American short film Skunk has won the 2015 Bermuda Shorts award at the Bermuda International Film Festival, making it eligible for the Academy Awards.

The film, directed by Annie Silverstein, focuses on 14-year-old Leila, whose closest friend is a rescue dog, in a humiliating encounter with a boy with a chip on his shoulder. The film was selected by the jury for its “interesting characters who were well cast and originality of concept”.

The Chicken, Gloria and 90 Days were also recognised, receiving Special Jury Prizes. The Chicken, a Croatian film, centres around six-year-old Selma receiving a live chicken as a birthday present in war-torn Sarajevo. Gloria, from Mexico, was about a man driving a bus by day and working the night shift as a drag act, while Chinese film 90 Days revolved around Li Jan, a young girl being groomed into the world of prostitution in the back streets of Hong Kong.

All three films were deserving of special recognition, according to the jury, for their “interesting storylines and exceptionally high standard of production”.

British film Dating Eliza, about a young couple whose date is interuppted by the girl’s parents, was voted the best short film by audiences, while documentary Virunga took the Audience Choice award for Best Feature. Virunga follows a small and embattled team of park rangers struggling to save the mountain gorilla population in the titular national park in eastern Congo.

A spokeswoman for the BIFF said that this year’s festival sold more than 2,000 tickets, including sellout screenings for 5 to 7, ’71 and CitizenFour.