7th Annual FCA 2025: Best of Fest Winner

We’re proud to announce the Best of Fest winner at the 7th Annual Filmmakers Connect Awards 2025: HURT, written by Matt Simon and directed by Jeremy Kunkle.

HURT is a powerful and deeply necessary short film that sheds light on the often misunderstood world of residential treatment, not through statistics or assumptions, but through the raw, human perspective of a young boy trying to survive it.

From its opening moments, the film establishes a grounded and thoughtful tone, presenting the reality that residential treatment centers can be both lifelines and waypoints in a much longer, more complicated journey. This duality becomes the emotional backbone of the story, refusing to simplify or generalize a system that is anything but simple.

A screenshot from "HURT"

At the center of the film is Isaiah, portrayed with honesty and emotional depth by Antonio Dean. Labeled “defiant” by the adults around him, Isaiah’s story unfolds through a combination of voice-over and carefully constructed scenes that reveal the weight of such labels. The repetition of institutional language, “aggressive outbursts,” “refusal to comply,” becomes almost suffocating, highlighting how easily a young person can be reduced to a file rather than understood as a human being.

Jeremy Kunkle’s direction is precise and compassionate, allowing the film to move between past and present with clarity and emotional impact. The flashbacks to Isaiah’s childhood are especially effective, grounding his behavior in lived experience rather than judgment. We begin to understand that what is often called “defiance” may, in fact, be fear, trauma, or simply a lack of safety.

One of the film’s strongest achievements is its portrayal of change, not as a sudden transformation, but as a fragile, ongoing process. The introduction of staff members who choose to listen rather than label marks a turning point, offering a glimpse of what real care can look like. A simple line, “everything you do is a normal reaction to a not so normal childhood,” carries immense weight, reframing Isaiah’s entire identity.

The film does not shy away from setbacks. Even as Isaiah begins to grow, the possibility of falling back into old patterns remains very real. This honesty makes the story all the more impactful, culminating in a deeply emotional moment with his mother that brings both pain and hope into the same space.

Visually, the film is clean and effective, with Cayne Tucker’s cinematography supporting the intimate tone of the narrative. The storytelling remains focused and purposeful throughout, allowing the emotional truth to take center stage.

A moving and meaningful work, HURT leaves us with a simple but powerful message: behind every label, there is a story worth hearing, and within that story, there is always hope.

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Review by the FCA director, Roy Zafrani.

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