“ Trapped ” wins the Grand Prix at the Hollyshorts Film Festival, qualifies for the Oscars
Sam Cutler-Kreutz and “Trapped” by David Cutler-Kreutz won the Grand Prize at the Film Festival Hollyshorts 2025, by calling it for the Academy Awards competition for this year for the best live court-act.
This award is one of the four Hollyshorts categories which grant the winners the automatic entry into the small film at the Oscars, provided that they meet the other requirements of the categories. The other winners of Hollyshorts to qualify for the Oscars are “Hurikán” of Jan Saska, who won the prize as the best animated short film of the festival; “A son and a father” by Andrés Ramírez Pulido, who won the price for the best live act; And Irving Serrano and Victor Rejón “Voices from the Abyss”, which won the prize for best documentary.
Lee Knight won the prize for the best director for “a friend of Dorothy”.
The Hollyshorts Film Festival was created in 2005. This year, it presented 427 films that screened in Hollywood from August 7 to August 16.
Here is the full list of winners:
Oscar qualification categories
Grand Prix: “Trapped”, Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz
Best animation: “Hurricane”, Jan Saxe
Best live action: “A son and a father”, Andrés Ramírez Pulido
Best documentary: “Voices from the Abyss”, Irving Serrano, Victor Rejón
Other categories
AAPI price: “Mushroom dad”, Michael Uchen Lei
Best cinematography: “What disappears”, Mario Lerma and Alex Rapariz
Best comedy: “Susana”, Gerardo Collo Escalante and Amandine Thomas
Best drama: “trapped”, Sam Cutler-Kreutz-David Cutler-Kreutz
Best director: “A friend of Dorothy”, Lee Knight; Special mention: “A son and a father”, Alexander Farah
Best editing: say Wuff! Fabian Podeszwa
Best horror: “Heirlooms”, Dan Abramovici
Best international: “painting and statue”, Freddie Fox
Best Midnight madness: “Stomach insect”, Matty Crawford
Best video clip: “Earth Defender”, Van der Woerd, Jorrower Dozy and Kynan Tegar
Best podcast: “Moonburn”, Robbie Hyne
Best producer: “Money Talk $”: Tony Mucci (director and producer), Scott Aharoni (producer), Bryan Schmier (producer) and David Mazouz (producer)
Best science fiction: “The second time”, Jack Howard
Best special effects: “Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting”, Alexander Thompson
Best student film: “1:10”, Sinan Taner
Best thriller: “Plastic surgery”, Guy Treatllyan
Best television: “Chasers”, Erin Brown Thomas
Best Web series: “Rasaan Hates Portland”, Mischa Webley
Kodak Best Shot On Film, 16 mm: “Ragamuffin”, Kaitlyn Mikayla
Kodak Best Shot on Film, 35 mm: “The Singers”, Sam Davis
Kodak Honorable mention: “Synthesize Me”, Bear Damen
Latin prize: “Heal Heals”, Lucía G. Romero
LGBTQIA +PRICE: “Dancing in Tomorrowland”, Jakob Roston
Sagindie Award: “The advance,” Djiby Kebe
Prize for social impact: “Rise”, Jessica J. Rowlands
Best sports drama: “Nights Nights”, Kyle Sykes
Best sports documentary: “It’s on a neck pot”, Joey Garfield
TOP 10 finalists of live short films live
“A son and a father”, Andrés Ramírez Pulido
“Mercenary,” Pier-Philippe Chevigny
“Ragamuffin”, Kaitlyn Mikayla
“Siek”, André Hayat Saito
“The advance,” Djiby Kebe
“Trapped”, Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz
“One of them”, Mostafa Vaziri
“A friend of Dorothy”, Lee Knight
“Rise”, Jessica J. Rowlands
Script price
Isa Story Award – Best functionality scenario: “The Dope Friend”, Matt Ferrucci
Best female scenario: “The Unravelling”, Samantha Mallory
Best short script Grand Prix – “Mudslide”, Frederik Ehrhardt
