2025
AWARD WINNERS
GRAND JURY AWARD (Cash Award)
THE COCKROACH
USA / Drama / 20 min.
DIRECTOR: MARY PAT BENTEL
“`html
Mary Pat Bentel is a filmmaker who focuses on telling socially relevant stories that drive audiences to laughter and tears while subtly challenging them to reconsider their convictions.
The projects she’s proudest of include Peabody nominated and PGA award winning THIS CLOSE (Sundance Channel), a series about two best friends, who happen to be deaf, adulting in Los Angeles. She Executive Produced both seasons and built the show from the ground up with first time creators. The first season premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the PGA George Sunga Award in 2018. The series was nominated for a Peabody and a GLAAD in 2019.
Prior to that, she produced DARK WAS THE NIGHT, a deeply moving family drama about loss starring Marisa Tomei, Timothy Olyphant and Charlie Plummer; ANIMALS, a dark drama about heroin addiction written by and starring David Dastmalchian, based on his personal battles with heroin, which won the Special Jury Prize for Courage in Storytelling at SXSW; and BOLD NATIVE, an action thriller about animal liberation starring Sheila Vand and Joshua Leonard.
Her experience covers the full gamut of creative development, physical production, post-production marketing and distribution; from kernel to pop. She has an eye for emerging talent, having worked with a number of filmmakers including Joey Soloway, Sarah Adina Smith, Andrew Ahn, Jordan Firstman, and Joshua Leonard, who have since gone to the races.
Right before the pandemic, an accident shattered Mary Pat’s arm and changed her life. She took notes between surgeries as a survival tactic, and THE COCKROACH emerged.
After supporting directors for most of her career, Mary Pat is excited to be in the chair herself.
Director Statement
During high school and college, I worked full-time as a manager at Contempo Casuals and Gap in Chicago. I applied to Hot Topic but alas, they went with someone more goth. I’ve been in leadership roles since I was 14 years old and believe it or not, All I Really Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned in Retail. Not exactly, but surprisingly a lot is applicable! For example, keep your issues off the floor, give positive feedback before negative, and don’t let anyone steal shit.
Despite majoring in Directing at Columbia College Chicago, I almost immediately transitioned into the self-preserving role of Producer when I moved to Los Angeles. It’s a safe and fairly invisible place from which to help elevate material, without any recognition if the project succeeds or humiliation if it doesn’t.
My first job in the business was as a PA on an Adam Sandler movie called MR. DEEDS, which was a real stinker but an incredible learning experience. Everyone loved me because I had a strong Midwestern work ethic (still do), and I didn’t give a rat’s ass about celebrity (still don’t). I quickly segued into assisting celebrated directors (Lisa Cholodenko, Joe Dante) and producers (Stacey Sher, Gregg Fienberg) but eventually grew frustrated with development hell and started independently producing. Which I’ve somehow been doing for nearly two decades now…
Yep, this bitch is old! But she ain’t dead!
Came close though a few years ago, when I fell almost 10 feet off a ladder and shattered my elbow and broke my back in two places. My back healed, but my right arm is a mangled mess with severely limited range of motion. I went from doing pilates 5 days a week to not being able to shave my own armpits.
In researching my grieving process, I realized that even though my arm is still attached and has some function, the emotional rollercoaster I’m on parallels that of an amputee.
THE COCKROACH is a heightened version of my life post-accident.
“`
AUDIENCE FAVORITE (Cash Award)
MIMINE
Canada / Drama / 13 min.
DIRECTOR: SIMON LAGANIÈRE
BEST STUDENT FILM (Cash Award)
PATRIOT
(WORLD PREMIERE)
USA / Student / 19 min.
Filmmaker Audrey Maxon (17) returns for the second year in a row with an incredibly timely and solidly produced student drama: “PATRIOT.”
A normal high school day devolves into chaos when an ICE raid shatters the lives of two young lovers from opposite sides of the deportation conflict..
DIRECTOR: AUDREY MAXON
Audrey sees filmmaking as both an opportunity to tell fun, compelling stories and a way to invite audiences into conversations about the deeper issues beneath them. She began making films in middle school with an animated PSA about the AIDS pandemic that was recognized at international festivals—an early experience that sparked her interest in using film to show the human impact of government policy and current events.
Her work often addresses challenges facing her generation. “It’s Your Choice” is a narrative short about the fentanyl crisis that she made with an accompanying PSA, “A Conversation about Narcan”, featuring a San Francisco teen educating peers about Narcan and overdose response. “S’s Story”, a documentary about a young woman who escaped Afghanistan through her English fluency, helped raise funds to provide online English classes for Afghan women pursuing education as a path to safety.
Audrey’s films also explore more personal experiences across genres. Her comedy “UFO” explores how first love can leave teens feeling alien to their own friends—like they’re navigating something not of this world. To honor that experience, she made that her first co-directed project. Her horror short “Candlelight” captures the fear and isolation that come with grief. Whether focused on social issues or emotional ones, her work reflects her curiosity about people and the systems that shape our lives.
Outside of filmmaking, Audrey is committed to civic engagement. As the first California student to serve as a U.S. Senate Page in a decade, Audrey spent a semester last year living in Washington D.C. and working directly within the Senate to gain firsthand insight into national policymaking. At the DueMila30 Film Festival in Milan last summer, where she was one of only two delegates under 18, Audrey met international filmmakers focused on storytelling that explores justice and sustainability. As a Global Citizen’s Initiative fellow this past year, she became part of a group of young people working to tackle local problems connected to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In both her creative and public service work, Audrey continues to explore how she can help people better understand one another and improve the world they share.
Director Statement
Immigration policy becomes real when it walks into a high school hallway. I made “Patriot” to explore what happens when federal enforcement disrupts the everyday lives of teenagers—when political decisions become personal. The story follows three students during an ICE raid at their school, focusing on a sheriff’s son who is dating an undocumented classmate. I was drawn to this relationship because it reveals the emotional complexity behind immigration issues: he’s in love with someone who challenges the system his father helps enforce.
The high school setting was crucial. Schools should be places of learning and growth, yet they’ve become spaces where students must navigate fear about their legal status or that of their friends. By focusing on teenagers, I could examine how we (young people) are processing these adult conflicts—the moral questions we face when our personal relationships intersect with larger political realities. “Patriot” aims to show how deeply these policies can disrupt the lives of teenagers—not just through fear, but through lasting damage to our sense of safety, identity, and connection.
TRAILBLAZER AWARD (Cash Award)
For the films that break expectations in style and spirit.
MY DAD AND THE VOLCANO
Scotland / Documentary / 15 min.
Gavin’s aspiration is to bring him and his Dad together through the volcano, to help his father see it as he does. However, there’s a challenge – his dad holds no interest in modern art and has declined any involvement in the documentary.
DIRECTOR: GAVIN REID
I grew up in a working-class area of Glasgow called Milton. My family isn’t affiliated with the arts and encouraged me to pursue a proper job. I collaborated on short film projects with the Milton Arts Project to build a portfolio for art school.
I studied Sculpture and Environmental Art at The Glasgow School of Art, but after graduation, I felt stuck and missed the opportunity to focus on filmmaking. I’ve struggled to break into the film industry due to a lack of equipment, connections, and knowledge about relevant organizations. I briefly tried stand-up comedy, but it didn’t work out due to COVID-19, which made me get back on track and focus more on filmmaking.
In 2021, I felt a strong urge to change my life. While working at a supermarket, I thought to myself, ‘What happened? Didn’t you want to be a filmmaker? Why are you stacking shelves?’ During The Glasgow Short Film Festival in 2022, I saw an advertisement for the MA Filmmaking course at UWS and soon after, I was granted a place on the course.
During my time on the course, I directed two documentaries, Why Do They Call You Icky? and My Dad and the Volcano. I also produced the documentary Fishball Revolution and a fiction short called Fly-Tipping. Despite family resistance and undiagnosed dyslexia causing struggles in job applications, I’m determined to pursue my filmmaking dreams.
BEST COMEDY
B!TCH, I'M EARLY
USA / Comedy / 6 mins.
DIRECTOR: JESSE COWELL
Jesse “Jeskid” Cowell is a trailblazing filmmaker with over 30 years of experience crafting bold, emotionally resonant stories. He took to the web in 2003, becoming one of the first filmmakers to hone his craft in front of a massive online audience.
A Webby Award winner with nearly a billion views for his directing and producing work, Jeskid’s influence spans independent film, digital series, and branded storytelling. He has written and directed two independent features online, and his comedy series garnered 10 million views in 2022 alone. His work has been featured in a chapter of a USC textbook, cementing his legacy as a creator who helped shape the digital filmmaking landscape.
Jeskid’s journey is a testament to the power of persistence and authenticity. He continues to innovate, inspire, and prove that art thrives when the artist stays true to who they are.
Director Statement
I love seeing talented people shine and doing everything in my power to create cinematic universes in which they can. Throw some social commentary, action, and laughs in there and I am a happy filmmaker.
BEST DRAMA
CALF
Ireland / Drama / 14 mins.
DIRECTOR: JAMIE O´ROURKE
BEST ROMANCE
CONTOURS
USA / Romance / 12 min.
DIRECTOR: AISHA AMIN
Aisha Amin is a NYC-raised South Asian filmmaker and visual artist. As a director, her work expands across narrative, documentary, commercial and experimental forms to tell authentic stories built from real experiences.
Her past film projects have explored and highlighted overlooked communities particularly in New York City, including formerly incarcerated mothers and communities struggling with the presence of gentrification in their neighborhoods. In the summer of 2023, she was selected as a Director in Color Creative’s inaugural For Your People Program. She is a 2023 Cine Qua Non Screenwriting Fellow. She is a 2022 recipient of the NYFA’s Women’s Fund and Tomorrow Land Grant. She was a recipient of the 2019-2020 Sally Burns Shenkman Woman Filmmaker Fellowship at the Jacob Burns Film Center where she directed two short documentaries. She is also a recipient of The Shed’s Open Call Fellowship. Her short films Rumi and Simone premiered on Short of the Week and are Vimeo Staff Picks. In 2023, Aisha was chosen to be part of Color Creative’s find your people program, where she directed a short film in American Sign Language. Aisha will be completing her MFA in Directing and Writing at Columbia in Fall 2023 where she will work on feature length screenplays and TV writing.
Director Statement
The collaboration I had with my writer, Brian has led to one of the most fruitful and gratifying creative collaborations of my career thusfar. Brian and I decided together that we wanted to tell a story about a deaf couple, but we didn’t want that story to be about the struggle of being deaf in a hearing world. Rather, we wanted the film to be about communication or lack thereof, connection, love in a long term relationship and art as a source of healing. I learned how to direct in ASL and direct deaf actors, but more importantly I fell in love with ASL and it’s ability to express such deep and truthful human emotion.
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
ARMAN & ELISA
Luxembourg / Drama / 15 min.
DIRECTOR: KIYAN AGADJANI
Born in Luxembourg to Iranian parents, Kiyan Agadjani grew up surrounded by different languages, cultures and arts. In 2016, he was part of the international jury of the Giornate Degli Autori during the 73rd Venice Film Festival. Soon after he started writing, directing and working on various short and feature film projects in Luxembourg, France and the UK.
He moved to the UK in 2018, where he studied filmmaking. Soon after, he wrote and directed GEORGE BARTON, a short film about adult illiteracy in the UK which went on to be nominated and awarded in festivals internationally.
In 2022, Kiyan received funding from the Luxembourg Film Fund for his most personal project to date – ARMAN AND ELISA. Kiyan is committed to continue telling the stories that matter to him – the little stories of society for the big screens of cinema.
Director Statement
There is something beautifully absurd about the fact that adults can have whole languages worth of words to hand, yet continuously misunderstand and fight each other, while some kids, innocently wise and quietly empathetic, can have no words at their disposal and still truly understand one another.
As of 2022, the percentage of the foreign population in Luxembourg lies at an astounding 47.1%. Born in Luxembourg to Iranian immigrants myself, the concepts of integration, racism and ultimate community despite otherness has always surrounded and fascinated me. In the spirit of the filmmakers of the Iranian New Wave, I therefore decided to tell a story of immigration, language and cultural exchange through the whimsical and innocently subjective eye of two children.
In order to immerse the audience in the children’s world view, we shot almost exclusively on eye-level with the children and used anamorphic lenses with a 2.39:1 aspect ratio to create a world that is vertically challenged, however horizontally sheer unlimited.
I was very lucky to be able to secure and witness the on-screen debut of the incredibly talented Elise Krieps (Elisa), daughter of the award-winning actress Vicky Krieps. Together with Shayan Arendt (Arman), we prepared for months in advance, practising together and always finding new and exciting ways to push the story beyond the page.
‘Arman and Elisa’ is not about Luxembourg. Neither is it about Iranians. With ‘Arman and Elisa’ I want to reach not only the immigrant children, but also their classmates, their teachers and their parents. With this film, I want to celebrate the sympathy for otherness within all of us.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
OASIS
Canada / Documentary / 14 min.
DIRECTOR: JUSTINE MARTIN
Justine Martin is a screenwriter and director based in Montreal who is a Cinema Graduate from Concordia University. Feminism, environmental awareness, and childhood are themes that inspire her stories. She is currently working on the development of her next fiction film while writing a web series. Oasis is her first documentary.
Director Statement
When I was a young teenager, I lived near the twins Raphaël and Rémi and I used to be their babysitter. As youngsters, they were inseparable. As they got older, I noticed that a distance was slowly getting established between them and even began to set them apart. Now 14 years old, Rémi is now getting into the complexity of his teenage years and feels guilty of growing up “faster” than his brother. Stuck in childhood because of his functional limitations, Raphaël struggles to follow his brother and has to adapt to this new reality. Being a witness of this emerging dynamic, I wanted to capture the essence of their relationship as it was and before it would be altered.
I think that certain messages can have a strong impact when the viewer is captivated by a narrative framework and images that are partly borrowed from fiction codes. My films are inspired by themes and lyrical atmospheres that explore the fine line between childhood and adulthood. I’m interested in the subtleties between fiction and reality joined together to create poetic universes. My cinema therefore seeks to guide the audience towards new perceptions by addressing important subjects through immersive and captivating storylines.
BEST ANIMATION
FIEGO AND THE MAGIC FISH
Belgium / Animation / 11 min.
DIRECTOR: JOE MURRAY
I started with independent animated films, editorial illustrations, and children’s books. Took a fruitful experience side road to create a few animated series, and now back thankfully to my true love of animating. I now reside in Belgium with my wife and two boys.
My indie films ( and Netflix special) have been shown at Sundance, Annecy, Ottawa, Hiroshima an many other festivals. Oh, and I won a Student Academy Award for my first film “The Chore”. I guess that’s worth mentioning.
Director Statement
Fiego and the Magic Fish, one could say, was almost 30 years in the making. I started writing it as a reimagined version of the Grimms Fairy tale The Fisherman’s wife after my time on Rocko’s Modern Life was over.
I had various starts and stops with the film, trying out new versions of technology as it became available to be able to “auteur “ the film as much as possible ( like I used to do with my independent films). It wasn’t until the completion of my third animated series for television and a move to a 240-year-old farm in Belgium before I hunkered down and sequestered myself for 2 years to complete, what became, Fiego and the Magic Fish.
BEST FAMILY FILM
ALDO'S BUG EXTRAVAGANZA
USA / Documentary-Family / 6 min.
Join 5-year-old Aldo and his dad on a backyard safari filled with tiny wonders and big laughs. Armed with a camera and boundless curiosity, Aldo embarks on a bug-hunting escapade, narrating his discoveries with adorable wit and charm..
BEST MICRO SHORT
PORTRAIT
Spain / Romance / 1 min.
A young couple, glowing in the early days of love, sets out to capture their joy in a portrait. But when unexpected trouble interrupts their moment, they prove that love isn’t just beautiful—it’s powerful. In just sixty seconds, this adorable microfilm delivers heart, humor, and a reminder that love can steal the scene.
DIRECTOR: IGNACIO RODÓ
BEST DIRECTOR
BROONO
Scotland / Drama / 20 min.
DIRECTOR: GERALD LEPKOWSKI
BEST PERFORMER
THE COCKROACH
USA / Drama / 20 min.
ACTOR: MELISSA JOHNS
Melissa is an actor and writer mainly working across TV and theatre. She is most known for her role as series regular, Miss Scott in ITV’s drama, Grantchester, now on her fifth series of the show! She is also known for her role as Hannah Taylor in Mike Bartlett’s BBC drama – LIFE and Imogen Pascoe in Coronation Street. Johns trained at East 15 Acting School where she was one of the first disabled actors to win the Laurence Olivier Bursary Award.
This year she filmed for Netflix’s new drama – Adolescence as well as developing her one woman theatre show SNATCHED for TV.
In 2021, Melissa was announced in the Celebrity Masterchef line up and in 2022, the Celebrity Mastermind line up, raising money for REACH Charity.
She does NOT enjoy cooking. Or general knowledge questions.
Melissa was named as one of the U.K’s most influential disabled people in the Shaw Trust Power 100 and received a place on JCI’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award 2018 for her work around disability rights, young people and female empowerment. She was also shortlisted for Positive Role Model of the Year in the National Diversity Awards. Melissa co founded drama workshop company – Quite Frankly Theatre, running drama and devising workshops for children and young people.
BEST YOUTH PERFORMER
DRESSED TO THE NINES
UK / Drama / 6 min.
Luke goes on a journey of self-discovery in his mum’s bedroom, trying on her clothes and losing himself to the connection. But when dad catches him, tensions in the house reach a boiling point.
ACTOR: REGGIE ABSOLOM
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
CHICKENTOWN
USA / Drama / 13 min.
CINEMATOGRAPHER: STEVEN WETRICH
Born, raised, and based in LA, up to date on all the latest tech (borderline obsessively), and willing to travel.
Filmmaking and photography are media I care immensely about. I’ve found that I prioritize education—staying on the cutting edge of tech releases and advancements, as well as creative filmmaking techniques. Over my years of industry experience, I’ve been steadily growing the volume of gear I can bring onto projects, with a particular focus on grip and lighting equipment, curating vintage lens sets, as well as building a color suite for myself. Rental kit info available by request.
When it comes to working behind the camera, I pride myself on having attention to detail with shaping light in a way that supports the world my team is creating. This particular focus crosses into my approach to color. I utilize color theory and color science to create a cohesive palette, enhance the subject matter, and create depth.
I have a BFA in Film Production with an emphasis in cinematography from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. During my time there, I took an opportunity for an internship at Light Iron. Prior to that, I worked as an assistant editor for Long Beach Film Company after becoming certified in Final Cut Pro at age 16.