The 17th annual San Jose International Short Film Festival ran October 16–19, 2025, at Cinemark’s CineArts Theatre at Santana Row in San Jose. More than 150 short films from over 30 countries screened across four days in nearly 30 programs, from documentary, animation and sci-fi blocks to family films, comedy and three World Cinema showcases, opening with a Thursday-night premiere screening and closing with the festival’s award-winning films on Sunday. Ado, directed by Sam Henderson, was named Best of the Fest.
Best of the Fest
Best Drama
Best Animation
Best of World Cinema
Best Documentary
Best Family Film
Best Comedy
Best Sci-Fi
Best Student Film
Explore Every Year’s Winners
Our Awards page brings together the winners from every San Jose International Short Film Festival, from Best of the Fest to the James Gunn Independent Filmmaker Award, with a page for each year’s winners and lineup. Or explore our films from 52 countries on the Film Atlas.
2025 Festival Screenings
Thursday, October 16
And So It Begins
Directed by: Cooper Richman, Bradley Schatz21 mins · USA
Directed by: Daniel England13 mins · UK
Directed by: Ellen Ancui14 mins · USA
Directed by: Nicholas Luciano12 mins · USA
Directed by: Salvador Paskowitz16 mins · USA
Directed by: Sabatino Ciatti Jr.19 mins
World Cinema One
Directed by: Bettina López Mendoza15 mins · Canada, Colombia, USA, Venezuela
Directed by: Andre Balbuena9 mins · Peru
Directed by: Zihao YU5 mins · China
Directed by: Khozy Rizal17 mins · Indonesia
Directed by: Wiktoria Kwoka18 mins · Poland
Directed by: Fatma Al-Ghanim13 mins · Qatar
Directed by: Benjamin Blaine, Christopher Blaine6 mins · UK
A Hard DOCs Life
Directed by: Theo Gee, Will Atherton24 mins · UK
Directed by: Christina Yianni9 mins · UK
Directed by: Sara Hendren23 mins · USA
Directed by: Josh Izenberg33 mins · USA
Opening Night Premiere Screening
Directed by: Herman Karlsson15 mins · Finland
Directed by: John Kelly17 mins · Ireland
Directed by: Slava Denisov15 mins · USA
Directed by: Jessica J. Rowlands21 mins · Zimbabwe
Directed by: Sue Ann Pien15 mins · USA
Directed by: Ballard C. Boyd11 mins · USA
Friday, October 17
The Road Not Taken
Directed by: Fiona Obertinca20 mins · USA
Directed by: Puyu Wang5 mins · USA
Directed by: Yash Saraf16 mins · India
Directed by: Courtney Karwal10 mins · USA
Directed by: Mary Pat Bentel20 mins · USA
Directed by: Vijesh Rajan, Yashoda Parthasarthy23 mins · India
World Cinema Two
Directed by: Nic Ho15 mins · Hong Kong
Directed by: Allan Riggs, Guilherme Suman26 mins · Brazil
Directed by: Marius Conrotto10 mins · Spain
Directed by: Madeleine Wynn15 mins · UK
Directed by: Hsiao-Shan Huang14 mins · Taiwan
Directed by: Alexis Bicât12 mins · UK
More From A Hard DOCs Life
Directed by: Vanina Feldsztein14 mins · USA
Directed by: Alex Fleming-McNeil, Michael Beuttler11 mins · USA
Directed by: Adam Oppenheim, Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian10 mins · USA
Directed by: Paul E Overstrom11 mins
Directed by: Roberto Serrini29 mins · USA
Directed by: Sami Abdou15 mins · USA
Directed by: Zelong Liu6 mins · China
Our Flesh, Our Blood
Directed by: Shaunagh Connaire14 mins · Ireland
Directed by: Chelsie Pennello16 mins · USA
Directed by: Angel Lu15 mins · USA
Directed by: Jonathan Caren11 mins · USA
Directed by: Ayser Salman13 mins · USA
Directed by: Deborah Puette6 mins · USA
Directed by: Alejandro Bordier17 mins · Luxembourg
I’ve Got A Bad Feeling About This
Directed by: Sidney Kreitzer20 mins · USA
Directed by: Lucía Forner Segarra17 mins · Spain
Directed by: Cameron Monaghan14 mins · USA
Directed by: Alina Bichieva15 mins · UK
Directed by: Liliana Tandon10 mins · USA
Directed by: Emma Moffat10 mins · UK
Make ‘Em Laugh
Directed by: Serena Dykman17 mins · USA
Directed by: Jackson GiuricichUSA
Directed by: Shaddy Safadi8 mins · USA
Directed by: Gibran Saleem10 mins · USA
Directed by: Sam Rudykoff17 mins · Canada
Directed by: Tyler Cunningham10 mins · USA
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Directed by: Ballard C. Boyd11 mins · USA
Directed by: Anna Leah Maltezos5 mins · USA
Life Interrupted
Directed by: Mahnoor Euceph15 mins · USA
Directed by: Gus Flind-Henry, George Malcher17 mins · UK
Directed by: James Card14 mins · UK
Directed by: David Japaridze11 mins · Georgia
Directed by: Jordan Canning16 mins · Canada
Directed by: Matt Udvari12 mins · USA
It Was A Dark & Stormy Night
Directed by: Joe D'Ovidio7 mins · UK
Directed by: Jahmil Eady15 mins · USA
Directed by: Adam Azimov7 mins · Canada
Directed by: Juan Frank Hernandez25 mins · Canada, Dominican Republic
Directed by: Greg Derochie9 mins · USA
Directed by: Andrew Duplessie7 mins · USA
Directed by: Ali Cook20 mins · UK
Saturday, October 18
Family Films
Directed by: Christian Loubek14 mins · USA
Directed by: Alex Aljouni15 mins · USA
Directed by: Jean-Philippe Vine10 mins · UK
Directed by: Vanessa Esteves, Kevin Micallef12 mins · Canada
Directed by: Giovanna Ferrari13 mins · Ireland
Directed by: Anjini Taneja Azhar15 mins · USA, India
An Uncomfortable Truth
Directed by: Brandon Shypkowski20 mins · USA
Directed by: Pacqui Pascual10 mins · USA
Directed by: Afia Serena Nathaniel15 mins · Pakistan
Directed by: Eli T Moss11 mins · USA
Directed by: Zihao YU9 mins · China
Directed by: Dominic Fogarty14 mins · USA
Directed by: Harley Idris Hamer11 mins · Australia
True: Stories Inspired By Life
Directed by: Syra McCarthy, Kyle Casey Chu15 mins · USA
Directed by: Dan GagliassoUSA
Directed by: Michaël Vermaercke12 mins · Belgium
Directed by: J. Zachary Thurman27 mins · USA
Directed by: Mitch Yapko17 mins · USA
The Alternative Universe
Directed by: Alexander Thompson15 mins · USA
Directed by: Joe Fereday8 mins · UK
Directed by: Selma Alaoui, Bruno Tracq19 mins · Belgium
Directed by: Cameo Wood16 mins · USA
Directed by: Alexandre Singh, Natalie Musteata35 mins · France
The World Beyond
Directed by: George Chrysanthakopoulos16 mins · Greece
Directed by: Jeff Osborne13 mins · USA
Directed by: Daniel Pineros15 mins · USA
Directed by: Kalani Gacon19 mins · Australia
Directed by: Benjamin Myrick12 mins · USA
Directed by: Oliver Mack Calhoun16 mins · USA
What The What?!?
Directed by: Shaobo Chen5 mins · China
Directed by: Michael Gabriele3 mins · USA
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Directed by: Shaddy Safadi8 mins · USA
Directed by: Neil Ferron20 mins · USA
Directed by: Martim David Gomes7 mins · USA
Directed by: Rayner Wang12 mins · Hong Kong, Japan, USA
Directed by: Alex Boutell15 mins · UK
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Directed by: Herman Karlsson15 mins · Finland
Directed by: Alisha Ketry11 mins · USA
The Human Experience
Directed by: Eliana Pipes9 mins
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Directed by: Sue Ann Pien15 mins · USA
Directed by: Joe Borg11 mins · UK
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Directed by: Jessica J. Rowlands21 mins · Zimbabwe
Directed by: Mohammed Ali Rukadikar20 mins · India
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Directed by: Slava Denisov15 mins · USA
Make ‘Em Laugh: After Dark
Directed by: Richey Beckett10 mins · USA, UK
Directed by: Vidhya Iyer14 mins · USA
Directed by: James Kennedy16 mins · UK
Directed by: Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz13 mins · USA
Directed by: Emily Everhard11 mins · USA
Directed by: Erin Brown Thomas2 mins · USA
Directed by: Lucas Ansel7 mins · USA
Directed by: Frances Chewning7 mins · USA
World Cinema One (Encore Screening)
Encore presentation of World Cinema One.
And So It Begins Encore
Encore presentation of And So It Begins.
Sunday, October 19
World Cinema Three
Directed by: Filip Antonio Lizatović19 mins · Croatia
Directed by: Selma Munksgaard Hansen22 mins · Denmark
Directed by: Rupert Ratcliffe28 mins · UK
Directed by: Maarit Lalli28 mins · Finland
Return of the Ink & Paint Club
Directed by: Bo Qing Tang, Lan Zeng21 mins · China, Taiwan, USA
Directed by: Radheya Jang Jegatheva9 mins · Australia, UK
Directed by: Kazuyuki Ishihara9 mins · Japan
Directed by: Kiran Bhakta Joshi14 mins · Nepal
Directed by: Olivia Marie Valdez9 mins · USA
Directed by: Nathan Engelhardt, Jeremy Spears13 mins · USA
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Directed by: John Kelly17 mins · Ireland
Directed by: Mike Stamm12 mins · USA
Directed by: Greg Franklin7 mins · USA
Directed by: Samantha Ho2 mins · USA
Triggered: Stories of Survival
Directed by: Federica Belletti12 mins · Italy
Directed by: Jonny Durgan7 mins · UK
Directed by: Sarah Harkins22 mins · UK
Directed by: Pedro Greig15 mins · Australia
Directed by: Julia Bales10 mins · USA
Directed by: Antonio De Palo19 mins · Italy
All The World’s A Stage
Directed by: Grant M Johnson17 mins · USA
Directed by: Sam Henderson16 mins · USA
Directed by: Sarah Baskin12 mins · USA
Directed by: Rob Christopher14 mins · USA
Directed by: Michael Wang11 mins · Luxembourg
Directed by: Brynn Mitchell16 mins · USA
Blame It On My Youth
Directed by: Nickolaus Swedlund, Robert Henry19 mins · USA
Directed by: Taige Shi18 mins · USA
Directed by: Barak Stern17 mins · Israel
Directed by: Lucy Suess18 mins · New Zealand
Directed by: Jay Richardson5 mins · USA
Directed by: Lilly Lion14 mins · USA
Closing Night Screening
A closing-night program of films awarded Best Of in their categories.
Audience Choice Selections
Highlights from the films voted favorites by festival audiences.
Best of the Fest
A special presentation of award-winning shorts.
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