HollyShorts 2026: The Winners
The 22nd Annual HollyShorts Film Festival wrapped August 23 at TCL Chinese Theatres and Ovation Hollywood after eleven days of screenings, panels, and premieres. Below is the full list of this year's award winners.
The Best Short Film Grand Prize, Best Live Action, Best Animation, and Best Documentary winners each qualify for consideration in their respective short film categories at the Academy Awards.
Congratulations to every filmmaker recognized this year, and thank you to the entire HS22 lineup for making it one to remember.
Top Honors
Best Short Film Grand Prize, presented by Panavision — Vultures, Dian Weys (Oscar-qualifying)
Best Live Action — Pale Sun, Adrian Moyse Dullin and Jawahine Zentar (Oscar-qualifying)
Best Animation — With Tapes and Toasts in the Car (Im Auto Tapes und Butterbrot), Kiana Naghshineh (Oscar-qualifying)
Best Documentary — The Time My Grandmother Was Held Hostage by Bank Robbers, Rosella Tursi (Oscar-qualifying)
Best Director — Faux Bijoux, Jessy Moussallem
Best International — Vultures, Dian Weys
Craft
Best Cinematography — The Kalgan Horse, Junxiong Zhu
Best Editing — HYENA, Altay Ulan Yang
Best Costume Design — Betty St. Clair, Syra McCarthy and Kyle Casey Chu
Best Stunts — Floor, Jo Bareun
Best Performance — I AM THE PRIZE, Russell Tovey
Best Producer — Laundreams, directed by Evie Ward-Drummond and Amber Gadd; produced by Nina Georgieff, Anna Sophia Duff, Maxine Peake, Tobi Kyeremateng, and Slick Films
Genre
Best Drama — Copy, Save, Alyssa Loh
Best Comedy — The Oracle, JJ Adler
Best Horror — Banshee, Peter Vass
Best Sci-Fi — IMPRINT, Ran Jing
Verse LA Presents Best Midnight Madness — The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much, Eric Jackowitz
Best Sports Documentary — ZINA, Vicky Wight
Best Sports Narrative — THE COLOSSEUM, Nabil Kechouhen
Best Music Documentary — Reflections Under the Electric Sky, Devin J. Dilmore
Best Music Video — Weval – Open Up That Door, Bear Damen and Merijn Scholte Albers
Series, Television, and Audio
Best TV — Do I Know You From Somewhere?, Alan Scott Neal
Best TV Pilot — Rippers, Joseph Oliver Hooten
Best Web Series — Birth is for P*ssies, Hannah Shealy and Celine Sutter
Best Podcast — abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast
Shot on Film, presented by Kodak
Best Shot on Film, 35mm — KINK, Carissa Gallo
Best Shot on Film, 16mm — GOBSTOPPER, Pippa Feldberg Collins
Honorable Mention — I THINK ABOUT KILLING YOU, Ran Ran Wang
Screenplay
Best Feature Screenplay — Grave Command, Evelyn Davis
Best Female Screenplay — The PaRC, Morgan Grice
Best Short Screenplay — The Death Row Cook, Jessica James
ISA Story Award — Know Your Lights, Al Benoit
Special Awards
Social Impact Award — EXTREMIST, Sasha Molochnikov
SAGindie Award — Them That's Not, Mekhai Lee
Best Student Film — PANKAJA, Anooya Swamy
Made in LA Award — CHRISTMAS ANGELS, Remington Hoffman and Ida Hoffman
HollyShorts Film Festival + IMGN Short Film Fund — The Fiddler's Stroke, Braden Barton
Thank you to our sponsors and partners, including Panavision, Kodak, Verse LA, SAGindie, ISA, and IMGN, and to the audiences who filled the theater every night. See you at HollyShorts 2027.