Independent Shorts Awards

Claire is a woman who has broken free from a very abusive husband after the death of her only child in Afghanistan. She meets Claude, who is a serial killer and looks to him to help her begin to live out her fantasies.
Directed by Benjamin L Ward (USA)

An average employee burdened by depression and loneliness, caused by the job demands of his boss and the eternal routine in which his life is imprisoned.
Desperate, he allows himself to dream with an iota of freedom.
Trapped to break with oppression and, with it, his existential emptiness.
Directed by Roberto I. Ercolalo (Argentina)

Based a real event happened in China. The film tells the story about a child who has been sexually abused by her kindergarten teacher, suffers from the trauma for her entire life and finally commits suicide.
Directed by Liyanbing He (USA)

This story takes place in one room, all in real time. We meet Anita, a young and beautiful 17-year-old girl, And Hayden, a middle-aged man with piercing eyes, and is Nita’s adoptive father. Through the story, we discover that this father-daughter relationship is more unnatural than it may seem. Hayden has forced Anita to take prescription pills, coerced her into anorexia, and taken wrongful ownership of her body since he adopted her. Her world flashes red when he finally pushes her too far.
Directed by Mariah Jones (USA)

An obsessive young man hunts the outskirts of China plotting his revenge on the killer of his girlfriend and unborn child.
Directed by Pedro Correa (USA)

“Waft” is a passage of Ashvath’s life where he struggles to find where his Aradhya has disappeared. His life has taken a turn ever since the tragedy happened.
Directed by Vishnu Udayan (India)

Hollie wants to be an actress…
Directed by Sofia Streisand (USA)

A hard-working immigrant steals from his son’s, tuition fund, forcing the son to rob his father’s employer, further fracturing a relationship steeped in mutual desperation.
Directed by Doan Umer (USA)

This short film is a satirical thriller, which aims to confront anxieties experienced by students about how they choose to spend their limited time at university – whether to see it as a social or an educational opportunity.
Directed by Ruochen Zhao (UK)

This film gives voice to five of those mothers and examines the terrible social cost of shunning the family members of those on death row.
Directed by Linda Broocks (USA)

After a boy accidentally swallows a watermelon seed, weird things start to happen.
Directed by Kefei Li and Connie Qin He (USA)

A short film discussing living with mental health issues.
Directed by Bryan Cruz (USA)

A young woman inherits her estranged mafioso father’s strip club against her overly religious mother’s wishes.
Directed by Jonisha Rios (USA)

Yoli De La Cruz is a tough Latina woman from the streets of the Bronx who attends church and studies Krav Maga & MMA at a local gym.
But Yoli’s Ex, Xavier Montenegro, aka “Chango” named after one the most feared Gods in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria wants her back in his life and will stop at nothing until he has her. Aside from his army of soldiers, Chango uses black magic to defeat and destroy his enemies. Chango calls Yoli his “Oshun”, the Goddess of sensuality and love, whose symbol is the butterfly. Chango is ready to take over New York but is missing one thing… the strength and support of the woman he loves.
Directed by Michael Baez (USA)