ROVER is a screendance that follows a dancer’s transformational journey through the cyclical nature of belonging. As she expands her world through new encounters, she uncovers a shifting identity—proving that “home” isn’t a place you inhabit, but a state of being you carry with you.
Nominee
Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of the Pacific
Illustrated Legacies reveals a thriving world of trade routes and complex coastal alliances along the BC coast before Canada, blending animation and oral history to tell the story of a region reshaped by contact, conflict, and colonial ambition.
Deaf Ear (Kargoosh)
On the way home, Mahan, a happy and kind child, experiences an accident. Now he needs to be heard and cared for.
Free Fish
Free Fish is an intimate short documentary filmed entirely in Gaza during one of the deadliest years in recent history. The film follows two brothers, Mohammad and Ahmad Kaloob, separated by siege and displacement, yet bound by the sea, it’s not just a story of survival, but of grief, inheritance, and the quiet defiance of those who refuse to disappear.
Broken Dawn(무례한 새벽)
In the quiet hours before dawn, an elderly substitute driver moves through the sleeping city of Seoul. As she encounters subtle moments of indifference and discrimination, the film quietly reveals the fragile realities of aging labor and loneliness in contemporary society. “Broken Dawn” is a contemplative portrait of dignity, silence, and survival at the edge of daybreak.
Before The Sun
Between night and dawn, a 200-year-old vampire’s confession unfolds. Through handcrafted performance, haunted production design, and shifting light, Before the Sun explores the moment self-awareness becomes unavoidable, a quiet reckoning with the past, and a choice to step into the light.