Mistake, a drama about an intersex birth, and Zoe, a romantic comedy bout a woman who gets a magical chance to live three different lives, were among the top winners at the 20th Poppy Jasper International Film Festival.
Mistake, written and directed by Honey Lauren, won best drama feature. Zoe, written by Emanuela Galliussi and directed by Galliussi and Dean Matthew Ronalds, won best comedy feature. The best documentary feature winner was Bird of Four Hundred Voices, by James Hall.
In her welcoming remarks for the festival, Poppy Jasper festival director Mattie Scariot remembered when her hometown of Gilroy, one of the hosts of the festival, was a sleepy agricultural town with fewer than 10,000 people.
Today the region — nestled between Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay — is growing fast, and the festival is growing with it. Since Scariot took over the fest in 2018, it has expanded from its original home, Morgan Hill, to include nearby Hollister, San Martin, San Juan Bautista, and Gilroy, and hosted 300 features and shorts from all over the world.
MovieMaker was thrilled to be in attendance, and to see winning films like “Clean Girl” and American Comic, among many other great watches.
You can read our Poppy Jasper interview about Mistake with Lauren here, and read our other film festival coverage here.
Poppy Jasper International Film Festival 2026 Winners
Here is the full list of winners, provided by the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival:
Best College Film
We Know It Was You
Local Short:
So Cal Drama – Headbang
Nor Cal – Life Support
Local Horror:
Nor Cal – Clean Girl
So Cal – Don’t Watch This
Local Comedy:
NorCal – Bike Short
SoCal – Giving Mom the Talk
Local Feature:
NorCal – The Mother, the Menacer and Me
SoCal – American Comic
Local Documentary:
NorCal – Ben Between Africa9
SoCal – Monster Slayer
Women Directed
Comedy – Egg Timer
Drama – I Want to go to Moscow
Doc Short – Lesson’s Learned from Cotulla
Doc Feature – Window on Death Row
Feature – Honeyjoon
Animation:
Local – Hamsters
Short – Intergalactic Expansion
Comedy
Feature – Zoe
Short – Check Please
Documentary
Feature – Bird of 400 Voices
Short – Swim Sistas
Drama
Short – The Dog That Couldn’t Bark
Feature – Mistake
Horror
Short – Pearls
Comedy – Don’t Look Out
Sci-Fi:
Short: Cosmic Crusaders
Thriller:
Short – Scratch
LGBTQ
Drama – Clutter
Comedy – I Hate Helen
Feature – T
Documentary – Old Girl In A Tutu
Horror – Sleepeater
Local – So Cal – All You Need
Local – Nor Cal – Last Bite
Mexico y Tú
Nor Cal – Motos
So Cal – Unveiled
Feature – Censurada
Feature Documentary – From Here From There
Short Documentary – Lessons Learned from Cotulla
Drama – A Matter of Time
Comedy – Vampire
Horror – Magical Meats
VR –
Dolphins of the Reef
3D – The Crown with a Shadow & the Search for Self!
Filmmaking For Change – Remaining Native
Director’s Circle:
Dating Mark Silcox
Hot Mess
The Sentry
Dale
Mantel
Topspin
Man and The Mattress
The Callback
Needle and Thread
Legend of Fry Roti
Mano of the House
Cherry B
We allow our screeners who watch over 100 films to pick their top 1o.
Andrea Ureno’s Top 10 List:
Hot Mess
She Chose War
The Last Gunfight
Mistake
Horndribbles
Remaining Native
Eternal Mother
The Window on Death Row
Flowers from Beyond the Dark
Lay Lefty Down
Guillermo’s Top 10
Fireflies in the Dusk
It Happened: The Judy Tenuta Story
Dobrina
Fountain (Chawk)
Topspin
All You Need
Arman
T
Decode Me
Minus 18 Degrees Celsius
Eros Molina:
Two Sisters
Check Please
Are you a friend of Dorothy?
Earboy
Saverio
Commonality of Tyranny
The Clock
Off-License
Farewell Paris
DALE
Kare
Love Eternal
Cast Out
Birthday
Palindrome (Canada)
Over
The Confection
A Mary Can Dream
Muses
The Little Ancestor
I Want To Go To Moscow
Robyn Carillo:
The Third Child
Cast Out
Horndribbles
Till Death Do Us Part
Over
Remaining Native
The Little Ancestor
Patience (Sabali)
What the Heaven
Check Please
Main image: Honey Lauren in Mistake.