2023 SFiFF JURIED AWARDS

The Votes Are In!

Santa Fe International Film Festival Announces Juried Award Winners

Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) is proud to announce this year's juried awards in all categories. SFiFF’s 2023 jury recognizes these award winning filmmakers for their cinematic skills and talents. The Best Narrative Feature and Best Narrative Short include prize packages from Panavision and Light Iron. There will also be select cash prizes awarded from the Santa Fe Film Institute, as well as select prizes from XP Pen and Media Services.

Santa Fe International Film Festival’s 2023 VISIONARY AWARD presented to Sterlin Harjo

JURIED AWARDS

Best Narrative Feature presented by Panavision With Love and a Major Organ directed by Kim Albright

Best Documentary Feature Bad Press directed by Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler

Special Jury Award for Documentary Feature Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun directed by Banchi Hanuse

Best New Mexico Narrative Feature Little Brother directed by Sheridan O’Donnell

Best New Mexico Documentary Feature First We Bombed New Mexico directed by Lois Lipman

Best Narrative Short presented by Panavision Mirage directed by Jhanvi Motla

Special Jury Award for Narrative Short Rabbit Hole directed by Aaron Schoonover

Best Documentary Short The Test directed by Claudia Myers and Laura Waters Hinson

Special Jury Award for Documentary Short Eat Flowers directed by River Autumn Finlay

Best Animated Short Ninety-Five Senses directed by Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

Special Jury Award for Animated Short Stages of Lost Freedom directed by Kamran S. Rosen

Best Experimental Short Lovebugs directed by Teddy Alvarez-Nissen

Best New Mexico Short Border Lord directed by Andy Pollack

Best Short by an Indigenous Filmmaker Urpi: Her Last Wish directed by Sisa Quispe

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

Audience Choice Best Special Presentation Narrative FeatureThe Promised Land directed by Nikolaj Arcel

Audience Choice Best Special Presentation Documentary FeatureAnselm directed by Wim Wenders

Audience Choice Best Competition Narrative FeatureChronicles of a Wandering Saint directed by Tomás Gómez Bustillo

Audience Choice Best Competition Documentary FeatureFirst We Bombed New Mexico directed by Lois Lipman

Audience Choice Best Short FilmTwenty directed by Jason Hogan

2023 SANTA FE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL JURY

Narrative Features Jury

Danny Rubin An award-winning screenwriter and playwright, Daniel Rubin co-wrote with Harold Ramis the screenplay for Groundhog Day, for which the two received a BAFTA Award. 

Cassidy Freeman Known for her roles in television's The Righteous Gemstones, Smallville, and Longmire, actress and musician Cassidy Freeman also acted in and produced the stunning New Mexico-filmed feature length drama, Cortez.

Kathleen Broyles President of the Board of The Milagro Initiative, and is a consultant to Sundance Institute, where she has worked since 1990. Broyles is also a location casting director known for productions like Honeydripper and Silver City.  

Yolonda Ross Two-time Independent Spirit Award nominee Yolonda Ross is known for acting in The Chi and John Sayles’s Go For Sisters.

Maura Dhu Studi Two-time Emmy winner for writing and producing the award-winning documentaries Canes Of Power and However Wide The Sky by Silver Bullet Productions, Maura Dhu Studi also Associate Produced and wrote narration for A Thousand Voices and Defending The Fire.

Jhane Myers a Sundance and Time Warner Storyteller Fellow known most recently for the film Prey.

Documentary Features Jury

Glenn Silber Two-time Academy-Award nominee Glenn Silber is an influential Producer, and he has directed films like The War At Home and Atomic Artist.

Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso Director of the multi-award winning documentary, Powerlands

Michele Chiappetta Garza Founding Producer of the KCET Cinema Series, which offers audiences the best of Hollywood, independent, and festival films prior to their theatrical or streaming release, Michele Garza is also the producer of the Earth Focus Environmental Film Festival, which hosts documentary filmmakers, environmentalists, and award-winning scientists.

Gay Dillingham Producer/Director/Owner of CNS Communications, Gay Dillingham began making films with The WIPP Trail, narrated by Robert Redford. Her work as a filmmaker and one of thirty international women delegates is represented in the 2022 documentary film, Crossings. She is currently Chair of the Santa Fe Film & Digital Media Council and Vice President of Wild Earth Guardians. 

Sandrine Cassidy USC’s School of Cinematic Arts director of Festivals and Distribution, Sandrine Cassidy counsels current students and alumni on how best to work their shorts in the festival circuit.


New Mexico Features Jury

Hunter Robert Baker Emmy Award-winning feature film, television, and commercial Director of Photography and Producer, Hunter Robert Baker has also been nominated for 2 Emmy Awards.

Shaandiin Tome Sundance fellow Shaandiin Tome is known for her work on short films like Long Line of Ladies, which earned the 2022 SFiFF Audience Choice Best Documentary Short Film.

Pete Ohs Director of SFiFF’s 2022 Best New Mexico feature, Jethica, Pete Ohs is also known for directing films like Youngstown and Everything Beautiful Is Far Away.

Alexandra Henry an award-winning filmmaker with over 15 years of international experience in commercial production and branded entertainment. In 2021 her first feature-length documentary, Street Heroines, won the Best Documentary Jury Prize at the Portland Film Festival and screened at SFiFF.


Short Film Jury

Amy Grappell

Lisa Leeman

Lynn Hamrick

Michael Fink

Raúl Garza

Sarah El Khawand

New Mexico Short Film Jury

Nancy Richardson

Erica Nguyen

Peshawn Bread

Amanda Lundquist

Sylvia Johnson

Indigenous Short Film Jury

Chris Eyre

Shaandiin Tome

Peshawn Bread

 

2019 - 2022 SFiFF Award Winners