Rock, Paper, Scissors (, ) is a 2024 British short film directed by Franz Böhm and produced by Hayder Rothschild Hoozeer with the lead role was played by Ukrainian actor Oleksandr Rudynskyi. The Ukrainian and Russian-language film explores the human cost of war, focusing on the emotional and psychological impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film won the Best British Short Film category at the 2025 BAFTA Awards The film is currently shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards.
A British production, Rock, Paper, Scissors premiered at the Show Me Shorts Film Festival in New Zealand on 13th October 2024, an Academy Award®-qualifying festival. It later screened at several prestigious international festivals, including the British Urban Film Festival, Aesthetica Film Festival, Cambridge Film Festival, and Norwich Film Festival in the UK. It also gained recognition at the St. Louis International Film Festival in the United States, where it was nominated for the Audience Award for Best Live Action Short Film, another Oscar-qualifying category.
The film’s soundtrack has been nominated for Best Original Score in the Short Film (Live Action) category at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards in 2024.
Plot Ivan, a young man living in eastern Ukraine, awaits an evacuation vehicle with his father, a surgeon in a frontline hospital, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine begins. The vehicle is destroyed by Russian aviation, and Ivan receives radioed intelligence from Ukrainian scouts that two Russian soldiers are approaching their bunker, and that dispatching another transport is impossible.
A wounded soldier gives Ivan his sniper rifle. Ivan sees that there are eight, not two, Russian soldiers. Understanding that he cannot neutralize them all, he shoots himself in the leg in order to pose as a pro-Russian local resident and divert the Russians. However, the Russians are already aware of the hospital's location, and Russian aviation destroys the building along with all the civilians inside.
The film's closing credits reveal that after the destruction of the hospital and the death of his father, Ivan joined the military and was killed in combat in 2023.
Cast Oleksandr Rudynskyi as Ivan Sebastian Anton as Sergei Oleksandr Yatsenko as Anatoly Sergey Kalantay as Bohdan Milosh Luchanko as Andryi Yuri Radionov as Mykola Aleksandr Begma as Aerial Commander
Production The film is a National Film and Television School production filmed in the United Kingdom and Wales. Produced by Hayder Rothschild Hoozeer, with the support of production manager Jade Way, and production coordinator Adrianna Saetta. Rock, Paper, Scissors was shot in summer of 2023 with an all Ukrainian cast and completed in late 2024.
Release The film had its world premiere at the Oscar-qualifying ‘Show Me Shorts’ festival in New Zealand and its UK premiere at the British Urban Film Festival, both in October 2024.
Film Festival Selections and Accolades Year Festival / Award Category Recipient(s) Result Reference 2024 Show Me Shorts Film Festival (New Zealand) Best International Film (Oscar & BAFTA qualifying) Rock, Paper, Scissors Nominated 2024 Cambridge Film Festival (UK) Audience Award – Short Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Honourable Mention 2024 St. Louis International Film Festival (USA) Best Live Action Short (Oscar & BAFTA qualifying) Rock, Paper, Scissors Nominated 2024 Norwich Film Festival (UK) Best Student Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Nominated 2024 Hollywood Music in Media Awards (USA) Best Score – Short Film (Live Action) Marcin Mazurek Nominated 2024 Max Ophüls Film Festival (Germany) Short Film Competition Rock, Paper, Scissors Nominated 2024 British Urban Film Festival (UK) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2024 Aesthetica Film Festival (UK) Best Poster Design Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2024 PTAKH Ukraine International Film Festival (UK/Ukraine) Best Narrative Short Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2024 Oakville Festivals of Film and Art (Canada) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2024 Focus Wales Film Festival (UK) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2024 London Super Shorts Film Festival (UK) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2024 Manchester Film Festival (UK) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 The British Short Film Awards (UK) Best Foreign Language Short Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Nominated 2025 BAFTA Film Awards (UK) Best British Short Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2025 Sony Future Filmmaker Awards (USA) Best Student Fiction Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2025 Royal Television Society Student Television Awards (UK) Best Sound Design Marcin Mazurek & Bryony Lear Won 2025 CILECT Prize (Global) Best Fiction Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2025 Inventa un Film – Lenola Film Festival (Italy) Best International Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2025 International Sound & Film Music Festival (Croatia) Best Original Score – Short Film Marcin Mazurek Nominated 2025 OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival (Ukraine/Bulgaria) Grand Jury Prize Rock, Paper, Scissors Nominated 2025 Oldenburg International Film Festival (Germany) Official Selection – Short Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 Filmfestival Kitzbühel (Austria) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 Kurz.film.spiele (Germany) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 Montana International Film Festival (USA) Best Narrative Short Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2025 Shortynale Festival (Germany) Audience Award Rock, Paper, Scissors Won 2025 Montecatini International Short Film Festival (Italy) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 Santa Fe International Film Festival (USA) Official Selection (Oscar qualifying) Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 Les Nuits en Or – Académie des César (France) Official Selection – Tour Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 Lviv International Film Festival Wiz-Art (Ukraine) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) (USA) Official Selection Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected 2025 International Film Festival Brussels (Belgium) Best International Short Rock, Paper, Scissors Finalist 2025 Kraljevski Filmski Festival (Serbia) Best International Film Rock, Paper, Scissors Finalist 2025 Suffolk Shorts Film Festival (UK) Best Narrative Short Rock, Paper, Scissors Nominated 2025 Boden International Film Festival (Sweden) Short Fiction Rock, Paper, Scissors Selected
References
External links Official website
Letterboxd ratings and reviews