Category: Best Director – 2025 WSXA Paris

(ENVISION AWARD WINNERS)

Original Film Title: Dog People

Director’s Name: Bradley Stryker

Writer’s Name: Dan Sanders-Joyce, Robbie Silverman

Producer: Ryan Perry

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 20 minutes

Film Description:

Two unsuspecting men show up at a sweet old lady’s door pretending to offer their services for free, but as strange events occur, and bizarre discoveries are made they quickly learn it might be her who is pulling a fast one on them. In the tone of GET OUT and PARASITE this genre-bending horror-comedy aims to examine just how far people are willing to go to protect those they love most. Their dogs, of course.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: STIGMA

Director’s Name: Dali Mansour

Writer’s Name: Dali Mansour

Producer: Aly Mansour

Country of Origin: Tunisia

Country of Filming: Tunisia

Language: Arabic

Runtime: 29 minutes 55 seconds

Film Description:

During the Covid-19 lockdown, “Stigma” explores the emotional impact on Bochra, a young woman living alone in France. Through webcam exchanges with her parents in Tunisia, Bochra struggles with painful memories and a dark past. Confronted with solitude in her Parisian apartment, she faces shadows of her past, gradually revealing a deeply buried trauma. The film delves into themes of resilience, the importance of family bonds, and the quest for self in an isolated world, leading to a poignant revelation.

(WINNER)

Original Film Title: (IN)VISIBLE

Director’s Name: Sam JosephRudolph

Writer’s Name: Sam Joseph

Producer: Sam Joseph

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 11 minutes 21 seconds

Film Description:

(IN)VISIBLE is a psychological short debut film written, directed and produced by Sam Joseph that explores the psychological effects of domestic abuse and society’s complicity in trial and judgement, silencing women’s truths. Through an innovative style of sustainable filmmaking, a young wife, tightly controlled by her older husband, is misread as cold while he charms his friends. When he suddenly leaves during a very awkward and tense pre dinner gathering in an unfinished interior backdrop of an art exhibition, she finds herself at the centre of an uncomfortable damning trial by those who only know his version of the story.
The film’s emotional power lies in what remains unsaid, avoiding gratuitous violence, it also challenges how violence against women is too often portrayed on screen. Instead, it reveals the insidious nature of abuse, gaslighting and coercive control and the ease with which a perpetrator can shape a narrative, leaving the survivor to face societal judgment. The trial unfolds around a contemporary table setting, echoing iconic scenes from art history, underscoring the cyclical and enduring patterns of how women are seen, silenced, and judged.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Flying Low

Director’s Name: Xiong Wei

Writer’s Name: Xiong Wei

Producer: Qiu Jia Qiu

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 29 minutes 30 seconds

Film Description:

Tianyu, a 13-year-old middle school boy from a poor family, was raised by his father alone. Even though Tianyu still had a chance to be admitted despite his hard work, he gave up the high school entrance examination together with a girl he had a good relationship within the class. But on the day of the high school entrance examination, Tianyu found that the result was not what he expected…

Later, Tianyu followed his father to Dongguan, the most developed coastal area and the most factories in China, because his father thought that there might be more job opportunities there.

Tianyu’s father did not want Tianyu to enter society too early, so he spent a lot of savings on Tianyu to choose a good local vocational school that did not require high school examination results. He hoped that he could continue to study there and have a better future way out.

Soon, the second school year was coming to an end, and Tianyu didn’t know whether he would spend more money to enter the college entrance examination class, or he would participate in a corporate internship stipulated by the state and enter a factory arranged by the school.

However, Tianyu also learned that even if his father was willing to pay more to allow him to enter the college entrance examination class, he would not be able to take the spring college entrance examination in this city in the first place because of his father…

It is too late for him.

In the end, how will Tianyu choose…

(AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS)

Original Film Title: Scattered Flowers

Director’s Name: Raquel Gardner

Writer’s Name: Annie Creech

Producer: Annie Creech, Raquel Gardner, MacKenzie Lee, Leona Igoe

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 22 minutes 49 seconds

Film Description:

The bond between sisters is tested in this short film that explores the definition of family and the sacrifices we make—as well as the secrets we keep—to protect the ones we love.