top of page

2026 Synergy Film Festival Announcement

The 2026 season is officially coming to a close! Nominated films are now heading into the final round of judging, and winners will be announced live during our Award Ceremony on Sunday, October 25.

​

This year’s competition once again amazed our panel of judges with an outstanding level of creativity, talent, and passion across all submissions. The selection process has been remarkably competitive, and we are proud of every writer, director, and actor who participated. We celebrate your artistry and dedication to storytelling.

​

Congratulations to all of our 2026 nominees running in this final round!

​

Important Note: Please ensure you are a confirmed nominee before purchasing tickets for the live event.

— The Synergy Film Festival Team

​

CATEGORIES - TOP FINALISTS - NOMINEES

​​

Feature Screenplay

  • Nominee: People in Glass Houses... — Writer Attie H. Smith

  • Nominee: Dry Land. — Writer Oscar Rodriguez Gorriz

  • Nominee: MINT — Writer Jon C. Carlson

  • Nominee: Escape from Love Lake — Writer Tally Yong Knoll

  • Nominee: The Fourth Psalm — Writer John Martins III

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: Mo vam Wolfe — Writer Gary B. Haley

  • Semi-Finalist: Flamingos / Daddy's Little Girl — Writer Kerri Quinn / Writers Neeraj Bindal, Will Lamborn

  • Semi-Finalist: Feral Mountains — Writer Terry Luke Podnar

  • Semi-Finalist: CLOUD ZERO — Writers Julie Lilly-Belote, Michael Schultz, Duane Humeyestewa

  • Semi-Finalist: THE KESSLER REPORT — Writers Julie Lilly Belote, Paul Beckwith

  • Semi-Finalist: THE LAST PLACE — Steffany Lohn Sommers

  • Semi-Finalist: Pretty Little Lucy — Writer David Williamson​

​

  • Quarter-Finalist: Uncertain Eyes - Feature — Writer Gary B. Haley

  • Quarter-Finalist: 14 Maplewood Lane — Writer Gary B. Haley

  • Quarter-Finalist: A Race With Lucifer — Writer PAUL BYRNE

  • Quarter-Finalist: The Piper — Writer Richard Davis

  • Quarter-Finalist: BONNIE and HYDE — Writer Robert Marshall Tartell

  • Quarter-Finalist: Amber Alert — Writer Matthew C Simon

  • Quarter-Finalist: Pandora's Eyes. The Alex Cave series book 5. — Writer James M Corkill

  • Quarter-Finalist: Raggedy Rue and Bliss makes Two! — Writer Luis Ortiz

  • Quarter-Finalist: Spring in Siberia — Submitter Pablo Torroella

  • Quarter-Finalist: 21 Days, 21 Lemons — Writer David A. Miller​

  • Quarter-Finalist: HONEYMOONAY NAMAH - Director Nishant Bhardwaj

​

  • Official Selection: Between 2 Worlds — Writer PAUL BYRNE

  • Official Selection: VOODOO VALENTINOS — Writer Michael Louis Gould

  • Official Selection: The Heart is a Prison — Writer Ricky Hawthorne

  • Official Selection: Escape to Alcatraz — Writer Eugene Hattingh

  • Official Selection: Dead Energy. The Alex Cave series book 1. — Writer James M Corkill​

​

  • Honorable Mention: Blonde in the Congo — Writer Bren Bennington Dahl

  • Honorable Mention: Where The Fish Sleep— Writer Adlih Alvarado

  • Honorable Mention: 10 Reasons Why I'm a Bad Idea — Writer Sarantos

  • Honorable Mention: “MUFFIN CLUB” — Writer Charles Petrilla

Short Screenplay

  • Nominee: The Sound  -  Writer Kevin Stuart Brodie

  • Nominee: Flamingos -  Writer Kerri Quinn

  • Nominee: Lucky? -  Writer Tom E. Nicholson

  • (Nominees run for an Award)​

​

  • Semi-Finalist: Diary of a Madman — Writer Eugene Hattingh

  • Semi-Finalist: SLEEPWALKER TIME — Writer Linda Kampley

  • Semi-Finalist: WAITING: UPDATE — Writer Kostiantyn Mishchenko

  • Semi-Finalist: Dang Dong - Episode 1: Feng Shui is Here Today — Writer Mark Absher​

​

  • Quarter-Finalist: Leeward — Writer Gary B. Haley

  • Quarter-Finalist: Spiderpocalypse — Writer Eugene Hattingh

  • Quarter-Finalist: The Trouble With Bermuda — Submitter paul byrne

  • Quarter-Finalist: Faster By Night — Submitter paul byrne

  • Quarter-Finalist: Trial of Terror "Do You Know Who I Am? — Writer Daniel Wayne Ratliff

Feature Film

  • Nominee: STILL CHRISTMAS — Director Nick Rapuano

  • Nominee: Marginal Behavior — Director Duke Fightmaster

  • Beyond The Wetlands — Directors Cut Director Arsalan Majid

  • Nominee: Raging Midlife — Director Rob Taylor

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: Treasure of the Lost Reel — Director Nate Neal

  • Semi-Finalist: Slouching Towards Branson — Director Will Wood

  • Semi-Finalist: TIMINGS — Director Jeffrey Moore

​

  • Quarter-Finalist: VIDEO — Director Joey Michael Ruhala

  • Quarter-Finalist: The Man from Oghuz: Harvest — Director Murad Aliyev

  • Quarter-Finalist: HONEYMOONAY NAMAH — Director Nishant Bhardwaj

​

  • Official Selection: Medusa & Hermes : The Reincarnation Musical — Director Algis Kemezys

  • Official Selection: The World's 3 Wishes. The Global Solution. — Director Seamus Smyth

  • Official Selection: NOW Again - 1 - Swann's Way — Director Richard Philpott

  • Official Selection: BYE — Director Tommy Lang

  • Official Selection: BOO$T — Director Daniel Jones

Short Film 

  • Nominee: Don't feel sorry for me! - Director Eir í Ólavsstovu

  • Nominee: A Girl Called Alice - Director Tristan Loraine

  • Nominee: Joe and the Water Dragon - Director Christina Stroeh

  • Nominee: My Foot is in Heaven — Director Iyad Hajjaj

  • Nominee: A King's Curtain - Director Grant M Johnson

  • Nominee: So long,My son - Director HaoHan Li

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: The Book of Sami - Director Bertrand Alfonso

  • Semi-Finalist: CASUS — Director William Eguienta

  • Semi-Finalist: DIGITAL DETOX — Director iCLIC Collective

  • Semi-Finalist: EVA — Director Martin Genovski

  • Semi-Finalist: D'ombre et de lumière — Director Fabien Loïacono

  • Semi-Finalist: A Fateful Weekend — Director Tony Doupé

  • ​

​

  • Quarter-Finalist: Five Years Out — Director Sammi Cannold

  • Quarter-Finalist: The Three Of Us — Director Claudia Ventura

  • Quarter-Finalist: Morbid Sight | Short Film — Director AJ Moss

  • Quarter-Finalist: SANAD — Director Noor Al-Nasr

  • Quarter-Finalist: Yoga Girl — Director Kaitlyn Furey

  • Quarter-Finalist: Too Late — Director Artur Matveev

​

  • Official Selection: Enemy Heroes — Submitter Mark Diamond

  • Official Selection: Remnants of War — Director Nikhil Newse

  • Official Selection: The Lingering — Director Gabe Reiss

  • Official Selection: Impulse — Director Joshua Baldwin

  • Official Selection: Bloody Finger: Unfinished Business — Director Keano Mirando

  • Official Selection: TEARS FOR ENEBI — Directors PETER ATIGOGO, SEUNMANUEL FALEYE, Godspower Oshodin

  • Official Selection: Traitor — Director Lawrence Bucher

  • Official Selection: UNSYNC — Director OREN COHEN

  • Official Selection: The Redemption of Faust — Director Genel Mejia

  • Official Selection: Reminisce — Director Leslie Morris

  • Official Selection: Orange Cove - Director John Lockmer

Foreign Film 

  • Nominee: A Girl Called Alice - Director Tristan Loraine

  • Nominee: We are not the same - Director Jesús Castillo

  • (Nominees run for an Award)​

​​

Drama Film 

  • Nominee: A King's Curtain - Director Grant M Johnson

  • Nominee: The Book of Sami - Director Bertrand Alfonso

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: Just Because I Feel Bad - Director Matteo Balsamo

  • Semi-Finalist: The Three Of Us - Director Claudia Ventura

​​

First Time Filmmaker 

  • Nominee: The Watch - Director Shem Doupé

  • Nominee: Revenge - Director Burhan Atason

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Honorable Mention:  The Omega Connection - Directors Doug Abel, Kenneth Robinson

​​

Documentary Film

  • Nominee: Cancer-Soul — Director Tilo Wondollek

  • Nominee: Surviving Biafra: Voices from the Nigerian Civil War — Directors Meji Alabi, Leke Alabi-Isama

  • Nominee: Via Dolorosa: The Path of Sorrows (طريق الآلام) — Director Amira Khalil Hanania

  • Nominee: AI’s Silent Omissions — Director Nozomu Kubota

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: CAT MAN: Journey to Save Cat Kind — Director Allisyn Snyder

  • Semi-Finalist: Burning — Director Asli Gunduzoglu

​

  • Quarter-Finalist: Family: A True Crime Story — Director Daniel Peterson

  • Quarter-Finalist: Hunting Secrets of the Tropical Whale — Director Drew Kelly

Web Series

  • Nominee: The Rider — Director Matthew Salacuse

  • Nominee: The Art Monk- The Age of the Soul — Director Sandro Sebastian

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: Dead Drip — Director James Boyd

  • Semi-Finalist: Bait & Switch - (TV/Web Series) (Pilot) — Director Steven Hillen

  • Semi-Finalist: Walkers Destruction - Director William M Mesa

Best Comedy Short

  • Nominee: Cooked — Director Kevin Ruiz

  • Nominee: Lost Dog — Director Amelia Xanthe Boscov

  • Nominee: Orange Cove - Director John Lockmer

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: It's Keisha, Right? — Director Josh Goodwin

  • Semi-Finalist: Family Meeting — Director Holly Bentea

​

  • Official Selection: Dear Deshawn: A Classic “UnClassic” Love Story — Director Nicole A Ashley

Horror & Thriller Shorts

  • Nominee: The Watch — Director Shem Doupé

  • Nominee: The Diggers — Director Jean Louis Carrasco​

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: The Stranger — Director Rachel Taggart

  • Semi-Finalist:  Five Stars — Director Demetrius Joyette

  • Semi-Finalist: 2020 — Director Alejandro Lalinde

Music & Experimental Shorts

  • Nominee: Prijomas Pojebleskus - Dollar — Director Prijomas Pojebleskus

  • Nominee: The land of nothingness — Director Yi QU

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Semi-Finalist: Process. Architecture of Sound — Submitter Kostiantyn Mishchenko

  • Semi-Finalist: Unstable — Director Bill Stout

​

  • Official Selection: Walkers Destruction — Director William M Mesa

  • Official Selection: I Don't Know and You Don't Either — Director Gene Reid

  • Official Selection: "The First Holidays™" — Director La-Tonya Hatcher

Animation Shorts

  • Nominee: BRIDGE -My Little Friends- — Director Kazuyuki Ishihara

  • Nominee:  Unstable - Director Bill Stout

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

  • Official Selection: Enemy Heroes - Submitter Mark Diamond

  • Official Selection: Remember Him — Director Ryan Malker

Student Short Film

  • Nominee: A Wish of Time - Director Kawthar ElSayed

  • Nominee: Detective O'Mega - Director John Motter

  • Nominee: Farm — Director Nina Morozova

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​​​​

  • Official Selection: The Crack — Directors Johnny Marquez, Andrew Archibald, Brady Berlucchi

  • Official Selection: Meet Me on a Rock — Director Marie Bryan

  • Official Selection: Forever After — Director Miles Smith Jr

Best Actor - Actress

  • Nominee: A Girl Called Alice - Director Tristan Loraine - Key Cast "Tegan Grace Muggeridge"

  • Nominee: We are not same - Director Jesús Castillo - Key Cast "Antonio Rosello"

  • Nominee: A King's Curtain - Director Grant M Johnson - Key Cast "Allison Dayne"

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​

Best Director

  • Nominee: Five Stars - Director Demetrius Joyette

  • Nominee: A King's Curtain - Director Grant M Johnson

  • Nominee: AI’s Silent Omissions - Director Nozomu Kubota

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​​​​​​

Best Trailer

  • Nominee: The Last Plate - Director JOVAN HODGES

  • Nominee: High Moon - Director Sean Bridges

  • Nominee: Fratres - Director Cal Kusiak

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​​​​​​

Best Editing

  • Nominee: Walkers Destruction - Editor  Lincoln Kupchak

  • Nominee: Broken Wings - Director José Maluenda

  • Nominee: Five sips of water - Director Tatiana Ermilova

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​​​​​​

Best Production

  • Nominee: The Book of Sami - Director Bertrand Alfonso

  • Nominee: AI’s Silent Omissions - Director Nozomu Kubota

  • (Nominees run for an Award)

​​​​​​

CONRATULATIONS

Logo
bottom of page