High Five Festival remains the biggest, broadest gathering of the action sports community of the year. It feels like everyone is here in Annecy, from every corner of the globe. And from New Zealand to Baffin Island, the whole world is represented in the films on show too, making for a unique event both in the cinema and on the late-night stumble home. The parties are sold out and the town is braced for snapback and plaid shirt-clad mayhem.

This year sees the High Five Awards round out the weekend, presumably followed by an uncharacteristically wild night for the population of Annecy and you're invited. The awards will be streamed live, right here on Newschoolers and if you're in the area, it's free to attend in person! Register for free HERE to claim your seat.

Judging this year was incredibly tough, with hundreds of films entered and a vast variety of styles to be compared. Alongside Nico Vugnier, Julien Haricot, Caroline Tillette, and Davide Lacote I've spent most of the last week with my eyeballs glued to a screen picking them apart, and we finally produced a list of nominees just in the nick of time:

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Best Movie:

Polar Star - Cody Townsend

Full Circle - Level 1

Descendence - Legs Of Steel

Les 14x2000 Des Bauges - Fabian Maierhofer

Here, Hold My Kid - Elyse Saugstad and Jackie Paaso

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Best Short Film:

Forre 2 - Forre

How did we get here? - The Blondes

The Draconians - Black Crows Skis

Sensus - The Bunch

Headspace - Hedvig Wessel

Realis - Max Palm/Baptise Sjöström

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Best Snowboard:

We Are Losers 2 - Lobster Snowboards

Bloom - Burton

Casino - Beyond Medals

Dorothy - Kennedi Deck & Emma Crosby

Get Buck - Sebbe De Buck

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Best Outdoor:

Nuptse - Hugo Clouzeau

Better - Kamal Ourahou & Nassim Lachhlab

New Colors - Arthur Genie

DeepFreeze - Yannick Boissenot & Charles Dubouloz

Lost In Chile - Andreu Lacondeguy

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Best Male:

Colby Stevenson

Aapo Myllärinen

Trevor Kennison

Sebbe De Buck

Ludvig Billtoft

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Best Female:

The Blondes

Hrund Hanna

Jess Hotter

Anni Karava

Kennedi Deck

Maggie Voisin

Ylfa Runarsdottir

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All these movies and a ton more will be on show this weekend, so if you can find a ticket, it's well worth swinging by. I think yours truly even has to talk on stage. Or tune in on Sunday at 1pm EST to check the winners and watch me freeze up trying to talk to a room full of humans in person.