Creo is delighted to announce the shortlist for the first edition of the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards. Established by Creo and sponsored by Sony as a major new annual awards program for short films, the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards set out to elevate original voices from around the globe with a fresh perspective on storytelling.
The inaugural competition ran from July 26 through December 13, 2022, drawing a huge response: over 4,000 films by more than 3,000 filmmakers in 140 countries. From this diversity of submissions, 30 films have been shortlisted in six categories: Filmmaker Fiction; Filmmaker Non-Fiction; Filmmaker Environment; Student Filmmaker Fiction; Student Filmmaker Non-Fiction; and Future Format. The shortlisted stories range from the moving personal account of a survivor of the brutal Pinochet regime, to an Afro-futuristic fairytale of love, from an indigenous Mexican town threatened by criminal groups, to an indigenous community in the threatened rainforest of British Columbia, from the magical realism of a student whose new eraser rubs out the lines that divide his country to the horror-fantasy of a young boy trapped inside the body of a zombie. Representing a truly global perspective on filmmaking, the shortlist includes films from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, Spain, Taiwan, UK, Uganda, USA, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
The 30 shortlisted filmmakers were chosen by a panel of leading industry experts chaired by award-winning British theater, television and film director Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, The Other Boleyn Girl, Tulip Fever). In addition to Chadwick, this year's jury comprised leading and celebrated figures from the film industry including: Nicole Brown, President of TriStar Pictures (I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Matilda the Musical, Baby Driver); Jeremy Barber, Partner, Motion Picture Literary and Talent, United Talent Agency; and Sir Roger A. Deakins, Academy award-winning cinematographer (Blade Runner 2049, Skyfall, 1917).
The six winners will be announced on February 22, 2023 during a black-tie awards ceremony at the Cary Grant Theatre on the historic Sony Pictures Studio lot in Culver City, California, followed by an exclusive three-day industry immersion experience led by Sony Pictures executives for all the winning and shortlisted filmmakers. The six winners will also be rewarded with cash prizes and a range of Sony's Digital Imaging equipment.
Justin Chadwick, award-winning theater, television and film director and Chair of the Jury, says: The global response has been truly exhilarating. New voices from all over the world have sent in films in all categories in huge numbers. Films that are original, diverse and fresh, filled with passion and originality. It's been a brilliant and inspiring honor to be a part of this and a totally enjoyable experience and one that gives me great hope for the industry. The films chosen are a wonderful window into the future of film making and storytelling and the discovery of a rich seam of talent.
Scott Gray, Founder and CEO of Creo, says: We have been blown away by the quality of the submissions to the inaugural Sony Future Filmmaker Awards and the final shortlist represents a group of exceptional talents from across the world. We are looking forward to welcoming the 30 filmmakers to LA in February where they will be able to take full advantage of the workshops and programming to really push their careers to the next level. We are grateful to Sony for their sponsorship and for providing this fantastic opportunity for the next generation of filmmakers, and to our wonderful panel of judges for lending their expert guidance.
FILMMAKER
The Filmmaker competition elevates original voices that bring a fresh perspective to storytelling.
In the Fiction category, the shortlist includes:
Saul Abraham (UK), ENJOY - A touching, offbeat exploration of the ways in which depression manifests in men across different generations;
Dumas Haddad (UK), Flowers - An Afro-futuristic fairytale of love following a ceremony of a mother giving away her son;
Dan Thorburn (UK), Salt Water Town - With the threat of closure looming over a failing caravan park, the owner and his son clash over their future with tragic consequences;
Joy Webster (Canada), Menace - A drama about a woman seeking revenge against her ex-boyfriend, a well-known TV presenter;
Ka Ki Wong (Hong Kong), Fire Room - In a staggered time and space, an unusual relationship unfolds between a pair of siblings - one an arsonist, the other a firefighter.
The Non-Fiction category shortlist is composed of:
Alfie Barker (UK), Hanging On - A docudrama about the struggles of a housing community faced with eviction;
Horacio Cabilla (Spain), This Is My Reason - The stories of three cyclists using the sport to overcome personal losses and setbacks;
Julianna Jimreivat (USA), Letting Go of the Grade - As four women travel to Mexico for a climbing expedition, they explore their relationship to the practice and open up about their personal challenges;
Daniela Lucato (Italy), The Things You Don't Know About Me, Mom - A survivor of the Pinochet regime in Chile imagines telling her mother all of the things that she didn't want to know;
Juan Vicente Manrique Gomez (Venezuela), No Te Ag ites (Don't Worry) - In an indigenous town threatened by criminal groups, firearms have become part of everyday life for the local children who are forced to help watch over their community.
The Environment category is run in association with Sony Pictures Television's Picture This initiative, which champions creativity that communicates a positive future for the planet. The shortlist comprises:
Pedro Furtado (Brazil), The Good Dolphins - Fishermen in Brazil fight to save a p
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
Creo is delighted to announce the shortlist for the first edition of the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards. Established by Creo and sponsored by Sony as a major new annual awards program for short films, the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards set out to elevate original voices from around the globe with a fresh perspective on storytelling.
