Our Best Short Film winner will receive our custom Global Shorts statuette which we ship anywhere in the world, free of charge. The award is manufactured by Society Awards, the same awards company that manufactures the Golden Globe and the Emmy. All winners will receive our Global Shorts Winner laurels in black, white, and gold.
Title: The Cloud Factory
Runtime: 48 min
Country: Netherlands
Director: Digna Sinke
Placement: Award of Merit
Competition: March, 2026
Synopsis: In the spring of 2019, the government took the rather unexpected decision that the coal-fired power plant, centrally located in the western port area of Amsterdam, would close at the end of that year. A first big step towards reducing CO2 emissions in the Netherlands. Before the end of the year, I tried to capture everything as it had been for 25 years. The last ritual took place on December 16. The canteen was completely full. Old acquaintances saw each other again, it was cozy and festive. There was a beautiful Christmas tree, there were inspired speeches, but every moment was full of melancholy. Never again would the canteen be full of people. Six years later, only a metal skeleton of the boiler house remained, with the boiler in it. The chimney standing lonely next to it. It is decided to nibble down the chimney, bit by bit. After all, that happened in June 2025. The largest crane in Europe got to work, with a concrete cutter on its boom, remotely controlled. The end of an era. The chimney of Hemweg 8, once ‘the cloud factory’ with its beautiful white plume, is no longer a landmark.