March 2026 — A film about the colonial gaze and the quiet resistance of its subject, wins Best Short-Short at the SPE Media Festival, Atlanta.
The SPE Media Festival has been part of the annual Society for Photographic Education conference since 1995, presenting short documentaries, animation, fiction, and video art across a programme defined by its attention to cultural identity, gender, and representation. The 2026 edition was held in Atlanta, Georgia, in March. Society for Photographic Education
Paper Flowers received the Best Short-Short award in a programme of around thirty international works. The film is set in Yokohama in 1866: a Japanese origami artisan is hired to pose as a samurai for the colonial portraits of Western photographer Felice Beato. At 2 minutes and 16 seconds, the film holds a single moment of silent recognition between photographer and subject as its centre.
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