The Best Short of Spring 2026 at Cal Film Festival is the film that doesn’t use death as the ending, but as the beginning. The Last Goodbye, directed by Kailey Wolf, tells the story of Basia, who hides behind her conservative family’s expectations, when she reunites with a woman she went on a date with at her grandmother’s funeral.…
In addition to the top honor this season — Best Narrative Short (Grand Jury Prize) awarded to The Last Goodbye (USA) — Cal Film Festival’s jury team highlights a select group of films that made a strong impression through their storytelling, craft, and creative vision. These Jury Picks are not awards — they are a recognition of distinctive filmmaking that…
Murder on Mute by Pete Johnson and Quinn Katherman (USA) Best Short Script Murder on Mute is a sharp workplace dark comedy that takes one of the most mundane experiences of remote employment — someone being stuck on mute during a Teams meeting — and turns it into a frantic story about corporate exhaustion, friendship, insecurity,…
California International Short Film Festival is pleased to announce the award winners for the Spring 2026 season. Spring 2026 Award Winners – Genre Competitions Spring 2026 Award Winners – Technical Competitions This quarter has submissions from 20 countries with total runtime of 22:29:26, plus the short scripts, and the following breakdowns: Official Selection: 47.7% Nominations:…
Cal Film Festival is pleased to announce the Spring 2026 award nominations. These finalists were shortlisted from an official selection pool with an acceptance rate of 47.7%, drawn from submissions representing 20 countries. The total runtime is 22:29:26, in addition to the short scripts. Nominees represent the top 20.2% of all submissions for the season. The full list…
Cal Film Festival is proud to name How to Rebury Your Friend by Chinese filmmaker Pengfei Fan as its Best Short of Winter 2025–2026. Built around a deceptively simple premise, How to Rebury Your Friend demonstrates how a local story can illuminate universal questions about memory, belonging, and change. What begins as an attempt by two men to rebury…
In addition to the top honor this season — Best Narrative Short (Grand Jury Prize) awarded to How to Rebury Your Friend (China) — Cal Film Festival’s jury team highlights a select group of films that made a strong impression through their storytelling, craft, and creative vision. These Jury Picks are not awards — they are a recognition of distinctive…
World With No Bargains by William Mariano (USA) Best Short Script World With No Bargains is an intelligent near-future thriller that explores surveillance capitalism, predictive analytics, digital profiling, and the erosion of privacy through the lens of a seemingly ordinary marriage. The screenplay follows Kado and Jenni, a couple whose relationship begins to fracture as Kado becomes increasingly…
California International Short Film Festival is pleased to announce the award winners for the Winter 2025-2026 season. Winter 2025-2026 Award Winners – Genre Competitions Winter 2025-2026 Award Winners – Technical Competitions This quarter has submissions from 17 countries with total runtime of 18:54:01, plus the short scripts, and the following breakdowns: Official Selection: 54.4% Nominations:…
Cal Film Festival is pleased to announce the Winter 2025-2026 award nominations. These finalists were shortlisted from an official selection pool with an acceptance rate of 54.4%, drawn from submissions representing 17 countries. The total runtime is 18:54:01, in addition to the short scripts. Nominees represent the top 30.6% of all submissions for the season. The full list…
This season, the top honor at Cal Film Festival goes to Spare!, a sharp, darkly comedic short film written and directed by Jules Cales and Balthazar Ullmann (France). What begins as a grim assignment for two hapless henchmen ends in runaway chaos: a story about luck, desperation, and the irresistible absurdity of two men who stumble…
In addition to the top honor this season — Best Narrative Short (Grand Jury Prize) awarded to Spare! (France) — Cal Film Festival’s jury team highlights a select group of films that made a strong impression through their storytelling, craft, and creative vision. These Jury Picks are not awards — they are a recognition of distinctive filmmaking that stood out within this…
Very Soon Now by Jeremy Heilmeier (USA) Outstanding Achievement Award A sharply constructed one-night horror thriller that uses primal fears — isolation, dead phone lines, a stranger in the house — to create a terrifying countdown. Jess, a college-age babysitter, finds herself in a secluded home surrounded by dark woods, spotty cell service, and a…
California International Short Film Festival is pleased to announce the award winners for the Fall 2025 season. Fall 2025 Award Winners – Genre Competitions Fall 2025 Award Winners – Technical Competitions This quarter has submissions from 17 countries with total runtime of 21:55:34, plus the short scripts, and the following breakdowns: Official Selection: 51.1% Nominations:…
Cal Film Festival is pleased to announce the Fall 2025 award nominations. These finalists were shortlisted from an official selection pool with an acceptance rate of 51.1%, drawn from submissions representing 17 countries. The total runtime is 21:55:34, in addition to the short scripts. Nominees represent the top 28.8% of all submissions for the season. The full list…
With breathtaking visual poetry and emotional depth, Lamp by Zoe Peng has been awarded Best Narrative Short (Grand Jury Prize) of the Summer 2025 season at Cal Film Festival. Originally created as the central interlude VCR for singer Angela Zhang’s 2025 Seeking Light world tour, Lamp reaches far beyond its concert-film origins. It unfolds as a mesmerizing cinematic fable—a space where stagecraft meets storytelling and spectacle gives way to soul.…