WIZ-ART 2025 FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES WINNERS
The 16th edition of the Wiz-Art International Short Film Festival has announced its winners: eight short films selected by the jury, audiences, and the Ukrainian Film Critics’ Association.
The Grand Prix of Wiz-Art 2025 went to Daddy’s Little Scratch by Yehor Harmash (Ukraine, 2025). The film tells the story of Slava, a young woman spending a day with her father Roman, who has returned home on short leave from the war. Together they travel to another city to return an expensive carpet that Roman had bought as a gift for his daughter. Over the course of their journey, they try to bridge the distance created by his eight years of service. Slava gradually realizes she must get to know the person her father has become.
As the Grand Prix winner, Daddy’s Little Scratch has also been selected for the European Film Academy Award. It will compete with 29 other films at the award section European Short Film — Prix Vimeo.
The International Competition award went to Living Stones by Jákob Ladányi Jancsó, (Austria, Hungary, 2025). The story follows Natasha, a young woman undergoing therapy in an unusual rehabilitation center far from the city. Her sessions with the therapist are slow and difficult — she resists trust. When he suggests equine therapy, Natasha begins to feel a fragile sense of connection and acceptance that allows her to confront her darkest memories. The boundary between doctor and patient blurs, their relationship grows increasingly intimate, and the line between healing and harm becomes dangerously thin.
“Going through a traumatic experience puts you in a state where memories, fantasies, fears, and disturbed thoughts blend together and distort perception, making nightmares feel real and reality feel like a dream. The film we chose as Best Short Film in the International Competition explores this universal theme with a thoughtful use of cinema’s unique tools. By leaving space for emotion and interpretation, the director and his team invite each viewer’s imagination into an intense and cathartic experience.,” commented the International Competition jury.
The winner of the National Competition was also Yehor Harmash’s film Daddy’s Little Scratch (Ukraine, 2025).
The same film also won the National Competition at Wiz-Art 2025.
“In exploring the relationship between a father and daughter, the winning film in the National Competition is at once a tender and unsentimental portrait of generational difference and family dynamics. In its investigation of issues of universal themes, the film also highlights the pain suffered by modern day Ukraine. Disconnection and trauma – both physical and mental – return home from the war, disrupting attempts at ordinary life. With powerful performances and assured directing, the National Award goes to DADDY’S LITTLE SCRATCH by Yehor Harmash,” stated the National Competition jury.
The National Competition winner received a special prize — a certificate worth 50,000 UAH for equipment rental from M-Rental.
The Audience Award in the National Competition went to Curfew by Yelyzaveta Toptyhina (Ukraine, 2025). The film tells the story of a young photographer who, after an expedition, misses her chance to return to the city. At a bus stop, she meets a boy celebrating his birthday. As the curfew approaches, the two strangers are forced to spend the night together in a roadside hotel.
The audience favorite also received a nomination for the European Short Film Audience Award (ESFAA), an annual European prize recognizing the best short film chosen by audiences at ten leading festivals. As part of this network, Wiz-Art nominated Curfew, which will now tour across ten European festivals.
The Audience Award in the International Competition was given to Shyness of Trees by Bingqing Shu, Maud Le Bras, Jiaxin Huang, Simin He, Lina Han, Loïck du Plessis d’Argentré, and Sofiia Chuikovska (France, 2024). This animated film follows Hélène, a 40-year-old woman visiting her elderly mother in rural France. But her mother behaves strangely, as if she has developed a mysterious connection with plants, insects, and an ancient oak tree at the end of the garden.
The ESFAA Audience Award at Wiz-Art went to Two People Exchanging Saliva by Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh (France, USA, 2024). The film tells the story of Anjin, an unhappy woman who obsessively shops at a department store. There she becomes fascinated by a naïve shop assistant. Despite a ban on kissing, a bond develops between them, arousing the suspicion of a jealous colleague.
The Ukrainian Film Critics’ Association also named two favorites. A Jury Diploma was awarded to I Died in Irpin by Anastasiia Falileieva (Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic 2024). The animated film recreates a deeply personal story of survival: on February 24, 2022, a couple fled from Kyiv to Irpin. They spent ten days in the besieged city and managed to leave with the last evacuation convoy. Time has passed, but the haunting feeling of having “died in Irpin” remains. The film conveys this intimate experience through a subjective lens.
“This is a film where animation masks an unbearable horror, yet it seeps through every frame. It subtly conveys the atmosphere of the times through personal conflict, turning a private story into a universal one,” the Film Critics’ jury explained.
A Special Mention from the Ukrainian Film Critics’ Association was awarded to Hello, I’m on the Hill by Liza Pyrozhkova (Ukraine, 2024). The documentary tells the story of Mount Kremenets in the devastated city of Izium, Kharkiv region, which after months of Russian occupation became an “island of connection” — the only place where people could find mobile signal to reach their loved ones.
“This is a story where an ordinary phrase becomes a lifeline to the outside world, a way to announce oneself and carry the voice of a city emerging from isolation. In a small gesture lies a larger narrative of both tragedy and resilience, revealing the strength of a community unafraid to say: ‘We are here,’” said the jury in their statement.
