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Nominations Spring 2026

Nominated: Best Animation Short

SNOOZELWHOOSH The T Rex with Toothache

Director/Writer/Producer: Alex John Brown

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Short, Animation

Overview: Snoozlewhoosh: The T-Rex with Toothache is a 5-minute 3D animated short that follows Jude, a young boy struggling with a painful toothache and the disappointment of potentially missing an important school trip. After making a heartfelt wish, Jude is transported into a vibrant dream world by a magical creature named Snoozlewhoosh. There, he encounters a young Tyrannosaurus rex suffering from the same problem. Through empathy, creativity, and courage, Jude helps the dinosaur overcome its pain, leading to a joyful resolution that mirrors his own emotional journey. Blending fantasy, gentle humour, and emotional storytelling, the film explores themes of compassion, resilience, and childhood imagination. Designed for family audiences, it offers a visually engaging and uplifting narrative that highlights the transformative power of helping others.

Nominated: Best Short, Best Director, Best Actor/Actress (Grace Muggeridge)
A Girl Called Alice

Director/Producer: Tristan Loraine

Writers: Tristan Loraine, Tegan Grace Muggeridge

Key Cast "Alice": Tegan Grace Muggeridge

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Short, Drama

Overview: In the middle of London's mobile phone theft epidemic; a young woman with the reputation of one of the most gifted phone thieves is challenged by a notorious street gang leader to see just how good she really is, but is it a wise choice?

Director Statement: So many people have told me how they had the phone stolen in London. Consequently, our team decided to play a part in raising awareness of the issue by making this short film. We are grateful to Crimestoppers and a number of police officers who in their private capacities provided technical input to help produce the film.

Nominated: Best Long Short, Best Director, Best Sound Design, Best Original Score
Nepenthe

Director/Writer: Harvey Harrison-Doyle

Producer: Rhianna Turner

Country: United Kingdom

Type: Thriller, Drama, Fiction, Horror, Short

Overview: Now the caretaker for her grandparents' Georgian manor, a young American reluctantly attends the local town support group. Avoiding her past, she hopes the isolation of the English countryside is enough to hide from the presence haunting her.

Nominated: Best Actor/Actress (Clive Marcus)
Let Them Eat Cake
Let Them Eat Cake

Director: Zak Reay-Barry

Writers: Zak Reay-Barry, Clive Marcus

Key Cast: Clive Marcus

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Overview: A teacher and his former student sit down for a lovely spot of cheesecake until a bomb enters the equation.

Director Statement: For me this was an exercise in tension and restraint. We set aside a day and with very little material wanted to concentrate everything onto a single performance. I guess this was a kind of necessary experiment for me considering everything I have ever shot has been needlessly complicated. This shoot was, as all shoots are, complicated in its own right but throughout all the noise the through-line of the film shone throughout. I actually had far more footage than I set out to have, which is maybe a characteristic of my insecurities as a filmmaker but this shoot was so much fun, so many laughs were had that I almost needed the extra fat to come round to the deafening realisation that simplicity is the key to everything. The simple and yet incredibly difficult task it was for my ego as a filmmaker to ignore all the different shots and visual trickery to simply let a magnificent performance do the work. I think so much of a director’s job is getting out of their own way, allowing, and equally, defending the direction the film wants to go organically. Clive’s work is extraordinary - his acting relaxed, playful, scary, mercurial and simultaneously touching. He scares us and endears himself to us in equal measure. I was also in the marvellous hands of Louis, my DP with whom I share those rare and wonderful working relationships where very little needs to be said for us to understand each other. Not bad for a day’s shoot and I hope you enjoy watching it as we did making it.




Nominated: Best Microfilm
birdY

Director/Producer: Alberto Gatto

Writers: Alberto Gatto, Roberto Stranges

Country: Italy

Type: Animation, Short

Overview: Set in a forest consumed by a raging wildfire, birdY tells the story of a small robin who refuses to flee. While all the other animals escape in fear, Birdy chooses to act. Carrying a single drop of water from a nearby pond, he repeatedly flies toward the flames, attempting to extinguish the fire. Despite being mocked and discouraged by other animals, Birdy persists. Its determination eventually inspires a hawk to join, followed by other animals who begin to contribute in their own way. What starts as a solitary, seemingly insignificant gesture becomes a collective act of courage. As unity grows, nature responds: rain begins to fall. A single drop transforms into the birdY logo, symbolizing hope, resilience, and the power of small actions to create meaningful change.

Director Statement: One day my uncle showed me a movie on VHS, it was called: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". It really impressed me. After a few years I began to go to the movies, I was bewitched and so I got more involved into it. Later on, during my high school years, I matured this passion, this artistic streak, my first short film has been made exactly during those years. Since that time I have learned to look at reality in a closer way, I always try to get inspired by it and interpret it my own way.

Nominated: Best Thriller/Horror Short
The Wrong Order

Director/Writer/Producer: Salman Siddique

Country: United Kingdom

Type: Thriller, Suspense, Short

Overview: After an ordinary evening takes an unsettling turn, a woman’s mistaken phone call pulls her into a world of violence and paranoia. As reality begins to unravel around her, she discovers that one small error can unleash terrifying consequences—and some mistakes cannot be undone.

Nominated: Best Comedy Short
Still Relevant

Directors/Writers: Louisa Tee, Ashley Pearson

Producer: Louisa Tee

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Comedy, Short

Overview: A mockumentary following Caroline Davies, Musical Director of Warehouse Opera, as she reluctantly takes her company on a national tour of regional car parks. In a desperate attempt to bring high art to the masses and prove that opera is still relevant, Caroline must navigate a non-existent budget, unpaid singers, and a deeply delusional producer.

Nominated: Best Documentary Short
Media Made Me
Media Made Me

Director/Writer/Producer: Luke Halliburton

Country: United Kingdom

Project Type: Documentary, Short

Overview: A compelling short documentary about those inspired by the images that made us. Media Made Me features lecturers and students who study media studies, but are constantly reminded of the public perception that they study a useless and irrelevant subject. Each interviewee talk about their experiences studying these courses and what career paths they plan to take. Darren Horne, lecturer, explores where the trust has been broken in the education chain and why children aren’t creative in compulsory education.




Nominated: Best Short
I Thought You Lived Round Here
I Thought You Lived Round Here

Director/Writer/Producer: Sarah Stockbridge

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Short

Overview: Every evening lonely oddball Stan tries to contact someone on his homemade radio. One night he gets a long awaited call...

Nominated: Best Microfilm
Gaza’s Lost Horizon

Director/Writer/Producer Mo'men Ghanim Hasanain

Country: State of Palestine

Project Type: Short

Overview: Gaza’s Lost Horizon portrays the life of a Gazan child left paralyzed by the ongoing Israeli genocide, offering a raw look at childhood under loss, trauma, and survival.

Director Statement: I made this film to tell our stories as Palestinians in a deeply human way, resisting the dehumanizing narratives that reduce us to soulless numbers. This work is a reminder to the world of the ongoing genocide that continues unchecked. Through this film, I sought to document the horrors Palestinians endure and to preserve evidence of the brutal crimes of the Israeli occupation. Beyond testimony, it is also an act of reclaiming our dignity, insisting that our lives, our pain, and our resilience be seen and remembered. As a Palestinian living in the diaspora, my work has always been driven by the stories of my hometown that my parents passed down to me since childhood. These memories and voices shaped my understanding of Palestine long before I could ever see it with my own eyes. As a filmmaker, I have dedicated myself to visual storytelling that humanizes the Palestinian experience and brings our realities closer to people. Through my films, I strive to tell stories that move beyond statistics and headlines, speaking directly to the human soul. This film continues that journey, carrying the voices of survivors forward so they cannot be silenced, and affirming that our dignity, pain, and resilience must be seen and remembered.

Nominated: Best Animation Short
The Planet That Doesn't Exist

Director: Nadav Embon

Writer: Navy Bird Revital Bronshtein

Producer: RedBird Studio Nadav Embon

Country: Israel

Genre: Animation, Short

Overview: Professor Star l'Etoile set at her desk, her notes, were packed into spiral leather bound notebooks, stacked one atop of the other. They contained years and years of calculations, which sprung from her notebooks and rose up in a spiral, covering hundreds of desks and antique gold plated wooden boards, that covered the entire room. Prof. Star l'Etoile 23 years old has discovered a planet, which earned her, a statue, three medals, and the position as head of astronomy world wide. She's hobbies include practicing mathematics and not going outside. Now she is on the eve of the discovery of another planet.

Nominated: Best Short
The Heart of Cornwall

Director/Writer: Connor Stratton-Darling

Producer: Laurie Blayney

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Drama, Short

Overview: A young father to be explores the Cornish coast for a precious stone that could change his life forever.

Director Statement: I wanted to create something that showed the Cornwall I know, The struggle of its inhabitants but also the beauty and connection people have to the natural world around them. Through this project I wanted to showcase and explore a story from within, and to play with themes and story surrounding the myths, history, language and intrigue of Cornwall




Nominated: Best Comedy Short
The Lingering
The Lingering

Director: Gabe Reiss

Writer: Eli Jarmel

Producer: Mel Sanchez

Country: United States

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Supernatural, Black Comedy, Short

Overview: An amateur exorcist tries to help a man rid his house of a ghost, only to find that his client’s relationship to the tormenting spirit is more familiar and complicated than he expected. Featuring Taylor Nichols (PEN15).

Director Statement: I am consistently inspired by dramedy movies that can make me laugh even while the characters are facing hardship. I feel that we found a way to treat the heavier themes of loss and grief in The Lingering with respect, while incorporating humor and levity to create an engaging world for our audience. Thank you for watching!

Nominated: Best Thriller/Horror Short
Parking Garage
Parking Garage

Director/Writer: Molo Alcocer Delano

Producers: Molo Alcocer Delano, Santiago Prado Farias

Country: Mexico

Genre: Short

Overview: A woman encounters a supernatural entity that disappears people inside a parking garage.

Director Statement: I am a Mexican horror writer and director, focusing on telling local stories that can resonate with audiences everywhere in the world.

Nominated: Best Long Short
The Castle

Director/Writer/Producer: Saba Ghasemi

Country: Iran

Genre: Student, Short

Overview: There’s only 23 days left until the house is demolished. Arya is back home to pack his books. He asks for help from a rubbish-collector boy, Qasem. Qasem asks if he can stay in the house until the demolition and finally Arya says fine. But he decides to stay in the house himself to make his final memories at home.

Nominated: Best Feature
RAIJIN
RAIJIN

Director/Writer/Producer: Tomosuke Sugisaki

Country: Japan

Genre: Feature

Overview: Mari Kosugi, who works at Toto Radio, is assigned by her company to visit the reclusive scriptwriter Kori Yamabuki. Kori lives with Tourette syndrome and struggles deeply with human communication. Though initially uncertain, Mari gradually comes to understand his inner world, and a quiet bond of trust begins to form between them. One day, Kori tells Mari about the Thousand-Year Bathhouse—a mysterious bathhouse said to exist on the boundary between this world and the next.




Nominated: Best Feature, Best Feature Director


Muniyasamy
Muniyasamy

Director/Writer: Jakkariya

Producer: Malavika Pavithira

Country: India

Genre: Feature

Overview: A 60-year-old former street performer from a downtrodden, oppressed caste background embarks on an emotional journey to find the 5-year-old orphan girl he raised in a small village after she goes missing.

Director Statement: I am writing a screenplay based on an incident that happened in my village.

Nominated: Best Feature Documentary


Coffee with Claude

Director/Writer/Producer: Kevin Cowan

Country: United States

Genre: Documentary, Feature

Overview: A cinematic dialog between a human and an LLM on the topic of thought and consciousness.

Director Statement: This film, albeit created in two months, is the culmination of years of effort overall.

Nominated: Best Feature Documentary, Best Feature Director, Best Feature Original Score
Nothing to See Here: Watts

Director: Michael Soenen

Producers: Michael Soenen, Todd Lieberman, Suzanne Malveaux

Country: United States

Genre: Documentary, Feature

Overview: Sixty years after the 1965 Watts uprising, the neighborhood America wrote off has shown us what is still possible. After a late-night police ride-along in Watts, an outsider witnesses a version of Watts that never makes the news. Searching for a way to understand what he had seen, he poses a simple question: what would happen if the people living the story told it themselves?

Director Statement: After a police ride-along—where I witnessed a version of Watts that rarely makes the news—I realized how incomplete my understanding was, and how much of it had been shaped from the outside. This project began with a question: What could be learned if authorship shifted to the people living the story? As concept creator, my role was to create the conditions for that question to be explored with trust and honesty—and then to step back. What emerged was not just a documentary, but a process—messy, fragile, and at times deeply uncomfortable—in which people with every reason to distrust one another chose to remain in the room. That is where the meaning of this film lives. It carries the tensions of its making—voices that do not resolve neatly, truths that do not belong to any one person. According to LAPD, for the twelve months following the community-wide screenings, there were zero gang-related homicides — a clear example of how a community working together can save itself.

Nominated: Best Feature Screenplay / TV Script

Cael

Writer: Christian Dalton

Project Type: Feature Screenplay, Drama, Mystery, Supernatural

Overview: Chasing a rumor of an angel who once appeared in New Mexico and befriended a dying woman, a New York journalist uncovers a quiet truth: some stories aren't meant to be explained, only found, waiting in the space between belief and reality.

Writer Statement: Cael explores the space between belief and certainty, where truth is not always something to be proven, but something to be felt. I was drawn to telling a restrained, character-driven story that allows stillness and ambiguity to carry meaning, rather than explanation.




Nominated: Best Feature Screenplay / TV Script
Foxhound
Foxhound

Writer: Jake Deakins

Project Type: Feature Screenplay, Crime, Thriller, Action

Overview: A principled newcomer to a small town takes on a petty extortionist and his hired gang demanding money from a resident, forcing them to confront their motivations while restoring order to the community.

Writer Statement: I wanted to write a fish out of water story about someone who doesn't change his principles and instead changes those around him.

Nominated: Best Feature Screenplay / TV Script
Face Value
Face Value

Writer: Tom Matthews

Project Type: Feature Screenplay

Overview: Former soldier, Dwayne, a father of two young girls, works in security, primarily as a door supervisor in pubs and clubs around London. Bob is a bus driver who does illicit jobs on the side to supplement his income. These two strangers are on separate paths but they collide as their actions lead to deadly consequences beyond their control, impacting the lives of those closest to them.

Best Short Screenplay

WAITING: UPDATE
WAITING: UPDATE

Writer: Kostiantyn Mishchenko

Project Type: Short Script, Stage Play

Overview: WAITING: UPDATE is a minimalist, glitch-infused stage play set inside an undefined digital environment where time does not pass, but accumulates. Two entities, LOG and TREF, exist in a suspended state known only as “pending.” LOG senses meaning and possibility within the system, while TREF rejects any notion of purpose, insisting that all processes are merely loops without intention. As they wait for an elusive “Update,” their environment begins to fracture. System messages degrade, echoes multiply, and fragmented presences—GLITCH and PING—emerge as unstable reflections of the system’s inner logic. Repetition becomes language. Delay becomes structure. Waiting becomes identity. When the UPDATE finally manifests, it does not resolve the system—it confronts them with a choice: accept change and persist in an altered state, or refuse and remain unchanged within an endless loop. In choosing, they do not escape the system. They redefine it. The play ends not with resolution, but with a return—suggesting that every update is simply the beginning of another waiting cycle.

Writer Statement: WAITING: UPDATE explores the condition of waiting not as a passive state, but as a structural reality. The play is influenced by the traditions of absurdist theatre, particularly the works of Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco, but recontextualized within a digital framework. Instead of physical space, the characters exist within a system—undefined, abstract, and self-referential. In this work, technology is not the subject—it is the language. The characters are not people inside a machine; they are processes shaped by it. Their dialogue reflects a system attempting to understand itself, while failing to resolve its own logic. The “Update” is not a narrative resolution. It is a philosophical interruption. It asks whether change is an external event or an internal decision—and whether waiting itself is a form of avoidance. Visually, the piece is conceived as a minimal environment: light as signal, silence as response, repetition as action. The performance relies on rhythm, pauses, and subtle distortions of language rather than traditional dramatic progression. Ultimately, the play suggests that some systems do not crash. They wait.

Nominated: Best Short Screenplay

Walk a Mile In Her Shoes
Walk a Mile In Her Shoes

Writer: Dina - Arsenault

Project Type: Short Script

Overview: Walk A Mile In Her Shoes takes us on a story telling journey of laughter, self refection and trauma, through the characters of Maria, Charlotte and Molly. Each of them take us on an intimate journey of self discovery and revelation. Poignantly depicting that no one truly can understand what it's like to walk a mile in a woman's shoes.