Posted by In addition to the Best Short of the Season winner, The Pearl Comb, Indie Short Fest is proud to recognize three projects with an Award of Excellence, highlighting standout achievements across this month’s official selection.
Spanning bold social satire, high-pressure historical storytelling, and intimate psychological drama, these winners reflect the range of voices championed by Indie Short Fest, each standing out through originality, strong craft, and a distinct point of view.
Kukuk: A Romani Soul Unbroken by Yonka Yancheva (Bulgaria)
Kukuk: A Romani Soul Unbroken is one of January’s notable award winners, presenting a character-driven story about freedom and identity. While grounded in real social tension, the film approaches its world with a boldly stylized tone, blending sharp humor, heightened situations, and moments of exaggerated absurdism that occasionally veer into parody.
Set in a Roma neighborhood in Bulgaria, the story follows Kukuk, an ambitious 18-year-old preparing for high school graduation, a milestone that represents the possibility of a different life beyond poverty and prejudice. The film is led by Yoana Sashova, a Bulgarian singer and public figure who gained national visibility as the runner-up onThe Voice of Bulgaria, bringing both charisma and presence to Kukuk’s journey. What begins as a celebration of hope and family pride takes an unexpected turn when a feared local man becomes fixated on her, pushing the story into darker territory, but always filtered through the film’s distinctive comedic rhythm and its deliberately over-the-top, chaotic energy.
Rather than presenting events in a strictly naturalistic way, the film often embraces excess — in behavior, reactions, and the way scenes escalate — using comedy and absurdity to expose patterns of control, fear, and social pressure. This heightened approach makes the narrative feel unpredictable and alive, balancing tension with irony, and allowing the film to comment on its setting without losing momentum or becoming didactic.
Yonka Yancheva describes the film as a story about a young woman’s right to choose her own life and dream her own dreams. Born and raised in Bulgaria, with an academic background in linguistics and performing arts, she has written, directed, and produced four short films, and is currently based in Los Angeles working in post-production while continuing to develop original creative work. Kukuk: A Romani Soul Unbroken reflects her commitment to exploring underrepresented experiences through a voice that is both socially aware and tonally fearless.
Max by Adrien Boublil (France)
Max was recognized with an Award of Excellence for its focused concept and intense execution, delivering a historical confrontation as a tightly contained psychological battle. Built around performance, dialogue, and pressure, the film creates a relentless sense of escalation while keeping the storytelling lean and direct.
Based on real events during World War II, the story unfolds inside a sealed room where a brutal duel takes place between Jean Moulin, a central figure of the French Resistance, and Klaus Barbie, the Chief of the Gestapo. With nowhere to escape and the stakes measured in both physical and moral survival, the film turns confinement into tension, allowing every exchange to carry weight and consequence.
The film is led by actor Martin Swabey, whose controlled presence anchors the piece and helps sustain the film’s intensity through close, minimalistic staging. The result is a short that relies less on spectacle and more on psychological precision, using silence, power shifts, and intimidation as the true engines of suspense.
Adrien Boublil describes Max as an attempt to explore themes that remain painfully relevant: the banality of evil, the cost of resistance, and the many faces of human cruelty. An award-winning filmmaker who had his first Cannes screening at 17 with his short Yelo, Boublil has also gained international recognition through festival-screened work and online distribution, including Walk With Me (later acquired by Omeleto) and his music video Is This Love.
My Dearest Mother by Michael Bonello Ghio (Malta)
My Dearest Mother receives an Award of Excellence for its restrained psychological approach and its intimate portrayal of family tension shaped by grief and memory. The film unfolds with careful pacing and emotional precision, letting silence, ritual, and unspoken history carry much of its weight.
Set on the first anniversary of a patriarch’s death, the story follows a mother and daughter forced to confront the “skeletons” of their shared past. Though the head of the household is gone, his presence remains deeply felt, shaping every interaction between the two women as remembrance becomes a quiet, escalating reckoning.
The film is led by Jane Marshall, one of Malta’s most recognizable screen and stage performers, alongside Marama Corlett, whose work has also reached international audiences through film and television. Corlett also co-wrote the project alongside Bonello Ghio, giving the script a lived-in authenticity as it explores how trauma lingers within domestic space and how love can exist alongside unresolved pain.
Funded by the Arts Council of Malta, My Dearest Mother was produced through a deeply personal creative process, and marks Bonello Ghio’s most ambitious work to date. A co-founder of Dutch Studios, he continues to develop work that blends classical composition with modern realism, and My Dearest Mother stands as a clear extension of his interest in stories where family, faith, and memory collide.
Indie Short Fest 2018-2026 © All Rights Reserved