SCREENPLAY
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In a year that has seen 1,184 submissions across categories, our screenplay selection emerges as a powerful testament to the enduring power of the unfilmed narrative, where urgent contemporary themes intersect with innovative storytelling structures. These works demonstrate an extraordinary ability to excavate both historical trauma and future anxieties, while maintaining an unwavering focus on human connection and resilience.
The selection spans remarkable thematic territory: Leanna Woodley's "Native America" masterfully weaves indigenous futurism with historical trauma, creating what theorist Gerald Vizenor might term a "survivance narrative," while Michael Ellis's "Black Dog Stanton" crafts an intimate dance between generational displacement and urban isolation. Pouya Pirhosseinloo's "The Girl with Ash[en] Skin" draws from Persian mythology to create a haunting meditation on loss and return, reminiscent of the psychological complexity found in Asghar Farhadi's works. Micke Askernäs's "System Shutdown" approaches contemporary techno-anxiety through the lens of parental love, creating a narrative that bridges personal intimacy with systemic collapse. These unproduced works represent not merely potential films, but vital dispatches from cinema's imaginative frontier. |
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Best Feature Screenplay
1st Place Winner · Native America (USA) · Leanna Woodley 2nd Place Nominee · Possum Kingdom (USA) · Hank Slaughter 3rd Place Nominee · Heist Counter Heist (UK) · Helen Rana Nominee · The Teenage Tasting Collective (USA) · L. Andrew Cooper Semi-Finalist · Someone, Somewhere, Is Listening (USA) · Gene Gwynne Semi-Finalist · Her Place (USA) · John T. Frederick Semi-Finalist · The Surrogate Father (USA) · Rob McNeil Semi-Finalist · Valentine's Law (Australia) · Karen Matthews Semi-Finalist · The Ghosts Of Wellington X3757 (UK) · Nicola Gaughan Semi-Finalist · Recycle Or Recover (Ireland) · Mervyn McCracken Semi-Finalist · A Bushranger's Curse (Australia) · Jeffrey Milne Best TV Script 1st Place Winner · The Girl With Ash[en] Skin (Iran) · Pouya Pirhosseinloo 2nd Place Nominee · Birthright: Bloodlines (USA) · Michael Hutchinson 3rd Place Nominee · Who Loves The Lovemakers? (USA) · Rob McNeil Semi-Finalist · Which Way From Here (UK) · Alicia Defonzo Semi-Finalist · Homeworld, Book Of Althea (USA) · Marta Jorgensen Semi-Finalist · Detective Orion (USA) · Samuel H Marx, Taylor Rainey Semi-Finalist · Renard: Life, Loves And Wars Of A Young Dragoon (Italy) · Gianpaolo Saccomano |
Best Short Screenplay
1st Place Winner · Black Dog Stanton (UK) · Michael Ellis 2nd Place Nominee · The Trouble With Superpowers (UK) · Helen Rana 3rd Place Nominee · Birthright: Bloodlines (USA) · Michael Hutchinson Nominee · Cupidity (Netherlands) · Marleen Irani Semi-Finalist · Evie And Beck Kill A Monster (USA) · Chris Paschall Semi-Finalist · The Adventures Of C.J. (USA) · Gaby Day Semi-Finalist · Lo Siento (USA) · Stephen Huffman, Mark Braun Best Genre Script 1st Place Winner · System Shutdown (Sweden) · Micke Askernäs 2nd Place Nominee · Night Terror (Sweden) · Micke Askernäs 3rd Place Nominee · Krazy Dead (USA) · Horatio Tihanyi Nominee · Chateau De Tarot (USA) · Reid Barwick Semi-Finalist · Sacred Sun (UK) · Michael Louis Gould Semi-Finalist · Checkered Trix (USA) · Anthony Applegate Semi-Finalist · Ancestors From The Stars (USA) · Joe McNeal Semi-Finalist · Texas Tom (USA) · Wayne Gibson Semi-Finalist · The Buzzard Squadron (USA) · Hovey Smith Semi-Finalist · The Spoon (USA) · Bryan Hamilton Chadwick Semi-Finalist · Kevin's Not Dead (USA) · Sarah Edmonds Semi-Finalist · Sandi Claus (USA) · Lee Tidball Semi-Finalist · Planet X: Demigods And Man (Italy) · Guido Giordano |
