2026 Palm Springs International Shortfest Winners

The 32nd rendition of Palm Springs International Short Film Festival (ShortFest) is now behind us, and with it we get no less than five short films which are now qualified for submission to the Academy Awards. With their broad programming of over 300 short films it can feel daunting to tackle a catalogue of this magnitude, but that also comes with the benefit of screening something for everyone and we saw a lot of familiar names and titles among the various blocks of the festival. Regardless of whether you walked away with an award or not, we want to say congratulations to all the film makers who were selected to screen at the festival, and a huge thank you to the programmers at Palm Springs for yet another great year in the books! Here are some quick thoughts on each of the 5 qualifying winners:

Best of the Festival Award: Fruit (Buah), dir. Lim Jen Nee

Every now and then, and perhaps more so in recent years, a film comes along which is just gruesome to watch, yet you cannot take your eyes off it. Think that scene in Titane or the entire third act of The Substance. Fruit by Lim Jen Nee is one of those films. I won’t spoil anything so just go in blind with as big of a crowd as you can find.

Best Animated Short: Fachuk (Fačuk), dir. Maida Srabović

The title fačuk means an illegitimate child, conceived out of wedlock. In the rural, highly religious village where the story is set this is considered a mortal sin. We follow a young pregnant woman trying to navigate this harsh environment. The animation style is kinda cartoon-ish with exaggerated features, not unlike the caricature style you sometimes see from street artists. These characters are then seemingly cut out and plopped into mostly static finely painted drawings, with just enough movement put in to make it all come to life, almost like they climbed in there themselves.

Best Documentary Short: Water Cooler, dir. Emma V.F.

Water Cooler is far from the only documentary covering the ICE atrocities we have seen and I doubt it will be the last, but it has a unique approach in capturing the relatively calm, and therefore even more callous, scenes of ICE lurking outside courtrooms, capturing immigrants as they attempt to legally seek residence permits. Filmed in New York’s Federal Plaza, it gets so up close that you can hear how these so-called agents converse when they think nobody is listening.

Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes: Marga en el DF, dir. Gabriela Ortega

The warm spring is in the air, Selena Quintanilla's murder is filling up the radio waves, and Marga (played by Camila Santana) is heading back to Mexico city to visit the father of her child. At 21 weeks pregnant the trip turns into much more than just a surprise visit. This is a soft and tender story about human error, emotional responses and finding beauty and strength even when it feels like there is none to be found.

Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes and Under: We Were Here, dir. Pranav Bhasin

Pranav Bhasin’s We Were Here follows three retired men in a run down Indian city, trying to protest machines and computers taking over all the jobs by transforming themselves into appliances. That might sound like a sci-fi episode plucked from the latest Netflix series, but I assure you this is anything but. This film is all heart and no effects, with costumes that, in the most charming way possible, look like a last minute halloween option. Even with a reach that is a local nuisance at best, you can’t help but root for these guys as they tackle big tech!

Entire article written by: Robin Hellgren