Announcing Our Fall Early Bird Winners for PAIFF Season 3

The Puerto Aventuras International Film Festival (PAIFF) is proud to present the recipients of our Fall Early Bird Awards. These five powerful works represent diverse voices, perspectives, and styles from across the globe. Each film has earned an official selection and will screen during our annual festival, taking place March 25–29, 2026 in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico.

Alongside our Summer Early Bird winners, these films will now compete for honors at our red carpet awards gala in March. And remember, our final deadline for submissions runs until the end of the year, with the next Early Bird Awards round closing on November 3rd.

Best Feature: Welcome to Vegas

Directed by Hae Sun Hong (South Korea)

Raised in the kitchen of her mother’s soondae-guk restaurant, Sunny grows up as a daughter of a single mother, dreaming of escape from generational poverty. Abandoned when she becomes pregnant, she migrates to Las Vegas where she works as a casino dealer while her son Jonah spirals into gang violence and imprisonment. Their story converges in an attempt at redemption through a high-stakes poker tournament.

This debut feature from Korean American filmmaker Hae Sun Hong is a poignant meditation on identity, survival, and diaspora. Her bicultural perspective weaves together poetic realism, Korean heritage, and Western imagery to tell a story of scars, silence, and resilience. Hong’s theatre roots, family lineage, and commitment to socially conscious storytelling shine through in this bold and emotional first feature.

Best Documentary (Personal Journey): The Unfixing

Directed by Nicole Betancourt (USA)

After a surfing accident and the onset of chronic illness, filmmaker Nicole Betancourt embarks on a deeply personal journey blending verité, dream imagery, and family archives. The film examines the parallel crises of environmental destruction and human fragility, weaving grief, regeneration, and resilience into a layered cinematic diary.

An Emmy Award winning director, Betancourt uses her intimate lens to connect personal loss with planetary struggles. The Unfixing is at once an urgent environmental essay and a moving testament to how storytelling transforms trauma into possibility.

Best Documentary (Cultural Exploration): Leaving Beringia

Directed by Barbara Hager (Canada)

Métis Cree filmmaker Barbara Todd Hager travels to archaeological sites across the Americas, exploring the mysteries of Indigenous origins. Through conversations with knowledge keepers and archaeologists, she uncovers connections between origin stories, land, and science.

Hager, a celebrated documentary producer, brings history and heritage into focus while challenging conventional narratives about the first peoples of the Americas. This beautifully shot and culturally resonant work offers a groundbreaking view of ancestry, resilience, and belonging.

Best Short: Gum

Directed by Belal Albader (Saudi Arabia)

This heartfelt short follows a young man with Down syndrome who experiences the joy and challenges of first love. With honesty and tenderness, the film portrays his choices, emotions, and humanity beyond stereotypes.

Director Belal Albader, who studied and worked internationally before returning to Saudi Arabia to build local storytelling capacity, crafts a deeply empathetic film that avoids clichés while celebrating love and individuality. Gum reminds us that everyone deserves to be the hero of their own story.

Best Music Video: Heart Failed

Directed by Diana Nåcke (Germany)

Berlin-based musician Masha Qrella’s Heart Failed becomes an immersive, AI-powered visual journey in Diana Nåcke’s inventive music video. Using SORA-generated imagery projected onto Qrella’s body, the video blends surreal candy-colored landscapes with biting cultural commentary on technology, identity, and art.

Nåcke, an accomplished director and video artist, has shown her work at Berlinale, Hot Docs, and major festivals worldwide. Here she pushes form and content into bold new territory, asking what remains real, embodied, and human in an age of limitless digital possibility.

These five Fall Early Bird winners represent the incredible diversity and creativity that PAIFF is honored to champion. Each film is now an official selection for PAIFF 2026 and will screen during our festival week in Puerto Aventuras.

Submissions remain open, with our next Early Bird deadline on November 3rd, and the final deadline at the end of the year. We can’t wait to see what new voices and visions will join us in celebrating cinema by the sea.

Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to all filmmakers for sharing your stories with us.