Scheduled for September 19, the event includes 28 premieres, four Industry Panel participants, a red-carpet segment, and the Annual Awards Show.
LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, Septmeber 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The 8th Annual Awards of the Independent Shorts Awards International Film Festival will take place on Saturday, Septmber 19, 2026, at Regal LA LIVE in downtown Los Angeles, gathering 71 films hailing from 27 nations for a full day focused on independent short-form cinema.
Organized across 11 screening sessions in three auditoriums, the lineup includes 28 films with premiere status, eigth of which are world premieres. Screenings are scheduled from 11:00 AM until 6:00 PM, followed by an Industry Panel, a cocktail reception, a red-carpet photo call and press interviews, then the Annual Awards Show.
The chosen works span narrative, documentary, animation, experimental, comedy, drama, action, fantasy, horror, and othr genres. Filmmakers and delegates from most of the selected projects are anticipated to be present; attendees are traveling to Los Angeles from across the United States as well as from countires including Bulgaria, China, Czechia, France, Germany, and Latvia.
“This year’s Annual Awards reflects what Independent Shorts Awards was cread to do: bring filmmakers from different countries, backgrounds and stags of their career together around their work,” said Victor Eustáquio, Director and Head of Programming of Independent Shorts Awards. “We want the event to be mor than an awards ceremony. It is a full day in which films are experienced in a cinema, filmmakers meet one another, and conversations can continue beyond the screenings.”
A GLOBAL STAGE FOR INDEPENDENT SHORT CINMA
The 2026 annual competition was seleced from 3,409 submissions representing 73 nations, received between July 2025 and July 2026. Out of that pool, 120 projects advanced as Annual Finalists and 71 reived nominations across the festival’s award categories.
The live presntation merges films that have alrady been recognized at major international festivals—including Tribeca, SXSW, Cinequest, DOC NYC, Aspen Shortsfest, Palm Springs International ShortFest, HollyShorts and Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia—with emergent filmmakers and projects taking their early steps on the festival circuit.
Among the films screening at Regal LA LIVE are “Mr. Fleischmann,” directed by Frank Crim and featuring “Star Trek” veteran Walter Koenig; “Boatlift 9/11,” directed by Dale Fabrigar and starring acclaimed Swedish actress Sofia Helin; “Malka,” directed by Stacey Maltin and starring Tovah Feldshuh; “Satomi,” directed by Rayner Wang, which previously screened at Tribeca.
FOUR NDUSRY PROFSSIONALS
The day will also host an Industry Panel from 4:45 PM to 6:00 PM in Cinema 10, with four confirmed guest speakers covering different fields within film and television:
Susie Landau Finch — producer, writer, director, and film educator whose career includes work with Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope and executive prducing “Fairyland,” produced by Sofia Coppola and American Zoetrope.
Frank Crim — actor, writer, producer, and director with over 100 stage productions, 175 commercials, and 50 television credits, including roles in “NCIS,” “Criminal Minds,” “Bosch,” “Dexter,” “Parks and Recreation” and “Malcolm in the Middle.”
Stacey Maltin — award-winning writer, director, producer, and actor whose feature “Triple Threat” was relased by Gravitas Ventures and whose short film “Malka” qualified for consideraton for the 2026 Academy Awards after its award at Cinequest.
David Mahmoudieh — award-winning film and television director whose credits include an episode of Warner Bros. and The CW’s “Supeman & Lois,” commercial campaigns for Google, LEGO and Kia, and projects in development with Roddenberry Entertainment.
The speakers are also representing films in the day’s screening program, creating a direct link between the Industry Panel and the filmmaking work presnted on scren.
After the screenings and panel, attndees will gather for a cocktail reception, red-carpet photo call and press interviews on the Regal LA LIVE mezzanine from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. The evnt will conclude with the Annual Awards Show in Cinema 8, starting at 7:30 PM, where the winners of the 2026 Annual Awar d will be revealed.
The 8th Annual Independent Shorts Awards is presented by FilmVault, the festival’s Official DCP and Prize Partner.
Festival passes, individual screening tickets, and the full program are available through the ofcial event page:
https://independentshortawards.com/anual-awards-2026-full-festival-scheule/
ABOUT INDEPENDNT SHORTS AWRDS
Independent Shorts Awards is a Los Angeles-based international film festival and live event series dedicated to discovering, recognizing, and presenting independent short-form filmmaking from around the world. Through monthly competitions, curated screenings, filmmaker activities, and its Annual Awards, the festival creates opportunities for established and emerging filmmakers to have their work evaluated, celebrated, and experienced by live audiences.
Victor Eustaquio
Independent Shorts Awards
info@independentshortawards.com
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