Winners 2025-06

Winners list and descriptions, June 2025

Like Fire

  • Honorable Mention
  • Film Title: Like Fire
  • Description: Like Fire is a short film based on a poem of the same name that features a woman reliving the ardent and haunting memories of a lost love that she wants to forget.
  • Country: United States
  • Authors:
    • Director: Amy Serrano
    • Writer: Amy Serrano
    • Producer: Amy Serrano
  • Cast: Shelby Miller
  • Duration: 00:02:13

MUKUNAN APRENDIZ DE PAJÉ

  • Honorable Mention
  • Description: Mukunan se prepara para se tornar o Pajé da aldeia Potiguara Katu RN,(Brasil) mais velho que nos, as plantas de poder se tornam o professor ensinando cuidados com meio ambiente.
  • Country: Brazil
  • Director: Rodrigo Sena Sena Sena
  • Producer: Arlindo Bezerra Arlindo Bezerra Arlindo Bezerra
  • Duration: 00:25:00
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oriaudiovisual

The Snake and The Whale

  • Honorable Mention
  • Description: Over the past fifty years, four federal dams impounding the Lower Snake River in Washington State have been identified as the root cause for the demise of all of Idaho’s anadromous fish. “The Snake and the Whale” reveals the corrupt deals behind the dams’ construction and the subsequent campaigns to hide their role in this ongoing ecological disaster. Additionally, the dams have profoundly impacted a group of Killer Whales off the coast of Washington, known as the Southern Resident Orca, which rely on Snake River salmon as a primary food supply. These majestic creatures are now atop the Endangered Species…
  • Country: United States, United States
  • Director: John Carlos Frey
  • Producer: Scott Levy
  • Duration: 01:30:00
  • Project Website: https://snakeandwhale.com

Cento – Assalto al moro (Assault on the Moor)

  • Honorable Mention
  • The seventieth anniversary of the Giostra della Quintana in Ascoli Piceno is told through a documentary that will gather the voices of an entire city. Because the Quintana is not just a Palio, it is the constant and obsessive thought of an entire year, it is the commitment of a whole community, it is the dream of victory
  • Country: Italy
  • Director: Matteo De Liberato
  • Writer: Matteo Petrucci, Alberto De Angelis, Matteo De Liberato
  • Duration: 01:15:00
  • Project Website: http://www.punxfilm.com/
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/punxfilm/

The Last President

  • Honorable Mention
  • Description: In 2048, a fallen world leader is imprisoned after resisting a global AI regime. Alone in a sterile future prison, he embarks on a metaphysical journey, unlocking past lives, forgotten truths, and his hidden divine destiny. As reality begins to collapse under the weight of artificial evolution, he awakens to a higher consciousness—becoming humanity’s final hope for transcendence.
  • Country: United States, United States
  • Director: Bin He
  • Writer: Bin He
  • Producer: Bin He, Xuetao Hu, Xiaoyu Li
  • Cast: Bin He
  • Duration: 00:15:00

Abundance

  • Honorable Mention
  • Description: The film documents a unique development and making of one of the most important festivals of artistic dance in the world, the Belgrade Dance Festival. Thanks to this festival, Belgrade has become an important stopover in biographies of the artists who create trends in the area of artistic dance and theatre, a place where new productions are discovered and where young and renowned authors are presented with equal attention. Ongoing trends of the programme have determined the position of this event on the global map, while high standards and brave introduction of new choreographic manuscripts and esthetics are improving expectations…
  • Country: Serbia
  • Director: Dora Jung
  • Producer: Zaplet film production
  • Cast: Akram Khan, Ohad Naharin, Israel Galvan, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dimitris Papaioannou, Isabella Rossellini
  • Duration: 01:01:45
  • Project Website: https://belgradedancefestival.com/en
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belgradedancefestival/

Nado

  • Honorable Mention
  • Best Documentary (EA)
  • Description: NADO is an intimate and powerful journey through the life and work of
  • one of the greatest Italian sculptors of the twentieth century. A
  • story of resistance and courage, a human parable of
  • will and joy that spans a whole century.
  • Nado Canuti has faced the difficulties of life since he was young with tenacity and vision, transforming every obstacle into
  • material to be sculpted. The story of a man who with three fingers
  • shaped his destiny.
  • Country: Italy
  • Director: Daniele Farina
  • Writer: Massimo Canuti, Roberto Farina, Daniele Farina
  • Producer: Daniele Farina, Matteo Mavero
  • Cast: Nado Canuti
  • Duration: 01:08:00

Forced Renewables

  • Best Documentary (EA)
  • In Lopera, a small town in Jaén, the promise of ecological transition turns into a nightmare. Centuries-old olive groves, the legacy of generations of farmers, are being uprooted to make way for massive photovoltaic plants, in an unfair battle between powerful corporations and a community fighting to protect its land. Through firsthand testimonies, striking visuals, and an in-depth analysis of the current energy model, Forced Renewables exposes how progress, when poorly planned and disconnected from rural life, can become an unprecedented ecological, social, and economic disaster. “Discover the dark side of renewable energy in Spain. ‘Renewable Forzosas’ exposes the environmental…
  • Country: Spain
  • Authors:
  • Director: Francisco Javier Fernández Bordonada
  • Writer: María del Mar De Dios Rodriguez, Francisco Javier Fernández Bordonada
  • Producer: Francisco Javier Fernández Bordonada, Mariano Espallargas Monserrate, Maria del Mar De Dios Rodriguez
  • Duration: 01:08:11
  • Project Website: https://www.bordonadafilms.com/tv-series/la-burbuja-verde
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chavinandezphoto/

Let’s Pretend

  • Honorable Mention
  • Description: The grown-ups are not there. The children play, they act. The script they enact through mimicry is the world that is raising them. It is a frightening, cruel world: it is us. But they are only pretending.
  • Country: Italy
  • Authors:
  • Director: Diego Fossati
  • Writer: Diego Fossati, Giulia Agosta
  • Producer: Federico Mango, Emanuele Simone
  • Cast:
  • Christian Fiumani, Beatrice Fiumani, Claudia Poli, Francesca Nodari, Ester Prestia, Arianna Nicho, Martin Francisco Montero Baez, Benedetta Andreoli, Leonardo Castagneri
  • Duration: 00:17:17

War of the Crowns: Fashion Vs Beauty

  • Honorable Mention
  • Description: War of the Crowns offers an intimate look at Miss Diamond International, one of Australia’s biggest beauty pageants, challenging the stereotypes of superficiality and cattiness. This documentary highlights the strength, resilience, and diverse perspectives of the contestants, showcasing their journeys of self-expression, personal growth, and cultural appreciation. While acknowledging the drama of competition, War of the Crowns redefines pageantry, celebrating empowerment, individuality, and the true spirit behind the crown.
  • Country: Australia
  • Director: Morgan Mancini, Charlie Mancini
  • Producer: Morgan Mancini, Charlie Mancini
  • Duration: 01:01:40

THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD

  • Honorable Mention
  • Description: THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD introduces viewers to a diverse group of scientists, nature lovers, gardeners, farmers, and general bug enthusiasts in exploring the importance of flying insects amid rapid declines in their numbers. This most numerous group of animals on the planet by far – three quarters of all species – have also been called the “glue of life” on Earth. They literally hold ecosystems together. Insects were the first animals to evolve flight nearly 440 million years ago, and they survived all five of the known mass extinctions since then. But, there is evidence that the…
  • Country: United States, United States
  • Director: Doug Hawes-Davis
  • Duration: 01:37:09
  • Project Website: http://www.highplainsfilms.org/films/the_little_things_that_run_the_world

Brainstorming

  • Best Short Film
  • Description: A drama-action film, the story revolves around the owner of a film production company, who meets with his technical team to brainstorm an idea for a film to participate in an international festival, but he faces difficulty in the director of the work accepting the proposed ideas because of her adoption of women’s issues (feminism), so how will the producer be able to convince her to accept one of the proposed ideas.
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Director: Mohammad Ali AL-Thobaiti
  • Writer: Mohammad Ali AL-Thobaiti, Fatimah Hajar AL-Montashri
  • Producer: Mohammad Ali AL-Thobaiti
  • Yasser Al-Junaidi, Maha Salha, bilal panjabi, Talal Al-Maliki, Noha Nabil, Jihan Yaqoub
  • Duration: 00:21:11

Lessons From Our Grandfather

  • Best Short Documentary
  • An Inuk’s life is tied to the cold, so a warming Arctic climate is a stark reminder of how climate change can impact cultural transference over generations. Filmmaker sisters draw on their
  • grandfather’s wisdom to prepare their daughters for resilience in a changing world.
  • Country: Canada
  • Director: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, Jennifer Kilabuk
  • Writer: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, Jennifer Kilabuk
  • Producer: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, Jennifer Kilabuk

The Keeper of the Lake

  • Best First Time Director – Short Documentary
  • Description: Antonio has dedicated his life to Lake Fimon, a place that has embraced him since childhood and that he now protects with love and devotion. The documentary tells the story of his deep bond with the water, which for him is a refuge, a confidant, and a witness to the passing of time.
  • Country: Italy
  • Director: Simone Bressello
  • Writer: Simone Bressello
  • Producer: Simone Bressello, Andrea Corato
  • Cast:
  • Antonio Lupieri Lotto
  • Duration: 00:15:00

Semitjov – Dreams for a Better World

  • Best Director – Documentary
  • Description: A documentary about the creative genius Eugen Semitjov and his fascinating background.
  • Country: Sweden
  • Authors:
  • Director: Micke Engström
  • Duration: 01:30:20
  • Project Website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33257921/reference/