Overview

• Over 11,750 short films from more than 7,500 filmmakers across 158 countries vied for this year’s honors.
• The top prizes went to Rossana Montoya for fiction, Juliet Klottrup for non-fiction, the Santiago O’Ryan and José Navarro team for animation, and Hayder Hoozeer with Franz Böhm in the student category.
• All awardees took part in a four-day program at Sony Pictures Studios featuring mentoring sessions with industry leaders.
• Fiction, non-fiction and animation winners each received $5,000 alongside high-end Sony Digital Imaging equipment while the student winners secured professional camera gear.
• A jury chaired by Justin Chadwick with members Jason Reitman, Minhal Baig and Elizabeth Gabler will reconvene when submissions reopen in July for the spring 2026 edition.