2026 Festival Award Winners

And So It Begins

• Everyone Has Issues… — Christie Lynn Smith (USA)
• Filthy — Lisa Cole (USA)
• How I Learned To Die — Manya Glassman (USA)
• Men in Towels — Kiyan Agadjani (Luxembourg)
• Stop to Stop — Samantha Massell, Asher Grodman (USA)
• The Windy Day — Zong-Yi Xie, Shih-Chien Hsu (Taiwan)
• Tomorrow I Start My Life — Alec Cohen (USA)

A Brave New World

• Blank Slate — Andrew Schwab (USA)
• Chinaman — Rob Chiu (UK)
• Fire Lilly — Phil Dunn (UK)
• I Am The Prize — Sai Karan Talwar (UK)
• Lumps — Maya Winkler (USA)
• One Night — Maggie Sophie Brown, Tyler Morris Brown (USA)

World Cinema One

• Broken Dawn — Hae-0h Park (South Korea)
• G.O.A.T. — Daan Bunnik (Netherlands)
• Never Give Up! — Tamás Yvan Topolánszky (Hungary, Mexico)
• Nightfaces — Martin Winter, Stefan Langthaler (Austria)
• Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts — Shervin Kermani (Canada, Mexico, Spain)
• Summer Project — Yuki Hara (Japan)

Opening Night Screening

• We Were Here — Pranav Bhasin (India)
• The Piano — Avery Kroll (USA)
• Aftertouch — Levi Verspeek (Netherlands)
• I Will Be Alright — Cyrus Neshvad (Luxembourg)
• Panther Pat — Ashley Brandon (USA)
• Signal — Zak Jarvis (UK)

The Road Not Taken

• Cat — Andy Ridings (USA)
• Davi — Júlia González (Spain)
• I Will Be Alright — Cyrus Neshvad (Luxembourg)
• It’s Relative — Nnamdi Nwosa (USA)
• M.R.I. (or, Michael Returns Indefinitely) — John F. Beach (USA)
• Missed — Nell Riley (USA)
• Sweet Delusion — David Prendeville (Ireland)
• The Squatters and the Fairy Princess — Jake James Whitford (Australia)

The Alternative Universe

• Delicates — Ben See-Tho, Kyle Petersen (USA)
• Grossness of Closeness — Cathal Power (Ireland, USA)
• In Between — Brent Morris (USA)
• Kafka’s Appraisal — Martin Gooch (UK)
• Tadpole — Ethan Lader (USA)

Emerging Filmmakers

• Aftertouch — Levi Verspeek (Netherlands)
• Clouds Are Fake — Scott James (USA)
• Laser-Gato — Lucas Acher (Brazil, UK, USA)
• Little Things — Noam Rignault Clement (USA)
• Nice Jewish Girl — Carly Brand (Australia)
• See You in the Morning — Gaby Clingman (USA)
• See You, Soon — Jay Pendarvis Jr. (USA)

A Hard DOCs Life

• Abu Jabal — Bisan Owda (Palestine)
• Antonio and the Last Wizard — Eros Zhao (USA)
• Oakland Strong — David Godinez (USA)
• Panther Pat — Ashley Brandon (USA)
• Plant Life — Brett Marty, Josh Izenberg (USA)
• The Right Fit — Max Mollring, Nicolas Collins (USA)
• WHERE WE PLAYED. Voices From the Fire. — Austin Cauldwell, Nat Wolff (USA)

Family Matters

• Fil-Am — Ralph Torrefranca (USA)
• Happy For You — Ted Malawer (USA)
• Kit — Lottie Amor (UK)
• Seaweed Snacks — Sylvia Ray (USA)
• The Birthday Gift — Arianna Ortiz (USA)
• Wait to Tell Mother — Emma Elizabeth Steiger (USA)

Make ‘Em Laugh

• First Session — Mitch Silpa (USA)
• Higher Education — Jenna Rossman, Tessa Lee (USA)
• My Dog: The Paradox — Matthew Inman, Hannah Friesen (USA)
• Philly Pretzels — Justin Crowell (USA)
• Roland — Adan Peña (USA)
• The Boyfriend — Sunny Tripathy (USA)
• The Method — Luke Howe (USA)
• We Were Here — Pranav Bhasin (India)

It Was a Dark & Stormy Night

• Banshee — Peter Vass (Ireland)
• Four Itchy Boys — Andrew Hebert (USA)
• Headphones — Steven Arriagada (Australia)
• Noise — George Aigner (USA)
• Spilled Milk — Jared Leaf (USA)
• The Humbug — Cole Paviour (UK)
• Void — Javier Cano Larumbe (Spain)

Family Films

• ChikaBOOM! — c. Craig Patterson (USA)
• Clara All the Way — Rachel Karalnik (USA)
• First Haircut! — Ivo Kos (USA)
• Just My Luck — Nicholas Pitts (USA)
• Last Minute — Michael Cusumano (USA)
• One More Cup — Max Wagenblass (USA)
• Rock, Paper, Destiny — Tess Paras (USA)
• The Carolers — Regina F Pigsley (UK, USA)

Return of the Ink & Paint Club

• Alyssum — Alex King (USA)
• Beast of the Seine — Jon Portman (USA)
• Dear Upstairs Neighbors — Connie Qin He (USA)
• Metafear — Shuhei MORITA (Japan)
• Remember the Rats — Juan M. Abdo (Argentina, Ecuador, USA)
• Saba — Liron Topaz (USA)
• Sunspark — Danny Bourque (USA)
• Titmouse — Qing Liu (China)
• Two Ships — McKinley Benson (Portugal, USA)
• Waiting Room — Joe Zito (USA)

The World Beyond

• Europa — Jacqueline Elyse Rosenthal (USA)
• Love & Lazarite — Krí Schafer (USA)
• Machines Learning — Anthony Koithra (USA)
• Please and Thank You — Hal Kirkland (USA)
• Requirements — Caroline Hajny (UK)
• The Catcher — Luka Galle (Belgium)

Musically Inclined

• ¡Que Suene La Banda! — Jorge Parra Jr. (USA)
• Addicted to It — Nigel Tierney, Federico Heller (Argentina, Ireland, USA)
• Getar Hero — Teddy Stern (USA)
• Headbang — Anna Khaja (USA)
• Overtones — Ollie Gardner (UK)
• Plus — Renaud Hallée (Canada)
• The Piano — Avery Kroll (USA)
• The Platform — Mark Harris (Australia, USA)

World Cinema Two

• A Young Sofiane — Fabien Ara (France)
• Butcher’s Stain — Meyer Levinson-Blount (Israel)
• Our Kingdom — Chris Ross (UK)
• Paper Pilots — Fiorella Vescovi (USA, Uruguay)
• Pitch-Black — Andrés Gil (Spain)

What the What?!?

• A Hand to Hold — Philip Clyde-Smith (UK)
• A Tail — Rosie Gaunt-Mathieson (UK)
• Borderline — Johannes Vang (Finland, Norway)
• Dangling — Floris van Doorn (Netherlands)
• Houston, We Have a Crush — Omer Ben Shachar (USA)
• Sorry, Clancy Miller — Haynes Brooke (USA)
• The Me in the TV — Gordon Phillips (USA)

The Human Experience

• Can’t Float — Dave Schilling (USA)
• Earthquake Note — Kat Foster (USA)
• I Love You More Than Dinosaurs — Tyler Coon (USA)
• Life Goes On — Kat Butterfield, Daniel Audritt (UK)
• Meeting Your Maker — Gregory JM Kasunich (USA)
• Rubinstein’s — Tommy Ross-Williams (UK)
• Signal — Zak Jarvis (UK)

Make ‘Em Laugh: After Dark

• Baggage — Jeni Emery, Ramsay Palmer (USA)
• Coconut + Pistol — Gregory Caruso (USA)
• Disc — Blake Rice (USA)
• Lawyered Up — Tatiana Blackington James (USA)
• The Bris — Alec Bewkes (USA)
• The Gift — Alexandra Gavillet (USA)

I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This

• A Good Man — Juli Suàrez (Spain)
• How To Disappear — George Thomson, Lukas Schrank (Australia, Japan, UK)
• Moderation — Benedict Cohen (UK)
• The Devil’s Lettuce — Richard Rogers (USA)
• The Hunger — Rumman Ariff (USA)
• The Liars of Black Mountain Road — Parker Croft (USA)
• Wax Girl — Stimson Snead (USA)

A Brave New World: Encore Presentation

Encore presentation of A Brave New World.

World Cinema: British Invasion

• A Twist of Hate — Maddy Shenai (UK)
• Beautiful Birds — Tommy Clarke (UK)
• Fitting — Kasra Firouzyar (UK)
• Kitty — Lizzie Hart, James Newman (UK)
• Matilda’s Arrived — Macadie Amoroso (UK)
• We Are Where We Are — Clara Planelles (UK)
• Wegwerf! — Cole Edwards (UK)

Life Interrupted

• Arlene — Elizabeth Dement (USA)
• FarEye — Hayden Mclean (UK)
• Glitterbomb — Brian Leahy (USA)
• Ridgeview — Jon Gollner (USA)
• Safe — Govind Chandran (Isle of Man, UK)
• So Lucky — Sarah LaVerne (USA)
• Sundays — Ashley Gerst (USA)
• Veronica — Brett Dos Santos (USA)

Meet the Filmmakers

• Little Chaplin — Alfonso Jeronimo Campos (USA)
• Okage — Daiz Keikaku (Japan)

All the World’s a Stage

• Fiction — Ambroise Rateau (France)
• Something Pointles — Asa Bailey (UK)
• The Old Man at the Bar — Alexander Jeffery (USA)
• The Resistance — Natalie Schwan (Belgium)
• Three — Robert Carlyle (UK)

An Uncomfortable Truth

• Green Grass — Aram Atkinson (UK)
• Hunted — Christopher T Folkens (USA)
• HVAC — Jackson McKeehan (USA)
• Light Skinned — Aaron Royce Jones (USA)
• Miriam — Lauren Blumenfeld, Jennifer Chambers (USA)
• Poisoned Skies — Caroline Friend (USA)
• Wait — Paige Morrow Kimball (USA)

More from a Hard DOCs Life

• Body of Work — Cassidy Rast, Odin Wadleigh (USA)
• Grappling Grace — Alexander Kiehl, Misha Novak (UK)
• Journey Man — Chip Curry (USA)
• Silly Little Plastic Cat — Zack Grant (France, USA)
• The Chimney Sweeper — Jack Raese (USA)
• The Hardest Working Man — Aaron Cassara (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.