Cork International Film Festival is thrilled to announce the winners of 2025 CIFF Short Film Awards, including the new Redbreast UNHIDDEN Short Award.
Shorts Jury:
- Sanne Jehoul, Talent Development Programme Manager at BFI Doc Society Fund & Commissioning Editor at Talking Shorts
- Kasia Karwan, Programmer, Cannes Film Festival Short Films.
- Dearbhla Regan , Head of Film and Talent Development, Wild Atlantic Pictures
The winners for 2025 are:
Grand Prix Irish Short*: Mary is Missing directed by Aisling Byrne
Jury comments:
“For its thrilling blend of reality and imagination, its carnivalesque energy and disarming simplicity and for the daring, collective artistry behind every scene, the Grand Prix for Irish Short goes to Mary is Missing.”
Grand Prix International Short*: Wonderwall directed by RóisÃn Burns
Jury comments:
“A film that is never predictable but is in full control of its swing between quite different tones. This is an extraordinarily accomplished coming-of-age odyssey into the world of a young girl navigating an incomprehensible, male-dominated adult world, figuring out the societal and the political, while dipping into magical realism. It carries us to an ending that is pure cinema – both haunting and strangely uplifting. This film has it all, as well as laugh-out-loud moments. A perfect piece of cinema. The Grand Prix International goes to Wonderwall.”
Special Mention:
Little Rebels Cinema Club by Khozy Rizal
“This is a beautiful film bursting with childhood anarchy and adult grief. A tonal and narrative balance it pulls off brilliantly. The Special Mention in the Grand Prix International competition goes to Little Rebels Cinema Club.”
Grand Prix Documentary Short*: Correct Me If I’m Wrong directed by Hao Zhou
Jury comments:
“For its moving and delicately restrained exploration of a filmmaker’s struggle for acceptance within their own family and against the forces of witchcraft and exorcism used to bring them back into conformity, the jury awards the Grand Prix Documentary to a haunting, deeply human story of resilience: Correct Me If I’m Wrong.”
Redbreast UNHIDDEN Short Award: World at Stake directed by Susanna Flock, Adrian Jonas Halm, Jona Kleinlein
Supported by:
Jury comments:
“We give this award to an ambitious film that uses playful and inventive formal devices to build a chilling thesis around the most urgent issues of our time. While we can often feel at the point of no return, we cannot give up on taking collective action. The Redbreast UNHIDDEN award goes to World at Stake.”
Best Director: Irish Short: No Mean City by Ross McClean
Supported by:
Jury comments:
“We congratulate this director for taking a seemingly small subject to highlight – no pun intended – a much broader story about technological, environmental and generational transitions, against the political backdrop of a transforming Belfast. The directorial vision is both controlled and expansive. The Best Director Award goes to Ross McClean for No Mean City.”
Best Cork Short: Culchie directed by Richard Lennon
Jury comments:
“With sly wit and affecting warmth between father and son, this film embodies the best of Cork. We commend its charming direction and performances that eschew sentimentality. Great last line, and pitch-perfect performance from Daisy! The Best Cork Award goes to Culchie.”
Special mention:
Head First by Sean Breathnach, Matt Sullivan
“Showing remarkable directorial flair, as well as restraint when it leans into genre, this film cleverly squeezes every ounce out of its contained concept. The Special Mention in the Pure Cork competition goes to Head First.”
Short Film Candidate for The European Film Awards 2026: Their Eyes directed by Nicholas Gourault
Jury comments:
“An accomplished and innovative film with a formal vision that stood out in this year’s programme, this documentary slowly expands its concept into a narrative and reveal highlighting the damage and dangers of techno-capitalism, machine learning, and the human labour at the heart of it – in this case outsourced to Global South workers, highlighting the ever-increasing global inequality divide. The EFA nomination goes to Their Eyes.”
* Academy Award® qualifying
The Short Awards were announced in partnership with Murphy’s.
