The 13th Go Short International Short Film Festival, taking place online 7-25 April, handed out its award on Friday night, with the selected winners showing a clear trend for socially aware films dealing with timely topics.

In the European Competition, the jury consisting of Croatian filmmaker Ivana Bošnjak, UK curator Myriam Mouflih, Curaçaoan visual artist Kevin Osepa and Bulgarian film critic Savina Petkova, gave out four awards.

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The Best Fiction Film prize went to Dustin by French director Naïla Guiguet, which highlights the complexity of being human and the strong need to be seen for who you really are, through the experience of young transgender woman Dustin. The film was selected for Cannes' Critics’ Week last year.

Tunisian filmmaker Mouaad El Salem's This Day Won't Last, a co-production with Belgium, received the Best Documentary award. In this painful autobiographical short which uses a collage of many different visual techniques, the director tries to decide if he can leave his country where he is oppressed as a gay man.

French director Zachary Zezima's Annecy title Friend of a Friend, winner of the Best Animation award, attempts to broaden the conversation around sexual abuse and its motivations and implications through the story of a young man who befriends his abuser.

The three films are now qualified for the Academy Awards, and each has received a cash prize of €1,500 and a DCP mastering service from Green DCP.

The EFA nomination went to Germany's Katharina Huber for The Natural Death of a Mouse,  a complex mix of animation, archive footage and photographs which delves into the problem of determining and following one's ethical compass. 

In the Dutch Competition, the €5,000 Go Short VEVAM Award and Oscar qualification went to another Critics’ Week entry, Marlon Brando by Vincent Tilanus, a fiction short about the changing friendship between Cas, a gay boy, and Naomi, a lesbian girl.

Finally, the Encouragement Award for Best Student Film, worth €1,500, was handed to Under Control by Finland's Ville Koskinen, made at the Baltic Film & Media School, a documentary which focuses on insects in the Tallinn Botanic Garden.

The Dutch & Student Competition Jury comprised filmmakers Eduardo Williams (Argentina) and Nicolas Gourault (France), head of Canada's REGARD - Saguenay International Short Film Festival Marie-Elaine Riou and Romanian film critic Andreea Patru.

From 10 to 20 June, Go Short will organise, subject to local rules and regulations, an open-air public program in Nijmegen.

Here is the full list of Go Short award winners:

European Competition

Best Fiction Film
Dustin - Naïla Guiguet (France)

Best Documentary
This Day Won't Last - Mouaad El Salem (Tunisia/Belgium)

Best Animation
Friend of a Friend - Zachary Zezima (France)

EFA Nomination
The Natural Death of a Mouse - Katharina Huber (Germany)

Dutch Competition

Go Short VEVAM Award
Marlon Brando - Vincent Tilanus (Netherlands)

Special Mention
NAYA - Sebastian Mulder (Netherlands)

Student Competition

Best Film
Under Control - Ville Koskinen (Finland/Estonia)