Cal Film Festival

California International Short Film Festival

Winter 2023/2024 Nominations: Genre Competitions

The following projects (short films, TV & web series, and screenplays) are the finalists of the Winter 2023/2024 quarter season competing in 22 genre categories, plus the technical ones.

These projects were shortlisted from an official selection pool with 47,4% acceptance rate, based on submissions from 21 countries and total runtime of 30:41:23, plus the short scripts.

The nominees are placed in the top 26,7%.

***Categories not listed have no submissions meeting the requirements, namely minimum scores to make the cut***

***Categories TBA have 2 or less projects with scores for the awards cut. The award winner(s) announcement for these categories is done along with the award winners of all of the other categories***

Winter 2023/2024 Nominations: Technical Competitions

Winter 2023/2024: Semi-finalists

Best Narrative Short (Grand Jury Prize)

Burden by James Nanney Jr (USA)

Enemy No More by Christopher Schultz (USA)

Petit Louis by Andre Bato (USA)

The Nightmare Eater by Ruei-Ci Jhou (USA)

Through the Modern Looking Glass by Tanya Chuturkova and Kim Wang (USA)

Best Foreign Short (Grand Jury Prize)

Cross Your Mountain by Migo (China)

Ojue by Fernando Alberto Broce (Panama)

The March of the Penguins by Daniela Lugo and José Ansareo (Mexico)

Best Documentary Short

#WAY_Aurelio by Alan Rexroth (Germany)

Al Primo & His Eyewitness News Revolution by Brian Calfano (USA)

I Am This Dark World’s Light by Jonathan Sawyer (USA)

My Sotos Brother by Laszlo Nef (Switzerland)

When We Get Home by Kathleen Potter Shriver (USA)

Best Comedy Short

Dad Bod Dale by Cam Woodman, Jamie Patterson, and Carly Fawcett (Canada)

Demon Interrupted by NJ Brown and Anthony Bretting (USA)

So Far So Good by Graham Cooper (USA)

Best Crime Short

Losing Faith by Allan Wasserman (USA)

Wolfpack by Cédric Peyster (France)

Your Move, My Lady by Tereza Hirsch (Czechia)

Best Thriller Short

TBA

Best Horror Short

TBA

Best Sci-Fi Short

TBA

Best Fantasy Short

TBA

Best Western Short

TBA

Best Animation Short

Being Frank by Jason Joel Lethcoe (USA)

Play Dead by Zijiang Yang (China)

The Burial of Natty Bumppo by Fred Burns (USA)

Best Children Short

TBA

Best Women Short

Forevertown by Oona Garthwaite (USA)

Home by Kanya Iwana (USA)

Lines by Sara Werner (USA)

Snowflake by Carter Bowden (USA)

Wrong Side Up by Shubhangi Shekhar (USA)

Best LGBTQ Short

Arlo and The Sea by Damian Overton (Australia)

Boyfriends by C.J. Arellano (USA)

Mahjong Butterfly by Yinlin Chen (China)

Best Experimental Short

Cloudcounting by Suzanne Knop (USA)

Connection by Peer Langenheim (Germany)

Nothing But Emptiness by Loxel Li (China)

Rapacity by Julia De Simone and Ricardo Pretti (Brazil)

Until… by Tanin Torabi (Iran)

Best Student Short

Opus 1: f.u.n by Lux Carroll (USA)

Ram’s Head by Casey Lee Ball (USA)

Ruby’s Dad by David Tschan (USA)

The Pain of Being by Jes Pace (Malta)

Therapist of the Year by Abel B. Padilla (USA)

Best Newcomer Short

On The Paths Awakened by Axel Dahan (France)

The Memory Album by Cameron Ryan Soedi (Canada)

Uninsured by Jamal McLemore (USA)

Water Park by Joshua Montrel (USA)

Without You by Al Friedman (USA)

Best Microfilm

TBA

Best Screendance Short

TBA

Best Music Video

Abandon by Jeff Hilliard (USA)

Galón by Hao Yan (USA)

Getting Along by Scott Dobson and Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Canada)

Johan – Cincinnati by Amalia de la Veja (Netherlands)

The Girl Who Faded Away by Brent Heise (USA)

Best Web Series/TV Pilot

AI vs Deep State by Katalin Weith (Hungary)

Manage This! by Michael Monks and Richard Waterhouse (USA)

The Donut Mob by Stephen Bushnik (Canada)

Best Short Script

TBA

Winter 2023/2024 Nominations: Technical Competitions

Winter 2023/2024: Semi-finalists

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