STRAW 2025: A Mother’s Silence Was Louder Than a Siren
A haunting look at grief, survival, and a mother’s quiet collapse in a world that never gave her room to fall.

A salaryman sees a murder in the subways and is soon pursued by the killer, who wants him to join a group called The Engineers, who have taken it upon themselves to reduce Japan's overpopulation. Despite not wanting any part of joining, the man begins to mutate, running throughout Japan and fighting his urge to kill.
A haunting look at grief, survival, and a mother’s quiet collapse in a world that never gave her room to fall.
A Black woman centered in a box office rom-com with a happy ending and no struggle love.
"La Noria" deftly subverts audience expectations as it explores childhood grief, anxieties, and pain. The award-winning short shows us that often our monsters are often sprung from our darkest places.
"Boston Strangler" pulls the curtain back on a well-documented historical moment involving significant contributions from women reporters.
The “gay best friend”, an age-old trope, has been done in countless films and television series. Ranging from one-note (Sex and the City's Stanford and Mario) to nuanced (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Tituss), the gay best friend exists to support and advise the main protagonist, with their conflicts swept to the side.
An unlikely friendship changes the hearts of men, and helps a young boy come into his own.