Award Winners:
Audience Award:
May’s
Eliana Haah and Quinn Brady (Bryn Mawr College)
Jury Awards:
Just My Luck
Iz Lee (Swarthmore College)
The jury selected Just My Luck for its brilliant blend of comedy and heart, inventive use of mixed media, and endlessly entertaining storytelling. The film stood out for its witty, fast-paced narrative and its ability to feel both deeply personal and universally relatable. The jury especially appreciated the film’s cultural specificity, the wonderful performance by its older lead actor, and the humorous yet emotionally resonant exploration of accountability, fate, and the chaos of trying to negotiate with forces beyond our control. The film’s playful style and creative vision made it both charming and memorable.
The jury was also moved by the film’s connection to a renewed love of cinema and its roots as a family collaboration. Congratulations to Iz on creating such a joyful, inspiring, and imaginative work. Thank you for the laughter and for reminding audiences of the magic that filmmaking can hold.
“I’m Just Thinking About the Baby:” The Lies of Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Isabella Otterbein (Haverford College)
The jury selected I’m Just Thinking About the Baby for its remarkable vulnerability, emotional honesty, and urgent relevance within today’s political and healthcare landscape. At a time when bodily autonomy and equitable access to reproductive healthcare continue to face escalating threats, the film offers an intimate and necessary reflection on care, choice, and survival.
The jury was especially moved by the filmmaker’s willingness to approach such a deeply personal topic with openness and courage. As national debates surrounding abortion access and telehealth access to mifepristone continue to unfold, the film stands as a timely reminder of the importance of storytelling in documenting lived experiences that are too often ignored, politicized, or erased.
The jury congratulates Isabella on this powerful work and thanks them for contributing such an important and courageous voice to contemporary cinema.
Film Selection (in presentation order):
The Flaneur
Dilahan Cavusoglu ‘28 (Swarthmore College)
A traveler zips through Paris by herself. Slowly, friends join her to wander and enjoy the streets of Paris as flaneurs together.
Jianchuan Courtyard Gardens
CJ Chen, ‘28 (Haverford College)
Gardening enthusiast and retired truck driver Zhang Canbao lives in the countryside of Jianchuan in Yunnan Province, China. Mr. Zhang is part of the Bai ethnic minority, a community that makes up much of Jianchuan’s population. He walks into the gardens of neighbors and friends to showcase elements of a good courtyard garden and the bonsai within it, reflecting popular Chinese beliefs and symbolism in the plants, ornamentation, and larger environment around Jianchuan.
May’s
Eliana Haah ‘26 and Quinn Brady ‘26 (Bryn Mawr College)
May Kim, a Korean American tailor, has run her own shop in Wayne, PA for the past 31 years. This film showcases her quiet courage and resilience as she faces an 11-year threat to her livelihood in a rapidly digitizing world.
Let It Stew/炖吧炖吧
Qingyao (Grace) Li ‘27 (Haverford College)
Facing the stew of geopolitical tensions, an international student carves out their own space through cooking, as a way to cope, resist, and eat their feelings.
Blood
Tova Gordon ‘27 (Haverford College)
Tova has known she was conceived of sperm donation from a very young age, but at 20, she decides to go through the donor identity release process. Connecting with her donor provides an additional connection: her biological half sister via sperm donation. Serendipitously, Tova has a trip planned to visit friends near Poughkeepsie, and is able to dedicate one day of the trip to meeting her biological half sister. This process has led her into a period of introspection: rethinking her definition of family, reshaping her convictions about inherited traits, and broadening her outlook on conceiving a child through sperm donation on her own someday.
“I’m Just Thinking About the Baby:” The Lies of Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Isabella Otterbein ‘26 (Haverford College)
A simple Google search for pregnancy help takes a deceptive turn, revealing how Crisis Pregnancy Centers use kindness and misinformation to influence vulnerable callers.
A Call for Madness
Anquon Neely ‘26 (Haverford College)
An essay about the madness experienced by a black man in college.
Just My Luck
Iz Lee ‘27 (Swarthmore College)
They say that everything in your life happens for a reason but sometimes you’re just damn unlucky. Michael Kim is convinced his lifetime of bad luck came from a fortune telling ritual gone wrong. The only way to fix it? Killing God.
Operation Paperbag
Ahmad Fayyaz ‘27 (Swarthmore College)
Two office workers find themselves trapped in an endless loop of hallways after trying to leave for the day, as the building around them begins to behave in unsettling, intentional ways. Realizing they are being watched and controlled by an unseen system, they must outthink it to escape. Their solution turns out to be as absurd as it is effective.
Happy Un-Birthday
Emily McClung ‘26 (Swarthmore College)
“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.” – Lewis Carroll
