2026 Nominees
Standout Awards
BEST FEATURE FILM
"BEINGS" Sandro Arceo Espinosa
"Don't Let the Cat Out" Tim Cruz
"One Night Only" Avery Maycock
"Raging Midlife" Rob Taylor
"The Daughters of the Domino" Jesse McAnally
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BEST SHORT FILM
"Dog People" Bradley Stryker
"Night Shift at Ned's" Hagen Mattingly
"Quantum Ride" Peter Koevari
"Royal Retribution" Dustin Hawkins
"The Axe Forgets" John Christopher
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BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
"BEINGS" Sandro Arceo Espinosa
"Proving Time Travel is Possible Tomorrow" Tommy Duncan
"Silence of the Womb" Soumodeep Ghosh Chowdhury
"The Axe Forgets" John Christopher
"The Sleep of Reason" Aleksandr Akhmedov
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BEST DOCUMENTARY
"Anhanguera, 92" Huli de Paula Balasz, Ma Gonzaga
"Cartapesta: Carnival of Fano - The Movie" Andrea Lodovichetti
"he-Motions" Melvin Cotton III, Treston Mayo
"Souls Not Numbers" Mike Large
"Video Dreams: A VHS Massacre Story" Thomas Seymour
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Performance Awards
BEST DIRECTOR OF A FEATURE FILM
Christopher Bickel, "Pater Noster & the Mission of the Light"
Jesse McAnally, "The Daughters of the Domino"
Marcia Kimpton, "An American Abroad"
Rob Taylor, "Raging Midlife"
Zeph E. Daniel, "Transference"
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BEST DIRECTOR OF A SHORT FILM
Ciara Naughton & Kurstin Moser, "The Way Things Used 2 B"
Dustin Hawkins, "Royal Retribution"
Hagen Mattingly, "Night Shift at Ned's"
Ilya Noyabrev, "The Last Wish"
John Christopher, "The Axe Forgets"
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BEST ACTRESS IN A FEATURE FILM
Adara Starr as "Max", "Pater Noster & the Mission of the Light"
Lucie Gillespie as "Laura Suttcliffe", "The Daughters of the Domino"
Mahsa Masoudi as "Ayesha", "Force Drift"
Marcia Kimpton as "Marcia", "An American Abroad"
Miranda Moffat as "Detective Nina Rose", "The Daughters of the Domino"
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BEST ACTRESS IN A SHORT FILM
Dee Wallace as "Belinda", "Dog People"
Erin CAitlin Collins as "Kate", "Night Shift at Ned's"
Katherine Connor Duff as "Host", "Oceansiders"
Mikeala Candeau as "Quintain Flack", "Family Relapse"
Mylene Darragon as "Young Woman", "Under a Cloud"
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BEST ACTOR IN A FEATURE FILM
Ben Probert as "Eddie Hartwood", "The Caretaker"
Charlie Delatorre as "Dusty the Cowboy", "The Dusty the Cowboy Variety Hour!"
Johnny Barden as "Norman", "One Night Only"
Romanni Villicana as "Lucio", "BEINGS"
Tony Semanik as "Michael Arlan Rose", "The Daughters of the Domino"
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BEST ACTOR IN A SHORT FILM
Andrew Hamrick as "Brandon", "Oceansiders"
Christopher Yates as "Oswald", "Better Not Write"
Drew Smith as "Robert", "That's My House"
Harry Butler as "James", "The Axe Forgets"
Kareem Zion as "Father", "The Talk"
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Technical Awards
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A FEATURE FILM
Daniel Stearns, "The Living Tree"
Luke Tedder, "The Caretaker"
Nick Green, "One Night Only"
Renata Gutierrez, "BEINGS"
Sean Snider, "The Daughters of the Domino"
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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A SHORT FILM
Arlin Godwin, "Stop Taking Pictures"
Egemen Oktem, "The Nemesis"
Eric Hernandez & Isabel Langdale, "Night Shift at Ned's"
Ilya Kuchin, "The Sleep of Reason"
Naoise Kettle, "The Axe Forgets"
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BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A FEATURE FILM
Andrew Chappell, "The Caretaker"
Chuck Fryberger & Drew Levinson, "Force Drift"
Jared Anderson, "Don't Let the Cat Out"
Julij Zornik, "The Second Diary of Paulina P."
Samantha Roman, "The Daughters of the Domino"
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BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A SHORT FILM
Ahmet Serhat Ak & Denizhan Ayar, "Calligrapher - to Die Before Dying"
Jack Bucker, "The Fight"
John Christopher, "The Axe Forgets"
John Westmoreland, "Reverb"
Oleksandr Yermakov, Serhiy Dobrydenko, &
Yevgeny Muraviov, "The Last Wish"
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BEST SCORE IN A FEATURE FILM
Christopher Bickel, "Pater Noster & the Mission of the Light"
Damián Pérez & Oscar Pereyra, "BEINGS"
Darko Hajsek, "The Second Diary of Paulina P."
Rasheed Stephens, "Induced Effect"
Soumodeep Ghosh Chowdhury, "Silence of the Womb"
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BEST SCORE IN A SHORT FILM
Angel Castro & Joaquin Camilo, "Oceansiders"
Arlin Godwin, "Stop Taking Pictures"
Oscar Bormann, "The Gumster"
Sudie Abernathy, "A Tale of Gothica"
Walder Martinez, "The Nemesis"
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Genre Awards
BEST FEATURE THRILLER
"Don't Let the Cat Out", Tim Cruz
"Pater Noster & the Mission of the Light", Christopher Bickel
"The Daughters of the Domino", Jesse McAnally
"The Haunting at Jack the Ripper's House", Natasha Tosiniv & Stephen Staley
"Transference", Zeph E. Daniel
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BEST SHORT THRILLER
"Dog People", Bradley Stryker
"Night Shift at Ned's", Hagen Mattingly
"Porcelain Souls", Hamid Y. Najafli, Sevinj Safarova, Nail Gurbanov
"Ring Ring", Adrian Leon
"Town Glitch", Sam Toor
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BEST FEATURE COMEDY
"An American Abroad", Marcia Kimpton
"Doubting Tom", Vanessa Roman
"My Movie Starring Paul Dano", Joe Bartone
"Raging Midlife", Rob Taylor
"The Second Diary of Paulina P.", Neven Hitrec
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BEST SHORT COMEDY
"Action Comedy", Nathan Keith Williams
"All the King's Horses", Kiel Robinson
"Don't Do It", Nandi Sharma & Vinnie Falcone
"The Meme Creators", Aodhan Guy
"Warheads", Lucho Salva
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BEST FEATURE DRAMA
"Due Dating", Daniel Pacquette
"Induced Effect", Rasheed Stephens
"Silence of the Womb", Soumodeep Ghosh Chowdhury
"The Dusty the Cowboy Variety Hour!", Jake Mangini
"The Walls We Cannot See", Christian Schoeman
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BEST SHORT DRAMA
"GRIM", Nathaniel Demuth, Ben Scott, & Brad Waugh
"Tell Her in the Sunshine", Dan O'Neill
"The Axe Forgets", John Christopher
"The Talk", Hila Cage Coppola
"We Need to Talk", Andrea M. Catinella
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BEST FEATURE ADVENTURE
"BEINGS", Sandro Arceo Espinosa
"Beyond the Wetlands", Arsalan Majid
"Spectre: Shadow Night", Eli Jackson
"The Blue Moon Rising", Vic Quinton
"The Living Tree", Anthony J. James
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BEST SHORT ADVENTURE
"2389: Coming Home", Kateryna Sazonova
"Bonno Eversong & the Day the Music Died", Brent Phillips-Watts
"Quantum Ride", Peter Koevari
"Royal Retribution", Dustin Hawkins
"Wake Up, Dolores!", Dan James Rathke