Best of Festival Award

Don’t Touch the Artwork, dir. Shams Uz Zuha Mansur

A museum’s rigid façade is shattered under the defiant gaze of a young brown woman. Her look is the trigger, instantly launching a “visual riot” where the known rules of reality dissolve into chaos.

Best Advertising Award

Light Hole, dir. Toru Katori

After encountering a book, you feel as though you’re somewhere else, as though you have become something entirely new. A girl races through that imagined world, propelled by narrative itself.

Best Animation Award

This is Not a Memoir, dir. Josh Earle

When Chris Ramsey, a young Australian man living in London, is diagnosed with bowel cancer, he is forced onto a challenging new path, from first appointments to breaking the news to loved ones.

Best Artists’ Film Award

Don’t Touch the Artwork, dir. Shams Uz Zuha Mansur

A museum’s rigid façade is shattered under the defiant gaze of a young brown woman. Her look is the trigger, instantly launching a “visual riot” where the known rules of reality dissolve into chaos.

Best Comedy Award

Nobody Barks, dir. Júlia Coldwell Serra

Candela accidentally runs over her nephew’s dog, but decides not to confess. Instead, she invents a legend about a dog pilgrimage to a sacred tree and invites him to come with her on the big search.

Best Dance Award

A Sad Woman, dir. Leïla Macaire, Romane Piffaut

Choreographer Romane Piffaut and filmmaker Leïla Macaire reclaim the figure of the crying woman, reimagining her through a new staging that experiments with both the body and absurdity.

Best Documentary Award

Forgotten Spaceman, dir. Elham Ehsas

In 1988, Afghanistan sent its first and only astronaut, Abdul Ahad Momand, into space. From orbit, he called his mother, making Pashto the fourth language ever spoken beyond Earth.

Best Drama Award

Slap!!, dir. Mikolaj Piszczan

In a desperate search for acceptance, a troubled man is taking part in brutal slap fighting competitions. He crosses more and more dangerous boundaries, disregarding the consequences.

Best Experimental Award

Rusalki, dir. Eva Blackwell-Rogelj

A young girl wakes up by a lake with a collection of women and no memory of how she got there. As fragments from her past resurface, tensions rise and the girl tries to find a way to escape.

Best Fashion Film Award

Amberstiche, dir. Victoria Juemei Gong

Four hybrid beings, part human and part animal, enact their final moments before becoming suspended within amber, a luminous substance that can both preserve and immobilise a creature.

Best Family Friendly Award

To Catch a Siren, dir. Raphaela Wagner

A young refugee desperately searches for her beloved mother,
who she believes to be a mermaid. This film is a modern fairytale about grief and displacement, seen from a child’s perspective.

Best Music Video Award

CHINGONA, dir. Rupert Höller

Tamara Flores moves with determination through the colourful streets of Acatlán, Mexico. Bursting with colour, rhythm and dance, Chingona is a bold visual anthem about carving your own path.

Best Thriller Award

Bruised Sky, dir. Gary James Kent

1970, Halstead, Essex. George meets Tommy in a basketball court. After sharing a joint, George invites Tommy to his dealer’s house to get more weed. But the night becomes something unexpected.

Best VR & Immersive Award

Mirage, dir. Naima Karim

A young girl struggles with depression and anxiety. Set in a desert landscape, the audience embarks on a VR journey through the girl’s mind, encouraged to support her through her challenges.

Best Game Award

Hillthorn, dev. Fool Moon

Experience a dark investigation game told entirely through cards. The story unfolds in the player’s mind, where every action makes the clock tick forward, and every run can lead to new discoveries.

Best Cinematography Award

Alone
Cinematographer Jim Petersen, dir. Shian Denovan

A woman’s daily commute is thrown into chaos when she finds the city inexplicably abandoned. Alone is a haunting psychological thriller exploring timely themes of loneliness and disconnection.

Best Podcast

The Metaphor Consultant, Falling Tree Productions

Metaphor is at the heart of how we understand our existence. In a period of huge change, are we outgrowing them? Poet Jack Underwood is offering his services as a metaphor consultant.

Best Director Award

Anon, dir. Dylan Brady

A brief encounter between a closeted taxi driver and young male passenger leads to a truly frightening exchange with life-altering consequences, in this exploration of anonymous hook-up culture.

Best Editing Award

To Run is to Return, 
Editor Andy Sowerby, dir. Precious Wura Alabi

A young Black British man drives his car through a busy London landscape as his music blares. He is willing it to be a good day. But, as he approaches his destination, the cracks begin to show.

Best Screenplay Award

You Told Us To Talk About The Weather
Writer Emma-Louise Howell, dir. Harry Tomlin

In the past six hours, 94% of Brits discussed the weather. In the past five years, 7.000 have been arrested for speaking out about the climate crisis. This film, starring Michael Sheen, asks why.

New Music Stage Winner

WineMom

The Dublin-based four piece are stepping their way to the forefront of the Irish music scene. Fresh off a wave of successes in their first year, they won the second edition of the New Music Stage last night.