Sometimes less is more. The quietest films can carry the greatest emotional weight, where a breath, a distant sound or the absence of music says more than a full score. This year's Best Sound recognised films that use sound not as decoration but as an essential part of storytelling, shaping tension, atmosphere, rhythm and emotion with precision. The Wind Changes stood out for the way sound carries emotion and atmosphere through a film told without dialogue. Its restrained soundscape gives meaning to movement, environment and silence itself.
Second place in the category went to Commit (directed by Reza Delavar, Iran) and third to Rainy Day (directed by Hue Zhan, Hong Kong), the winner of Best Student Film. The Wind Changes also reached the semi-finals of Best Animation.
