Cal Film Festival

California International Short Film Festival

Spring 2025 Nominations – Genre Competitions

The following projects—including short films, television and web series, and screenplays—have been selected as finalists for the Spring 2025 quarter, competing across 22 genre-specific categories, as well as technical categories.

These finalists were shortlisted from an official selection pool with an acceptance rate of 48.5%, drawn from submissions representing 10 countries. The total runtime is 9:08:52, in addition to the short scripts.

Nominees represent the top 33.7% of all submissions for the season.

Categories not listed did not receive submissions that met the minimum qualifying score.
TBA categories include two or fewer qualifying entries; award winners in these categories will be announced alongside the winners of all other categories.

Spring 2025 Nominations – Technical Competitions

Spring 2025 – Semi-Finalists

Best Narrative Short (Grand Jury Prize)

TBA

Best Foreign Short (Grand Jury Prize)

Brightest Summer Darkest Night by Zewen Wu and Dongcheng Jiang (China)

Crop Duster by Leonid Okhitin (Armenia)

Wind by Mingyi Jing (China)

Best Documentary Short

American Orthodox by Robert John Hammond (USA)

Moving Arts – Setting Hearts Ablaze by Zac Cornfield (USA)

StreetVet by Stephanie Keelan (UK)

Best Sci-Fi Short

TBA

Best Fantasy Short

TBA

Best Western Short

TBA

Best Animation Short

Carbono by Alberto Arvizu and Yael Gonzalez (Mexico)

Fall by Zhengyan Li (China)

Homeless Man by Youngin Lee (USA)

Best Children Short

TBA

Best LGBTQ Short

TBA

Best Student Short

A Baleful Reunion by Ishaan Teja (USA)

Opa by Merivelle Hannah (USA)

Parks, Boulevards, and Playgrounds by Eva Luna Devis (USA)

Best Experimental Short

A Peach from Earth by Bowen Li (Australia)

The Ridiculous Romantic by Jim Moore (USA)

Walkers by William M Mesa (USA)

Best Microfilm

TBA

Best Web Series/TV Pilot

TBA

Best Music Video

TBA

Best Short Script

TBA

Spring 2025 Nominations – Technical Competitions

Spring 2025 – Semi-Finalists

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