INDIANAPOLIS, July 25, 2026 — Shine Global is proud to announce that Jason, directed and produced by Gabriella Canal, has won the Shine Global Children’s Resilience Short Film Prize at the 2026 Indy Shorts Film Festival, one of the world’s leading short film festivals, presented by Heartland Film.

The short documentary, which made its world premiere at Indy Shorts, follows a young boy in Miami as he goes about his daily life while the voice of his recently deported mother travels through the phone to reach him. 

“Jason moved us with its intimacy, restraint, and deep humanity. Through the perspective of a five-year-old boy, it reveals what happens after a parent is deported, not as an abstract political issue, but as a daily reality experienced by a child,” said Shine Global Co-CEO and Creative Director Alexandra Blaney.  “We see him playing and laughing, but also crying and missing his mother. Across the distance between them, their phone calls become a lifeline and a moving testament to the power of love. The film honors its young subject without defining him only by his hardship, allowing us to witness his joy, vulnerability, courage, and extraordinary resilience.”

“Months after his mother’s deportation, it was Jason’s everyday resilience and courage that inspired me to make this film,” said Director Gabriella Canal “And so it is incredibly rewarding for his story to be recognized with a Shine Global Resilience Award. I can’t think of a better way to honor him and his family, after all of the systemic obstacles and confusion they’ve had to face and overcome together during these times. It is both my hope, and Jason’s family’s hope, that his film reminds viewers that empathy and dignity, not fear, must shape how we understand each other.”

In addition, the short documentary Stalin Boys, directed by Bianca Giaever and Ora DeKornfeld, was awarded the Documentary Grand Prize, qualifying the film for Academy Award® consideration. Stalin Boys previously received Shine Global’s Children’s Resilience Award for Short Documentary at Sheffield DocFest.

Indy Shorts is an Academy Award®-Qualifying Film Festival in all three short film categories: Live Action, Documentary, and Animated. It has also been named one of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” and one of the “Best Short Film Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker Magazine.

The Children’s Resilience Short Film Prize collaboration between Heartland Film’s Indy Shorts and Shine Global began in 2023. Past winners include the short documentary Ayenda (2023), directed by Marie Margolius; the live-action short Unibrow (2024), directed by Nedda Sarshar; and the live-action short Rise (2025), directed by Jessica J. Rowlands.

This year, Shine Global featured seven finalist films in the Spotlight: Children’s Resilience program, highlighting the incredible resilience and unwavering spirit of children as they overcome challenges and find strength in unexpected places. In addition to JASON, the finalists included:

Where We Played: Voices From the Fire
In January 2025, devastating wildfires swept through Los Angeles. Through firsthand interviews, children reflect on what they experienced, what they lost, what they carried with them, and how their lives have been forever changed; while simultaneously holding onto hope for what comes next.
Directors: Nat Wolff, Austin Cauldwell
Producers: Mina Sundwall, Eliza Paprin, Julia Pitch

Hatchlings
A resentful teenager is forced to babysit her turtle-obsessed half-brother as he dives into a vivid fantasy world where he is a sea turtle and she is a tortoise.
Writer/Director: Jahmil Eady
Producer: Tara Austin

Amazeze (Fleas)
Tonderai, a young Zimbabwean boy living in a South African township, watches as a xenophobic mob runs rampant through his neighbourhood. He watches over his gravely ill younger brother, who becomes desperate for drinking water.
Writer/Director:
Jordy Sank
Producers: Jordy Sank, Gabriella Blumberg

Finding Syn
When her older sister runs away, 10-year-old Skylah goes out into the streets determined to bring her home. As she wanders the city with only a photograph, “Finding Syn” becomes a story about resilience, longing, and finding the one you love.
Writer/Director: Sean-Josahi Brown
Producers: Sean-Josahi Brown, Erica Andrews

My Plastic Mother
Eki, living by the landfill, searches for a memento to honor his late mother. Battling the relentless rain, landslides, and looming threats from scavengers and machinery, he fears her memory could be lost beneath the waste forever.
Writer/Director: Amar Haikal
Producer: Michael Rainheart

Firewall
When her long-lost father mysteriously returns home, Ani is forced to confront her deepest fears as her life in Texas merges with ancient Persian mythology.
Writer/Director: Bita Ghassemi
Producers: Farzan Sewani, Jadah Burciaga, Jake King, Bita Ghassemi, Tiger Hill, Travis Ratcliff, Brody Carmichael, Naveed Mardi, Michael Zumaya, Amanda Morrison

About Shine Global

Shine Global is a nonprofit media company that improves the lives of children by telling powerful stories to raise awareness, promote action, and inspire change. We produce and support inspiring films and compelling content about underserved children. Through tailored distribution and outreach, we connect with our audiences in communities, classrooms, museums, and on Capitol Hill as part of a powerful engagement campaign to encourage social change.

The Shine Global Resilience Awards recognize and celebrate the films and filmmakers that highlight the resilience and strength of children in the face of adversity. Past Resilience Award Grand Prize winners include the feature documentaries Speak. (2025, Jen Teixeira and Guy Mossman), Daughters (2024, Angela Patton and Natalie Rae), Name Me Lawand (2023, Directed by Edward Lovelace and produced by Fleur Nieddu), Lift (2022, Directed by David Petersen and produced by Mary Racine).  

About Heartland Film

Heartland Film is a nonprofit arts organization that runs the 11-day Heartland International Film Festival in October, the Academy Award®-Qualifying Indy Shorts Film Festival in July, the Truly Moving Picture Award and other year-round programs. Based in Indianapolis, Heartland Film was founded in 1991 with the mission to curate, promote and celebrate thoughtful and engaging films from diverse perspectives. Over the years, Heartland Film has presented $3.5 million in cash prizes – the largest total amount awarded by any film festival in North America – presented 200+ studio films with the Truly Moving Picture Award, and showcased more than 2,000 feature and short films, including 10 Oscar®-winning short film titles. MovieMaker Magazine named both the Indy Shorts and Heartland International Film Festival on the top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World list for 2026. The 9th Annual Indy Shorts Film Festival is scheduled July 21-26, 2026 and the 34th Heartland International Film Festival runs October 8-18, 2026. For more information, visit www.HeartlandFilm.org.

The new annual partnership recognizes filmmakers whose work highlights the resilience and strength of children and young people

July 2, 2026 — Shine Global and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) announced the launch of the Shine Global Resilience Award, a new annual partnership recognizing films and filmmakers that highlight the resilience and strength of children in the face of adversity.

The inaugural award was presented to One Day, written and directed by Yazmeen Kanji and produced by Maryam Remtulla, as part of the 14th Annual Best of NFMLA Awards. The honor includes a $2,500 cash prize along with ongoing support, amplification, and opportunities for audience engagement through Shine Global’s team and network.

Set in a suburb outside Toronto, One Day follows Adeela, an Indo-Caribbean Muslim teenager played by Ginny & Georgia’s Becky Ablack, who escapes into colorful daydreams as she searches for the confidence to express herself. Adeela imagines herself as the stylish, artistic, and justice-seeking young woman she wants to become, but she struggles to bring that confidence into her everyday life.

As Adeela decides whether or not to enter a photography contest, she must navigate the limiting expectations and microaggressions she encounters in the classroom. An outspoken classmate encourages her to stop hiding and embrace who she is. Over the course of one transformative day, Adeela discovers that the voice she has been searching for is already her own. Filled with bright colors, playful direct address, and imaginative sequences, One Day brings viewers inside Adeela’s inner world while capturing the courage it can take for a young person to be seen and heard.

“One Day is a joyful celebration of a girl learning to trust her own voice,” said Alexandra Blaney, Co-CEO and Creative Director of Shine Global. “Adeela faces pressures that make her feel she must become smaller or quieter. But director Yazmeen Kanji creates a vibrant world that allows us to experience Adeela’s creativity and humor as well as the everyday challenges she faces. We are proud to recognize Yazmeen and the entire filmmaking team as the first recipients of the Shine Global Resilience Award with NFMLA.”

The partnership builds on Shine Global’s Resilience Awards initiative, which supports films and filmmakers telling stories about the strength, dignity, and power of children and young people. Through cash awards, screenings, professional support, and audience engagement, the initiative helps significant independent films reach wider audiences and extend their impact beyond the screen.

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles provides a platform for emerging and diverse filmmakers from around the world to share their work, connect with audiences, and develop relationships with entertainment industry professionals. The annual Best of NFMLA Awards recognize outstanding projects presented through the organization’s year-round programming.

The NFMLA Shine Global Resilience Award extends the two organizations’ shared commitment to supporting filmmakers whose work expands audiences’ understanding of young people’s experiences and celebrates their courage, creativity, and ability to shape their own futures.

About Shine Global

Shine Global is a nonprofit media company that improves the lives of children by telling powerful stories to raise awareness, promote action, and inspire change. We produce and support inspiring films and compelling content about underserved children. Through tailored distribution and outreach, we connect with our audiences in communities, classrooms, museums, and on Capitol Hill as part of a powerful engagement campaign to encourage social change.

The Shine Global Resilience Awards recognize and celebrate the films and filmmakers that highlight the resilience and strength of children in the face of adversity. Past Resilience Award Grand Prize winners include the feature documentaries Speak. (2025, Jen Teixeira and Guy Mossman), Daughters (2024, Angela Patton and Natalie Rae), Name Me Lawand (2023, Directed by Edward Lovelace and produced by Fleur Nieddu), Lift (2022, Directed by David Petersen and produced by Mary Racine).  

About NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA)

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization that champions emerging and independent filmmakers and storytellers from around the world and provides a forum where filmmakers can be recognized for their contributions, have open audience discussions about their work and connect with industry professionals for insight on distribution, production and representation.

In an effort to showcase, support, educate and build relationships for next-gen filmmakers, NFMLA has rapidly expanded beyond the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival to host an array of workshops, panels, competitions and networking programs, including the InFocus initiative which combats the lack of representation in media by celebrating underrepresented voices. Learn more at newfilmmakersla.com