News, 14.04.2026

Awards Short Film Competition 2026

Jury Award

»The Golden Frame« - Drawn by Daniel Emberger

includes prize money of € 1.500 sponsored by Land Tirol

Fresh Values

Drew Durepos, Isaac Brooks • US 2025 • 12min • enOF+enUT

In the near future, a struggling urban food co-op adopts AR technology to save their store. The strategy proves too successful.

Jury Statement

We’ve chosen a film that uses its fresh humor to tell the story of labor struggles, in particular the neoliberal dream of self-optimization into one’s own ruin. With its laconic, monotonous dialogue, charming visual concepts, and a refreshing analog film aesthetic, this brings to light the insidious and precarious conditions faced by those who are in fact essential workers. The principle of self-exploitation forces the protagonists to make a creative and bizarre decision that serves the sole purpose of maintaining these conditions. For this witty and critical examination of the system’s absurd and unpredictable demands, we award the Jury Prize to FRESH VALUES by Drew Durepos and Isaac Brooks.

Biographies

Drew Durepos is a Chicago-based filmmaker and educator. In 2018, he received an MFA in Cinematic Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He teaches at DePaul University and is a member of the Nightingale Projects programming collective. Isaac Brooks is a filmmaker, technician, and educator based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His personal work often explores the relationship between communication technology and physical landscape, in both rural and urban environments. He specializes in archival 16mm theatrical projection, in addition to workshopping methods in analog cinematography within his coursework and technical oversight at UW–Milwaukee.

Jury Special Mention

Vapeurs

Anne Katz • DE 2023 • 10min • deOF+enUT

A student plagued by an mysterious illness encounters gynecologists in candy-colored practice rooms who disinterestedly dismiss her pain, but soon come to regret it.

Jury Statement

We’d like to award a Special Mention to a film that, with its loud colors, powerful visual language, and a compelling lead performance, touches on a sore spot that is likely all too familiar to many women and genderqueer people. The entertaining and skillfully staged body horror elements serve as a counterbalance to real-world injustices in the healthcare system – a system where pain isn’t taken seriously and the advice that is given is as unrealistic as it is impractical: Less stress and yoga will fix it. Therefore, our Special Mention goes to VAPEURS by Anne Katz.

Biography

Anne Katz studied feature film directing at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF) in Munich. She is a writer of autofictional prose and a member of the Queer Media Society (QMS).

Audience Award

»Transparent Playing Cards« (Inventor: Fritz Gall) - sponsored by the Nonseum Museum

Prize money: €500 (sponsored by the City of Innsbruck)

A Good Day

Tiago Rosa-Rosso • PT 2025 • 18min • ptOF+enUT

António wakes up to find an exact replica of himself floating lifeless in the pool. With no possible explanation, he and his family try to cope with the confusion, distrust, and an overwhelming sense of grief that settles among them. Amidst the absurdity and conflict, life goes on, unperturbed, as if not much has changed.

Biography

Tiago Rosa-Rosso (Portugal, 1984) works in Lisbon and Munich. He writes, directs, and produces his mini-budget films. His work layers social, political, and philosophical themes with absurdity and humor.