The 21st Annual HollyShorts Film Festival, one of the most prestigious short film showcases worldwide, returns August 7–17, 2025, at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatres in Los Angeles, with global audiences tuning in via Bitpix. This year, the festival shines brighter than ever with a selection of 427 films chosen from a staggering wave of 7000 submissions.
HollyShorts Festival is a celebration of boundary-pushing short-form storytelling, where powerhouse celebrity names and deeply moving, socially resonant narratives converge. This year’s selections, spanning live-action brilliance, heartfelt documentaries, and daring experimental shorts, reaffirm HollyShorts as a dynamic platform elevating the next wave of cinematic voices.
The festival designates four key award categories whose winners become automatically eligible for Academy Award consideration: Best Short Film (Grand Prize), Best Short Animation, Best Short Live Action, and Best Documentary Short—the latter recently added, bringing the total to four qualifying awards in all.
| AAPI Award | 11:11 – Mahnoor Euceph
LITTLE BIRD – Oanh-Nhi Nguyen Mushroom Dad – Michael Yuchen Lei |
| Best Animation | Hurikán – Jan Saska
My Brother, My Brother – Abdelrahman Dnewar, Saad Dnewar Ovary-Acting – Ida Melum The Shyness of Trees – Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck du Plessis d’Argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, Bingqing Shu Snow Bear – Aaron Blaise |
| Best Cinematography | Lo Que Desaparece – Mario Lerma, Alex Rapariz
The Singers – Sam Davis Under the Ice – Natascha Vavrina |
| Best Comedy | CANDY BAR – Nash Edgerton
Mushroom Dad – Michael Yuchen Lei SUSANA – Gerardo Coello Escalante, Amandine Thomas |
| Best Documentary | Bloody Mess – Megan Wennberg
EXODUS – Nimco Sheikhaden Hoops, Hopes & Dreams – Glenn Kaino Keeper – Hannah Rafkin Voices from the Abyss – Irving Serrano, Victor Rejón |
| Best Drama | Mercenaire – Pier-Philippe Chevigny
Ragamuffin – Kaitlyn Mikayla Trapped – Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz |
| Best Editing | You Are Here – Spencer Lackey (Director), Ryan Vergara (Editor)
The Painting & The Statue – Freddie Fox (Director), Paulo Pandolpho (Editor) Say Wuff! – Fabian Podeszwa |
| Best Horror | Heirlooms – Dan Abramovici
The Littles – Andrew Duplessie Stomach Bug – Matty Crawford |
| Best International | Aicha – Sanaa El Alaoui
The Painting & The Statue – Freddie Fox A Son and a Father – Andrés Ramírez Pulido |
| Best Midnight Madness | Channelvue – Brandon Tauszik
Neuro – Wes Ellis Stomach Bug – Matty Crawford |
| Best Music Video | ADONXS: Kiss Kiss Goodbye – Jiří Horenský
Earth Defender – Sil van der Woerd, Jorik Dozy, Kynan Tegar Asaf Sagiv: Łódź I – Manuel Inacker |
| Best Producer | Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting – Alexander Thompson (Director), Roger Mayer (Producer)
Money Talks – Tony Mucci (Director and Producer), Scott Aharoni (Producer), Bryan Schmier (Producer), David Mazouz (Producer) Rise – Jessica J. Rowlands (Director), Joe Njagu (Producer) |
| Best Sci-Fi | Highway To The Moon – Letitia Wright
The Second Time Around – Jack Howard Under The Infinite – Warren Fu |
| Best Special Effects | Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting – Alexander Thompson
Genealogy of Violence – Mohamed Bourouissa Under the Ice – Michel Nicola Benjamin Kessler, Oesch David |
| Best Student Film | 1:10 – Sinan Taner
Crust – Jens Kevin Georg Punter – Jason Adam Maselle |
| Best Thriller | LUX CARNE – Gabriel Grosclaude
Plastic Surgery – Guy Trevellyan The Things We Carry – Thibaud Goarin |
| Best TV | Big Man – Aneil Karia
Chasers – Erin Brown Thomas Neo-Dome – Bonnie Discepolo |
| Best Web Series | Descent – Liam Fitzgibbon
The Funkee Sketch Show – Karla Espino Hasaan Hates Portland – Mischa Webley |
| Kodak Best Shot on Film, 16MM | ATTAGIRL! – by Klimovski
Pasta Negra – Jorge Thielen Armand Ragamuffin – Kaitlyn Mikayla |
| Kodak Best Shot on Film, 35MM | Rage – Fran Moreno Blanco, Santi Pujol Amat
The Singers – Sam Davis Synthesize Me – Bear Damen |
| Latine Award | Boyfighter – Julia Weisberg Cortés
Cura Sana – Lucía G. Romero Luz Diabla – Gervasio Canda, Paula Boffo, Patricio Plaza |
| LGBTQIA+ Award | Dancing in Tomorrowland – Jakob Roston
Lovin’ Her – day Poreless – Harris Doran |
| SAGindie Award | All The Love I Could Handle – Ruby Rose Collins
L’avance – Djiby Kebe Missing Rhythms – Regina Hoyles |
| Social Impact Award | Aicha – Sanaa El Alaoui
Black Scarf – Ali Reza Shah Hosseini Rise – Jessica J. Rowlands |
| Sports Nominees | Brick By Brick – Chris Boyd, Nate Riedel
It’s On Like A Pot Of Neckbones – Joey Garfied Negro League Nights – Kyle Sykes |
| Top Live Action Finalists | A Son and a Father – Andrés Ramírez Pulido
Mercenaire – Pier-Philippe Chevigny Ragamuffin – Kaitlyn Mikayla Amarela – André Hayato Saito L’avance – Djiby Kebe Trapped – Sam & David Cutler-Kreutz One Day This Kid – Alexander Farah One Of Them – Mostafa Vaziri A Friend of Dorothy – Lee Knight Rise – Jessica J. Rowlands |
sooo the ones highlighted grey are the winners then?
No, I think that's just how the formatting is on the page. Winners haven't been announced yet.
I'm confused because the categories in the article don't match the four Academy qualifying categories. How can we see who the finalists are for those?
I assume that they aren't announcing finalists for Best of the Fest? And that Best Animation and Best Documentary align with the respective categories?
Any word on screenplay, short script, and pilot episode finalists?