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The Palm Springs International ShortFest, one of the largest short film festivals and the first stop on the campaign trail for Oscar-qualifying shorts, announced its winners today, including director John Kelly's "Retirement Plan," which was named "best of the festival" and received a $5,000 cash prize.

Awards were also given for best animated short, best documentary short, and best live-action short, as well as student shorts.

Over 300 films were part of the official selection at the festival, which ran from June 24-30. The winners of the five Oscar-qualifying awards are eligible to submit their shorts for Academy Award consideration.

The complete list of winners includes:

Best of the Festival Award

Winner: "Retirement Plan," directed by John Kelly

Special Mention for Best Director: "Passarinho," directed by Natalia García Agraz

Special Mention for Best Acting: "Beyond Silence," directed by Marnie Blok

Best Animated Short

Winner: "Budō" (Sweden), directed by Amanda Aagard and...

The 2025 Palm Springs International Shortfest has revealed this year’s festival juried winners. Honors and cash prizes worth $30,000, including five Academy Award qualifying awards, were presented during the Awards Brunch. The winning films were selected from 311 total submissions.

Award categories include Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes, Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes and Under. The 2025 Palm Springs International ShortFest took place June 24-30, 2025.

See the full list of winners below.

Best of the Festival Award

“Retirement Plan,” directed by John Kelly

Best Animated Short

“Budō” (Sweden), directed by Amanda Aagard and Alexander Toma

Best Documentary Short

“Shanti Rides Shotgun” (USA), directed by Charles Frank

Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes

“Susana” (Mexico/USA), directed by Amandine Thomas and Gerardo Coello Escalante

Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes and Under

“Medusa” (USA), directed by Sarah Meyohas

Best Student Animated Short

“Dragfox” (United Kingdom), directed by Lisa Ott

Best Student International...

Fake performative workplace conversations — specifically “How was your weekend?” — get the horror movie treatment in Cam Banfield’s debut short called exactly that. “How Was Your Weekend?,” which premiered at the SXSW Film & TV Festival and next heads to the San Francisco Film Festival next week, is an office space horror where there is no Innie or Outie. There is only yourself, and if you didn’t have a good weekend, then the rest of us can’t have a good week.

Nominated for the SXSW grand jury short film award, “How Was Your Weekend?” stars James Morosini (“It’s What’s Inside“) as Steven, a cubicle drone at an anonymous, windowless corporate hovel somewhere in a depressing pocket outside Los Angeles. He arrives at the office on a Monday morning after a bad weekend of relationship troubles at home, and his coworkers are all buzzing with the question, “How was your weekend?...

How Was Your Weekend?

In Cam Banfield's short film, How Was Your Weekend? office employee Steven (James Morosini) confronts the inescapable Monday ritual of being asked about his weekend. In a swipe at corporate America, Steven asks what would happen if you didn't have a nice weekend, and you broke from the unspoken etiquette and answered honestly? In Bamfield's emotional horror and thriller-fuelled imagination, the office falls off its axis.

Bamfield has previously written and directed for the UCLA comedy shorts, How To Know If You're A Douchebag: Anatomy Of A Douchebag (2016), House Hunters: Young & Over Budget (2017), and Cop Bros (2017).

In conversation with Eye For Film, Banfield discussed drawing on personal experiences, being drawn to emotional thriller and horror narratives, and placing his short in the prison genre.

Paul Risker Why filmmaking as a means of creative expression? Was there an inspirational or defining moment for you personally?

Cam Banfield: There wasn't a.

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This looks better than I thought it would and I have read a few Nicholas Sparks books. This...