Qualifying Awards
Winners of these awards qualify for Oscar consideration.
🏆 Winners
Featured Shorts
61 short films in the lineup.
Program 1
Agapito
Kyla Romero, Arvin Belarmino
It's the last day of the month. Bowlers flock to the lanes of a bowling alley that has seen better days.
Earth to Percy
Jeremy Beiler
On a long-term mission aboard the International Space Station, an astronaut discovers the rest of the crew have become best friends without him.
Gatorville
Freddie Gluck
In Colorado's forgotten valley, two siblings face alligators and the ache of leaving youth behind.
Jah! (Yes!)
Madli Lääne
In a world that rewards success, failure might be the most radical act.
Soleil Pâle (Pale Sun)
Adrian Moyse Dullin, Jawahine Zentar
On a beach in summer, 12-year-old Abel is ashamed of his father's body, marked by cancer.
The Baker's Hotline
Dave Schuman, Emily Schuman
At a hotline for baking emergencies, a small team fields calls from strangers in crisis.
Zwermen (Murmuration)
Janneke Swinkels, Tim Frijsinger
An elderly man realizes he's suddenly turning into a bird.
Program 10
80 Zarbeh (The 80 Blows)
Alireza Abbasi
A mother tries to save her daughter from the police.
Are We Still Married?
Kit Steinkellner
Over the course of one night, Laura must decide if she will invite her husband Jack — who has recently been turned into a vampire — back into their…
Dua Ji
Yuhan Tsai
At her mother's rural Taiwanese funeral, the eldest daughter quietly confronts inheritance, grief, and her place in the family.
Le Chien des Sables (Sand Dog)
Fabien Dao
A few days after Christmas, Abdou, a traumatized child, is entrusted to Sam, a lost neighbor.
The Meloneers
Brendan Young
In this small-town coming-of-age story, wrestling and fatherhood intersect as a high school coach uses the sport to help youth.
Una Vez en un Cuerpo (Once in a Body)
María Cristina Pérez González
While dealing with a strange being that lives inside her, a woman seeks to reconcile with her sister.
Program 2
Air Horse One
Lasse Linder
Legacy is one of the most valuable and celebrated horses in show jumping. In pursuit of victories, she is flown between competition venues across the…
Balconada
Iva Tokmakchieva
A hot summer day brings several neighbors out on their balconies. During a sudden rainstorm, one of them gets a burst of inspiration.
Dasher
Alexander Bocchieri
A down-and-out delivery driver and a disgruntled waitress team up to find holiday spirit amidst the madness of a Honolulu Christmas.
Irtizaz
Sara Balghonaim
At a funeral, a young divorcee is thrust into a competition, navigating the treacherous social jungle to prove she's still worthy.
Nervous Energy
Eve Liu
On the cusp of success/failure, two unhinged female filmmakers decide to break up with their boyfriends, and for once, make a bold decision with…
Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts
Shervin Kermani
After a volcanic eruption, Ramón walks the island of La Palma with his microphone, looking for ghosts.
Program 3
Foragers
Carlos Cagin
A young couple foraging for mushrooms is caught in a lightning storm, an experience that unearths the quiet distance buried between them.
Jazz Infernal
Will Niava
Koffi, a young Ivorian trumpeter, arrives in Montreal with nothing but the legacy of his father to guide him.
Mango Seed
Berni Jiang
In this tender autobiographical account, a young woman's decision to pursue her dreams in another city impacts her relationship with her father.
On the &
Julie Cavaliere
Drowning in postpartum anxiety, a chorus-line dancer played by Mamie Gummer is pulled back into an audition she thought motherhood had left behind.
Sulaimani
Vinnie Ann Bose
One evening in Paris, two strangers — both young women from Kerala, India — find themselves in an Indian restaurant.
The Boys and the Bees
Arielle Knight
On an idyllic farm in rural Georgia, young parents tenderly share their knowledge of life, love, and nature with their young sons while teaching them…
Program 4
Ambush
Yassmina Karajah
Two strangers. One night. A city breaking its own heart.
Homebodies
Rachel Olson
In a world where it literally costs to go outside, a woman risks fraud by paying her unemployed boyfriend's exit toll to get some alone time.
Nostalgie
Kathryn Ferguson
Drew Lord Haig, a faded 80s pop star from England, is invited to perform at an event in Northern Ireland.
Off the Record: Julia
Aurora Brachman
Julia is a gifted Aztec dancer, a devoted counselor and advocate deeply committed to her personal and spiritual evolution.
Still Standing
Victor Tadashi Suarez, Livia Albeck-Ripka
After the Los Angeles wildfires leave thousands of homes contaminated with toxic ash, residents face an impossible choice.
Une Fugue (To the Woods)
Agnès Patron
Sister remembers that Brother had dark eyes, hair like her own, shoulders as fragile as a bird's wings.
Venezia Diorama
Nicolas Piret
Unfolding like a set of postcards, a series of animated art boards depicting a decaying Venice capture the mythical city's final moments.
Program 5
Blush
Ana Chavez
A series of moments on a humid Friday night conveys something larger about the lives of teenagers growing up in Singapore.
Community Theatre
Lewis Baillie
Three generations' stories unfold in a Scottish town community theatre.
One Last Order
Lauren Defilippo, Sam Soko
After 37 years turning drive-thru orders into personal connections, Sighle Williams expects a quiet farewell from a Florida burger joint. But her…
Paradaïz
Matea Radic
Welcome to a place filled with houseless slugs, bullet-ridden walls, never-ending cigarettes, and exploding tomatoes.
Shi (Poetry)
Keran Abukasimu
In 2044, an old man and a guard travel to the grasslands to find a rare Kazakh poetry book for a Beijing director.
We Were Here
Pranav Bhasin
In a crumbling Indian town, three retired men stage a protest against machines taking over human jobs by pretending to be household appliances.
Program 6
A Shot at Art
Ilke Paddenburg
Two seasoned volunteers at an international art festival join a controversial installation. But as events spiral out of control, the line between art…
La Mort du Poisson (The Death of the Fish)
Eva Lusbaronian
A girl tries to prevent her mother from drowning in depression after the death of a fish.
Talk Me
Joecar Hanna
In a world where words replace intimacy, a local outsider in a Spanish village must choose between a loveless marriage and the promise of true…
The Oracle
JJ Adler
When an atheist psychiatrist hypnotizes his con artist patient, a message from his long-dead twin emerges.
The Time My Grandmother Was Held Hostage by Bank Robbers
Rosella Tursi
Filmmaker Rosella Tursi's family recounts the time her grandmother was held hostage by bank robbers in her home.
Program 7
O'Sey Balamma
Raman Nimmala
During the Sankranti festival celebrations, a matriarch and her housekeeper confront solitude through the intimacy of each other's company.
Pidikwe (Rumble)
Caroline Monnet
Indigenous women of various generations become part of an audiovisual whirlwind that straddles the borders between film and performance.
Stalin Boys
Bianca Giaver, Ora Dekornfeld
Four middle school boys in a Texas border town have developed an unusual obsession: Joseph Stalin.
The Baddest Speechwriter of All
Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry
Now 95, Martin Luther King Jr.'s lawyer and speechwriter reflects on the personal cost and surprising truths of making history.
The Hole
Courtney Karwal
Two socially inept neighbors forge an unlikely connection when a hole opens up between their apartment units.
They
Renée Zellweger
As the world reaches peak negativity, our hero's plot to encourage peace backfires and a devastating situation develops.
Program 8
Callback
Matthew Puccini
Max arrives home to find that his boyfriend has booked a callback. All hell breaks loose.
Ci Shi Ci Ke (At the Stage When)
Hao Zhou
In a Chinese megacity, a young laborer navigates her marriage to a well-off man and finds herself pulled more and more into an unintended future.
Fille de l'Eau (Water Girl)
Sandra Desmazières
Mia has spent her life freediving, fishing, and gliding through seaweed and rocks. Time marked her body and world.
Marga in Mexico City
Gabriela Ortega
Marga's life and future take an unexpected turn at 21 weeks pregnant during a surprise visit to Mexico City in 1995.
Placeholder
Teemu Nikki
The one before the right one.
Öronmask (Earworm)
Patrik Eklund
Ulph Degerfors is plagued by an earworm as Rednex's Cotton Eye Joe takes over his mind, driving him toward madness.
Program 9
La Mayordomía
Martin Edralin
Families wait decades for an opportunity to take care of a miraculous Baby Jesus icon at home for one year.
No Skate!
Guil Sela
Paris, 2024 Olympic Games. Isaac is a sandwich man. Cléo is a sandwich woman. One day, Isaac sees Cléo throw a skateboard into the water.
Notes from Planet Three
Simon Ellis
Science versus science fiction in the misinformation age.
Sea Star
Tyler McKenzie Evans
An older Black man partakes in his first swimming lesson while battling with his own hardships beneath the surface.
The Apricot
Alex Avila
The story of a 10-year-old boy and his first summer working on the family's apricot farm.
Villa Encanto
Joel Perez
After her mother's death, a precocious teenager is uprooted from 1960s Spanish Harlem when her musician father takes a gig at a Puerto Rican summer…
Notes
On the Academy qualifying-festival list. Multiple qualifying award categories.