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IMFF 2026 AWARDS

Jury Awards

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Best Narrative Feature

Jurors:

Lindsey Ashley

Yen Tan

​Bijan Tehrani

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For its daring cinematic language and profound emotional resonance, Director Tribeny Rai crafts a work that transcends conventional storytelling, merging striking visual composition with a deeply introspective narrative that lingers long after the screen fades to black.The film’s innovative structure and poetic sensibility challenges the boundaries of form while remaining intimately human at its core. Through precise direction and evocative performances, the film captures the fragile interplay between memory, identity, and perception with rare clarity.

For its originality, artistic courage, and ability to transform personal reflection into a universally affecting experience, the Narrative Feature Jury proudly recognizes SHAPE OF MOMO, directed by Tribeny Rai.
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Narrative Feature
Special Mention
for Acting

Jurors:

Lindsey Ashley

Yen Tan

​Bijan Tehrani

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For a performance full of naturalism, vulnerability, and quiet strength. Meenakshi Jayan anchors VICTORIA with a deeply felt portrayal of an ordinary woman navigating the daily pressures of a patriarchal world. She gives the film its beating heart, and for that the Narrative Feature Jury would like to present a Special Mention award for Acting to Meenakshi Jayan in VICTORIA.

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Best Documentary

Jurors:

Sachin Dheeraj

Stephen Jannise

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A captivating, illuminating, emotional, and often infuriating film. Through their impressively thorough investigative research and reporting, the filmmakers uncover many layers (gender disparities, abuses of power, and the prioritization of greed over wellness) and interrogate the personal emotions and assumptions surrounding this long-overdue advancement. The kind of film that can turn unknowing viewers into engaged activists, and showcase the power and potential of documentary to inspire change.
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Documentary
Special Mention

Jurors:

Sachin Dheeraj

Stephen Jannise

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By pouring himself into this film as both observer and participant, Arjun Talwar reveals his unassuming street in Warsaw to be a perfect microcosm of our world. As an immigrant to Poland, he encounters the ugly "fear of the other" that brings so much darkness into our world, but he also uncovers moments of welcoming kindness that offer hope. You will think about the inhabitants of Wolf Street long after you've seen the film. May every street be so lucky as to have a "chronicler" like Arjun.

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Best Short

Jurors:

Jim Kolmar

Asha Magarati

Mindy Raymond

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The jury was impressed with this elegant film’s fearless approach to pace, tone and mood, trusting the audience with a minimalist sensibility that compels and surprises throughout. A stunning visual and sonic palette brings this spectral meditation on memory, loss and the endless search for belonging to vibrant life.

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Short
Special Mention

Jurors:

Jim Kolmar

Asha Magarati

Mindy Raymond

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A quiet, memorable slice of life, working with characters and an age group that cinema rarely follows. Set in a region where this kind of love is hard even to name, the film lets its two women speak through the recordings they exchange in secret — an intimacy built out of what cannot be said in public. Sensitively performed and carefully made. It moved us, and it stayed with us.

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