Synopsis //A documentary exploring the complex relationship of shared humanity, culture and connection between Israelis & Palestinians—and the transformative journey that follows when they are faced with meeting ‘the other’ amidst the difficulty of the conflict & occupation—providing an extraordinary example of what we are all capable of as humans.
Season Awards #17 Shortlist:
Best Feature Documentary
