GRRL HAUS AWARDS • 2026
For 2026, Grrl Haus is presenting a year-long program featuring our favorite shorts from last year’s submissions. All films nominated for awards will appear somewhere in our 2026 schedule. Our “Best of” events in May are open-themed screenings, highlighting standout films across all genres, while other screenings throughout the year are curated around specific themes. By spreading screenings across the year, we give more audiences and filmmakers the chance to participate, allow for diverse programming, and keep the festival engaging year-round. Also, we will be offering more online screenings paired with live events, increasing accessibility and expanding our reach worldwide.
This year, we have nine award categories, with five nominated films in each. Our guest jurors will select their favorite from each genre. Our jurors are: Documentary – Colleen Thurston; Animation – Kate Jessop; Experimental – Rhys Iliakis; Drama – Eimi Imanishi; Berlin Local – Rosh Zeeba; Horror – Eli Lewy; Comedy – Jessica Vangel; New England Local – Alex Kittle; and DIY Shorts – FL1X DIY Film Collective. We are honored to have such a diverse and talented group of jurors and look forward to announcing their selections. We will be announcing the awarded films May 8th, 2026.
This year, we have nine award categories, with five nominated films in each. Our guest jurors will select their favorite from each genre. Our jurors are: Documentary – Colleen Thurston; Animation – Kate Jessop; Experimental – Rhys Iliakis; Drama – Eimi Imanishi; Berlin Local – Rosh Zeeba; Horror – Eli Lewy; Comedy – Jessica Vangel; New England Local – Alex Kittle; and DIY Shorts – FL1X DIY Film Collective. We are honored to have such a diverse and talented group of jurors and look forward to announcing their selections. We will be announcing the awarded films May 8th, 2026.
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Juror for Documentary: Colleen Thurston
Colleen Thurston is a documentary filmmaker, producer, and curator. She has created film and video projects for the Smithsonian Channel, Vox, museums, public television, and federal and tribal organizations. Grounding her filmmaking practice in place-based narratives and Indigenous worldviews, her work has screened at international film festivals and broadcast nationwide. Thurston’s first feature documentary, Drowned Land (2025), examines the cycle of displacement related to resource extraction in her tribe, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Thurston is based in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Thurston is the Project Producer for Native Lens on Rocky Mountain PBS / KSUT Tribal Radio, serves as senior programmer for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and has curated film programs for institutions such as the Momentary (Bentonville, AR), the Smithsonian’s Native Cinema Showcase (Santa Fe, NM), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), UCLA Film and Television Archives and Vidiots (Los Angeles, CA), and numerous film festivals. A 2024–25 International Documentary Association Fellow and 2025–27 Tulsa Artist Fellow, she is also a Creative Capital grantee developing the Indigenous Moving Image Archive and Home Movie Project. |
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Nominees for the Best Documentary Award
Saturn Risin9 - Tiare Ribeaux, Jody Stillwater
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
The Ozard - Ciska Meister
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Perverse Feminine - Kalen Aradia
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
The Birth of Naikee - Clementine Decremps
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Climate Control - Sarah Lasley
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Saturn Risin9 - Tiare Ribeaux, Jody Stillwater
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
The Ozard - Ciska Meister
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Perverse Feminine - Kalen Aradia
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
The Birth of Naikee - Clementine Decremps
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Climate Control - Sarah Lasley
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
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Juror for Animation: Kate Jessop
Kate Jessop is a multi award winning writer/director who has had hundreds of international exhibits and has a multitude of international distribution deals including Shorts International and Amazon Prime. She represented the UK in the Best of Women in Film and TV and was selected for the Berlinale Talent Lab both with her portfolio as a director and with her comedy series chosen for development in the Project Lab. She has worked across narrative film, comedy, illustration, live visuals, music video and motion design and has undertaken artist residencies in Berlin, Istanbul and Reykjavik. She has had retrospectives at the Gilbert Baker Film Festival USA and in Czech Republic’s Anifilm. Her work was written about in the first ever book on Queer Animation: On LGBTQ2S Animation published by Quickdraw in Canada, 2020. She is also the director of the Brighton International Animation Festival. |
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Nominees for the Best Animated Short Award
Play Fight! - Katrina Cecilia Larner
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Fried! - Lizzie Watts
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
2nd Day & the End of the World - Sara Koppel
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
35 Days - Heidi Kumao
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
ANADROMOUS - Ari Grubb
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Play Fight! - Katrina Cecilia Larner
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Fried! - Lizzie Watts
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
2nd Day & the End of the World - Sara Koppel
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
35 Days - Heidi Kumao
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
ANADROMOUS - Ari Grubb
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
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Juror for Experimental: Rhys illiakis
Rhys Iliakis (he/they) is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Seattle, USA. He is the cofounder of Seattle's Sea Slug Animation Festival, and also works as the designer for Seattle International Film Festival. His two favorite films are Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki) and Raw (2016, Julia Ducournau). When he grows up, he would like to become either a beloved house cat or an orca whale. |
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Nominees for the Best Experimental Award
Los Tres Antifaces: The First Body - Angel Rojas
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Fumble - Mahsa Talebiani
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Luminous Matter - Bianca Arnold, Moss Berke
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Amaltaas – املتاس - Xoori K. Sarhadi
Screening: July 9 - Soft Magic: 12 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
trannies live forever: turn your eyes to the sky - Merit Thursday
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Los Tres Antifaces: The First Body - Angel Rojas
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Fumble - Mahsa Talebiani
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Luminous Matter - Bianca Arnold, Moss Berke
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Amaltaas – املتاس - Xoori K. Sarhadi
Screening: July 9 - Soft Magic: 12 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
trannies live forever: turn your eyes to the sky - Merit Thursday
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
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Juror for Drama: Eimi Imanishi
Eimi Imanishi is an award-winning Japanese and American director and screenwriter. Her debut feature film Nomad Shadow (2025) world premiered at TIFF50 (Toronto Int’l Film Festival, 2025) and has been screened at numerous festivals worldwide. Imanishi is a Sundance Directing and Screenwriting Fellow, a Film Independent Directing Fellow, and a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow through the New York Foundation for the Arts in Video/Film. Imanishi’s award winning short films include Battalion To My Beat (2016) which received the Canal+ Award for Best International Short at Le Festival du Court Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand, and One-Up (2017) which won Best Narrative Short at Indie Memphis and was released as a Vimeo Staff Pick film and won Short Of The Week. |
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Nominees for the Best Drama Award
Blossoming Wasp - Nessa Norich
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Under the Whether - Putri Sarah Amelia
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Careful - Camille Lagaisse
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Before I Wake - Thipaporn Christine Flemming, Tinshine Mont
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Zaxme - Soore Vahe
Screening: July 9 - Soft Magic: 12 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Blossoming Wasp - Nessa Norich
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Under the Whether - Putri Sarah Amelia
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Careful - Camille Lagaisse
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Before I Wake - Thipaporn Christine Flemming, Tinshine Mont
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Zaxme - Soore Vahe
Screening: July 9 - Soft Magic: 12 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
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Juror for Berlin Local: Rosh Zeeba
Rosh Zeeba (they/them) is a Berlin-based Iranian artist working at the intersection of film, multimedia, and artistic research. Their work weaves together queer perspectives on Iranian mythology with themes of post-cyberfeminism and collective memory. Through "soft world-building" and glitch aesthetics, Zeeba creates hybrid spaces that disrupt traditional narratives of identity and representation. Their process-oriented practice invites viewers to question how images shape our sense of belonging in a digital and physical world. |
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Nominees for the Best Berlin Local Award
But What a Moment - Johanna Falke
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Mommy - Manon Praline, Evie Snax
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
My Grandmother Is a Skydiver - Polina Piddubna
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Field of Fog - Giulia Palombino
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
I Might Regret This - Aurélie van Oost
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
But What a Moment - Johanna Falke
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Mommy - Manon Praline, Evie Snax
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
My Grandmother Is a Skydiver - Polina Piddubna
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Field of Fog - Giulia Palombino
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
I Might Regret This - Aurélie van Oost
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
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Juror for Horror: Eli Lewy
Eli Lewy is the co-director and co-founder of the Final Girls Berlin Film Festival. She is based in Berlin and works as a translator and editor. She has curated the female friendship film series Birds of a Feather since 2020 and the idiocinecratic, a series dedicated to films that have rarely, if ever, screened in Berlin, since 2025. Eli has a film podcast called Somebody's Watching which features discussions with film scholars about dark & unusual subject matters and interviews with filmmakers and cinephiles. She is currently working on her feature-length documentary debut. www.elilewy.com |
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Nominees for the Best Horror Award
Mondegreen - Linda Mai Green
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Do You See Her? - Janet-Rose Nguyen
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Beach-O - Leah Smith, Karen Lawler
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Joshua Tree - Rachel Keaton
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Rash - Lyssa Samuel
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
Mondegreen - Linda Mai Green
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Do You See Her? - Janet-Rose Nguyen
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Beach-O - Leah Smith, Karen Lawler
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Joshua Tree - Rachel Keaton
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Rash - Lyssa Samuel
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
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Juror for Comedy: Jessica Vangel
Jessica Vangel (She/Her) is a Seattle-based projectionist, digital marketing professional, and cinematographer. She has worked as a projectionist at several local organizations and national film festivals for the last 8 years. She has since worked to connect the female / non-binary / trans projectionist community in projection booths across the world with her account @girlsinbooths |
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Nominees for the Best Comedy Award
Meet the Friends - C. Denise
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Scallywags - Nenda Neururer
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
Attack of the Coat - Lola-Rose Maxwell
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
Lacy's World: Mission New Crib - Lois Talullah
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Billo Rani - Angbeen Saleem
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Meet the Friends - C. Denise
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Scallywags - Nenda Neururer
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
Attack of the Coat - Lola-Rose Maxwell
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
Lacy's World: Mission New Crib - Lois Talullah
Screening: May 7 - Best of Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Billo Rani - Angbeen Saleem
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
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Juror for New England Local: Alex Kittle
Alex Kittle is an illustrator, zinemaker, and film projectionist based in Arlington MA. She is the tech director at the Brattle Theatre, the co-host of the Strictly Brohibited screening series, and a shorts programmer for Boston Underground Film Festival. She can usually be found emphatically yelling about unsung women in film, or watching a movie backwards from the Brattle’s rear projection booth. She loves horror, musicals, rom coms, surrealism, and neon lighting. |
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Nominees for the New England Local Award
The Shrinking Island - Ally Casa
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
The Watershed - Silvy Zhou
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Millie in Cis Hell - Kylie Mungenast
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Interference - Lila Woodbridge
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Untitled Film Disinfection Project I - Lilan Yang
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
The Shrinking Island - Ally Casa
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
The Watershed - Silvy Zhou
Screening: September 17 - Experimental Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Millie in Cis Hell - Kylie Mungenast
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Interference - Lila Woodbridge
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Untitled Film Disinfection Project I - Lilan Yang
Screening: May 6 - Best of Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
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Juror for DIY Shorts : FL1X DIY Film Collective
FL1X is a DIY film collective dedicated to creating space for local indie filmmakers and creatives to collaborate and share their work. we help like-minded artists actualize, promote, and publish their art—offering a non-traditional path to visibility and legitimacy. https://www.instagram.com/fl1x.us https://fl1x.notion.site/ |
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Nominees for the Best DIY Short Award
Roadkill - Ayla Mai Ahlquist
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Letz Meet @ The Internet Cafe - Cyber Shanahoy
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Be Here Now - Lauren R Melton, Chichi Castillo
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
The Possession of Lottie Rose - Joshua Ballard, Robert Greene
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
The Shirt Off My Bony Back and Then Some - Abe Timm
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Roadkill - Ayla Mai Ahlquist
Screening: December 17 - Horror and Camp Shorts at THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Letz Meet @ The Internet Cafe - Cyber Shanahoy
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
Be Here Now - Lauren R Melton, Chichi Castillo
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
The Possession of Lottie Rose - Joshua Ballard, Robert Greene
Screening: July 3–5 - Grrl Haus Screening at Lakeside Film Fest • Brandenburg, Germany
The Shirt Off My Bony Back and Then Some - Abe Timm
Screening: September 24 - Surreal, DIY & Bizarre Shorts: 15 Shorts at IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, Berlin
