Download the 2026 Programme

 (Please note the programme may be updated.
Last updated: 22 Feb 2026)

2026 Awards

Best Film:

Nominees:
Birthday Suit, Far from the Plains, In the Clouds, Reliefs, The Pearl Comb

Best Director:

Nominees:
Birthday Suit (Lisanne Sweere), Bluff (Naomi Wright), Far from the Plains (Luigi Sibona), In The Clouds (Alexandra Bahíyyih Wain), Two Heartbeats (Mariah Proctor)

Best Actor:

Nominees:
Dear Universe (Greg Smith), Heavy Weight (Dong-Hoon Lee), Place Under the Sun (Grigore Bechet), Toad in the Hole (Daniel Hoffmann-Gill), Tulips (David Shaw Parker)

Best Actress:

Nominees:
An Excess Baggage (Sophie Verbeeck), Clutter (Suzanne Proctor), Pyre (Tara Kaye Burgh), Reliefs (Luisa Huertas), Thin Line (Leoni Landa)

Best Young Performance:

Nominees:
Bluff (Kayla and Kara Caldwell), Far from the Plains (Amari Bacchus), In Out (Bruna Geara/Olga El-Khoury), In The Clouds (Nika Roufi/Sophia Akraminejad), Ivanko's Childhood (Luke Borobei)

Best Early Career Filmmaker:

Nominees:
An Excess Baggage (Myriam Garcia Marienstras), Battered (Michael Inglis), Break Clause (Laura Prendergast), Pyre (Dylan Miller), Tea Travel (Julien Jean-Zayatz)

Best Cinematography:

Nominees:
Bleeding, Bluff, Empire of Others, The Father Joe Show, Wetboy

Best Editing:

Nominees:
Dressed to the Nines, Fractured Frame, Life Support, More than the Sea, The Beneath

Best Song/Musical:

Nominees:
Le Goût du Ciel, My Algorithm, Prom Party Massacre, Silhouette, Strolling Down Brighton Pier

Best Music Score:

Nominees:
Decode Me (Alex Marchistone), Far From The Plains (Hollie Buhagiar), Hold (Gustav Karlström), The Cruelty Men (Sandy Devers), The Pearl Comb (Clark)

Best Script:

Nominees:
Conception Game, Essentially Painless, In Out, Liars of Black Mountain Road, Thieving Magpie

Best Sound:

Nominees:
All the Colours, OK/NOTOK, Reliefs, The Pearl Comb, Thieving Magpie

Best Design:

Nominees:
Egg Timer, Essentially Painless, Hold, Strolling Down Brighton Pier, The Lace

Best Animation:

Nominees:
Another Day, Ball Lightning, Cell Buddies, Flame, Time Flies

Best Comedy:

Nominees:
A Wonderful Neighbour, Egg Timer, Essentially Painless, Thieving Magpie, Toad In The Hole

Best Documentary:

Nominees:
Houdini II: A Beautiful Day to Die, More Than The Sea, The Little Cinema In Gloucester, The Long Run, Tschäggättä

Best Drama:

Nominees:
A Part of Oneself, Hold, Safe, Thin Line, Tulips

Best Horror/Thriller:

Nominees:
7x7x7, Gilda, Prom Party Massacre, The Beneath, The Father Joe Show

Best Local Documentary:

Nominees:
Barry Pryke: The MG Man, Príncipe Past & Present, Qu LeiLei, The Rescue Tender, Walking with Dadima's Community

Best Local Film:

Nominees:
Alma, One More Day, Safe, Seed, The Bottom Line

Best Microshort:

Nominees:
12,000 to 1, A Wonderful Neighbour, Alice, Bitter Fruit, Strokes of Wildflowers

Best Online Documentary:

Nominees:
Adas Falasteen, An Ordinary Insanity, Hind, Put America First, The Next Frontier Of Innovation

Best Online Film:

Nominees:
Amen, Chhat, Crit, Divide, Do You Want To, Endolife, Flame, Flightpaths, For Elise, Heavy Weight, I'm Not Awake and Neither Are You, Le Gout du Ciel, My Algorithm, Place Under The Sun, Quicksand, Same Difference, Silenced, The Rocket, The Shape That's Left Behind, Uneven Bars

Queer Stories Award:

Nominees:
Alma, Amen, Clutter, Collage, Wetboy

Best Sci-Fi:

Nominees:
Neah Bay: Restoring Ancestral Waters, Portrait of a Seaweed Farmer: Ana Borrero, PhD, Príncipe Past & Present, Ray The Rug, The Bottom Line

Green Awards:

Nominees:
EXIMO, I Made The Time Machine, Lapso, The End Was Just The Beginning, While Some Must Sleep