“Flesh Impact” by Maggie Gyllenhaal wins Best Short Film at TIFF, becomes Oscar submission

“Flesh Impact”, the short film by American director Maggie Gyllenhaal, has been announced as the winner of the “Best Short Film” award at the 24th edition of the Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF), making it the film TIFF proposes for the Oscar race, in accordance with Academy rules.

The victory was announced this evening at the closing ceremony of TIFF 2026, giving Gyllenhaal’s film the festival’s most important award in the short-film category.

One of TIFF’s key features is its status as an Academy Awards® (Oscar) qualifying festival. “Tirana International Film Festival – Best Short Film” is on the Academy’s official list of qualifying festival awards. For this reason, the winner of this award is the film TIFF proposes for the Oscar, provided it also meets the Academy’s other criteria.

The success in Tirana comes after the presentation of “Flesh Impact” at the Venice Film Festival, where the film screened in the “Venice Open – Out of Competition” program, outside the official competition.

At TIFF, the film screened in competition, marking its world premiere within the festival’s competition, before being announced as the “Best Short Film” winner.

“Flesh Impact” starts from an unusual question: what would have happened to Marilyn Monroe if she had lived to the age of 100?

The film imagines Marilyn at an advanced age, far from the Hollywood icon image the public has kept for decades. At its center is an audition in a small New York theater, where an elderly woman seeks a role and, through her story, her history and the weight of an identity built by fame are gradually revealed.

Ellen Burstyn, 93, plays the imagined Marilyn at the age of 100, while Dakota Johnson appears as her younger version.

Through this story, Gyllenhaal touches on themes such as aging, memory, identity and the way the film industry views women, using Marilyn Monroe not simply as a Hollywood icon but as a starting point to reflect on what remains after the myth.

After the award was announced, Maggie Gyllenhaal addressed the TIFF festival and audience through a video message, greeting the recognition for her film.

“Thank you so much for this award, thank you to the jury, thank you to the Festival. It’s truly wonderful, I feel great. Happy birthday, Marilyn Monroe. Without her, of course, none of this would have been possible.”

The closing ceremony continued with the announcement of awards in the festival’s various categories.

In the Best Director – Full Length Films category, the jury, composed of Fatlumë Bunjaku, Giacomo Abbruzzese and Ivan Bakrač, honored Eimi Imanishi for the film Nomad Shadow, a production of the U.S., Spain and France.

While the Best PerspectIFF – Full Length Films award went to “Lust”, directed by Ralitza Petrova, a production of Bulgaria, Denmark and Sweden.

With its 24th edition, the Tirana International Film Festival continues to consolidate its profile on the map of international film festivals, bringing to Tirana important authors and productions of contemporary cinema and creating a platform where new works can meet the public, international juries and the film industry. TIFF’s status as an Academy Awards qualifying festival further strengthens this role, placing Tirana in the international circuit of festivals that contribute to the journey toward the Oscar.