Winners: Toronto June 2026 FEMALE Film Festival

A showcase of the best Female Films from around the world today!

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS:

Best Feature Film: BECOMING A WOMAN
Best Short Film: SULFUR
Best Direction: Murmurations from the Heart
Best Visual Design: OUR MONSTERS
Best Performances: ROOT BOUND

ROOT BOUND, 5min., USA
Directed by Sandra Elaine
Tired of being someone’s “maybe,” a woman confronts her charming, commitment-phobic boyfriend and realizes she may have outgrown the relationship before he ever chose it.

Sulfur, 15min., Portugal
Directed by Karen Akerman, Miguel Seabra Lopes
I am the dead. I am the living.

OUR MONSTERS, 8min,. Canada
Directed by Mia Mango (Petrovic)
Our Monsters was part of the Crazy8s Film Society’s 2024 mentorship program and 8 day film challenge. This film was made completely in 8 days; 3 days principle photography and 5 days post production.

https://www.instagram.com/our_monsters_short_film

Murmurations from the Heart, 8min., UK
Directed by Lucy Sheen
Being of East Asian heritage during the Pandemic exposed the ingrained racism, bigatory and hate still felt by many towards people from East and Southeast Asia this is visual monologue of how that felt and still feels

https://www.instagram.com/actorlucysheen

Umemulo ka Lerato – Becoming a Woman, 90min., South Africa
Directed by LERATO SNAKE MOKOENA MOTAUNG, FRANCOIS J. ODENDAAL
In “Umemulo ka Lerato – Becoming a Woman”, Lerato, a young woman from a township in Johannesburg reflects on her coming of age in modern South Africa. Umemulo is a rite of passage that marks the transition of a young girl into adulthood. Preparations start with the onset of puberty and has many interesting phases before culminating in a colourful ceremony over four days. Perhaps the most important ceremony in Zulu culture Umemulo is starting to reconnect the ‘lost generation’ with traditional values in the townships. Using old photos, archive footage and beautiful shot modern footage, Umemulo ka Lerato tells the moving and insightful story of Lerato and her maidens.

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By femalefilmfestival

The irony of this festival is that its goal is to not be around in 5 years time. To eventually not be relevant because there is zero need to have a festival geared for female talent and female stories because the stories presented in Hollywood and around the world are a balanced showcase of the human experience from both sexes. Our goal is to achieve a lot of success and then fold into oblivion simply because there is no need for this festival. This festival was created by the FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival as a simple reaction to a strong need to showcase female talent from around the world in a more profound way. When putting together the weekly festival, the administration noticed a lack of a female presence in the stories being shown at the festival. A classic example and analogy to the frustration is how the festival noticed that even the smaller roles in a screenplay were written for a man to play. There was zero reason for this in many stories. How a police officer, or a political campaign manager, for example with 3-4 lines in a screenplay was a "HE" character. Why? And these are the screenplays written by the winners! The talented one who have obtained agents and have began/beginning their careers as a writer.

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