
WINNER: Mateo Salas
A farmer travels with his children to visit their mother. The bus is stopped mid-journey at a paramilitary checkpoint, where they choose three boys to stay behind, including the farmer’s son. The bus must continue on its journey, meanwhile the man doesn't know if he will ever see his son again.

Juan Pablo Daranas Molina
A biologist opposes her daughter's attempt to cure her disease through spiritual healing.

Theo-Ziny Joel
Bala asks his father Danjuma, who is preparing for a war upon which his son's future depends, if he can come with him. Bala wants to be a warrior like his father and wants to own a machete too and go to war, instead of going to school.

Alisha Mehra
Two first-generation Australians compete against each other at the annual badminton competition; one fights for recognition, and the other for the prize money.

Pietro Venier
Nineteen-year-old Carlo lives a happy life in Trieste, on the Italian coast, with his grandmother Sandra and best friend Federico. Federico has an outlandish plan to open a restaurant with Carlo in Trieste, while the latter is worrying about Sandra growing older. However, a job awaits Carlo on the island of Tuvalu and he will soon have to make a decision. With Tuvalu set to disappear in the future due to rising water levels and Federico using Trieste as an emotional anchor, will Carlo be able to leave his home and his only world behind him to travel thousands of miles to a sinking island?

WINNER: Seonghoon Eric Park
Gloucester is home to one of the oldest and largest fishing communities in the United States. Generations of Sicilian immigrants have worked on the rough waters of New England since the late 1600s, but recent changes in government regulations and ocean temperatures have endangered their sacred practice. Young aspiring fishermen are now scarce, and the history of this once bustling community is endangered. Those who have fished for cod and its relative species look to stay alive despite a gloomy future.

Catalina Fonseca Arango
Stories of a Dancing Mind is an experimental documentary about Maria José, an ‘art explorer’ with a dancing, creative mind who through written logbooks reveals her thoughts, experiences and deepest reflections. This project seeks to strengthen the relationship between the body, dance and the 'ordered chaos' - or entropy - that is present in each of us as living, breathing, moving beings.

Shiao-ya (Maggie) Huang
This film is dedicated to the filmmaker’s grandmother’s house, Chang Chun. Similar to the fate of several old buildings in Taipei, Chang Chun was due to be demolished by the end of this year. Through interviews, buried memories float up, stories are formed, and realities are blended. Chang Chun is brought back to life in its earliest days; perhaps inaccurately, but it is the subjective reality that has stayed with the people, making it their living truth. Through collaborative family efforts, they explore the discrepancy between each other's memories, the challenges surrounding urban renewal, the concept of ephemerality, and most importantly
deeply engraved family experiences and emotions in the house. At the end, the family gives the house their most sincere thanks for providing them a home for over 30 years. If this house was a person, this film would be its farewell ceremony, preserving its last visage in this chapter of its life.

Lubeera Saphina
Hellen Baleke, a Ugandan female boxer, rises in the ghetto after she has been sexually assaulted and amidst challenges.

Ishan Vaidya
Nestled in the Celtic Sea, the pristine island of Skokholm is witness to one of the greatest wildlife gatherings in Britain every spring and summer. Home to one of the largest breeding colonies of Atlantic Puffins in southern Britain, the island takes center stage as the comic and tragic lives of these enthralling creatures unfold over time.

Faith Olaewe & Doyinsola Ajayi
Shalewa, a reclusive autistic teenager, finds comfort in building and repairing objects using metal scraps. Constantly tormented by mischievous siblings, she retreats into her world of creation. When a severe fish shortage in the village river threatens her mother’s livelihood, pushing their family into debt and the risk of eviction, Shalewa is determined to use her skills to help.

Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz & Gus Murray
Eight-year-old Elvis witnesses a dramatic family shift when his mother Lola invites Mohammed, an immigrant stranger, into their home for money, culminating in an unexpected green card marriage. As Elvis navigates a staged familial landscape, collapsing memories of his biological father fragment the line between truth and lies. When an unannounced visit from authorities disrupts their precarious arrangement, the consequences of adult choices threaten to overwhelm Elvis and his family, pulling them into uncertain emotional waters.

Hayder Hoozeer & Franz Böhm
Based on a true story, a father and son operating a makeshift hospital at the frontline are tested when a platoon of opposing soldiers approach their building, forcing them to make a difficult decision in order to protect their patients and their own lives.

Luis J. Arellano
After the death of her young daughter, Sara kidnaps a baby from a woman she meets in a park. The journey to rectify the crime she has committed leads her to explore the darkest corners of the soul and confront the hellish reality that the family was already enduring.

Muhammed Ashfaque
In Bethlehem, the unexpected arrival of Maria, a pregnant nun, into an isolated convent run by a community of elderly nuns sets off a chain of events.