2,500+ scripts came through our doors. The community voted, and 3 finalists made the cut.
And here's the part that matters: the final vote comes back to you. You helped narrow it to 10. The judges took us to 3.
Three films made it to the final round of the 2026 Kinolime Short Film Competition. Read their loglines, share the ones that stand out, and vote for the film you want crowned and gets $7,500. Voting closes November 8th.
The Duel and the Dye
Genre: Action • Drama • Sport • Thriller
Logline: When their terminally ill father decrees that a fencing duel will decide the family inheritance, two estranged professional fencer siblings – one biological, one adopted – must confront whether fighting for his approval is worth the cost of their relationship.
Director’s statement: Now that I am the age my father was when he started working nights, I realise it is a privilege to be allowed to fail. Most of us do not have access to that privilege. Vera's story in 'The Duel and The Dye' captures the essence of that truth so well — some of us climb mountains that others call hills. Read more
TOURISTEN
Genre: Drama • Film-Noir
Logline: Whilst their vacation in Colombia, the unspoken differences of a German tourist couple sharpen into a moral conflict, as they get involved in a potentially violent nightly manhunt.
Director’s statement: TOURISTEN, the protagonists' seemingly trivial concerns—jealousy, hedonism, and the search for excitement—collide with a city where insecurity, migration, and violence are woven into everyday life. The distance between these worlds gradually becomes impossible to ignore. Read more
The Tannest Man on the South Side of Chicago
Genre: Comedy • Drama • Family
Logline: Across four decades on the same Chicago porch, an Italian American patriarch smokes, tans, and grouses his way through life, becoming a neighborhood legend to everyone but for the family that has to deal with him.
Director’s statement: My grandfather Sam was a dock worker, a World War Two veteran, and a trained barber. Cheap, stubborn, and someone who loved his daughters by insisting they call him every single day – feelings expressed through control rather than tenderness. Read more
Know a filmmaker or screenwriter who should see this? Share it with them before the polls close.
