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This Just In: 48TH CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES AWARD WINNERS

Table of Contents

FEATURE FILM AWARD WINNERS

Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Best Film

Sponsored by the Callahan Foundation

AMERICAN DELIVERY, directed by Carolyn Jones (USA)

$20,000 cash prize

 

Reel Women Direct Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman

Presented with generous support from Deborah Bachman Ratner

Maggie Contreras (for MAESTRA; USA)

$10,000 cash prize

 

George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Competition

Endowed by The George Gund Foundation

WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MODERN, directed by Matěj Chlupáček (Czech Republic, Slovakia)

$10,000 cash prize

 

Nesnadny + Schwartz Portrait Documentary Competition

MAY THE SCHWARTZ BE WITH YOU Director’s Award

Presented with generous support from Nesnadny + Schwartz

BYE BYE TIBERIAS, directed by Lina Soualem (France, Palestine, Belgium, Qatar)

$10,000 cash prize

 

New Direction Competition


FEMME, directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping (UK)

$10,000 cash prize

Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition

Endowed by The George Gund Foundation

SECRET MALL APARTMENT, directed by Jeremy Workman (USA)

$10,000 cash prize

 

Global Health Competition

Presented with generous support from Mark Smith and Janet Rosel Smith

SMALL TOWN UNIVERSE, directed by Katie Dellamaggiore (USA)

$7,500 cash prize

American Independents Competition

Presented with generous support from Mike and Nicki Cancelliere

THELMA, directed by Josh Margolin (USA)

$7,500 cash prize

 

Local Heroes Competition

Presented with generous support from Lauren Rich Fine and Gries Financial Partners

ROUGE, directed by Hamoody Jaafar (USA)

$7,500 cash prize

 

Ad Hoc Docs Competition

Presented with generous support from Tom and Anita Cook

CHASING CHASING AMY, directed by Sav Rodgers (USA)

$7,500 cash prize

 

International Narrative Competition

Presented with generous support from Tom Piraino and Barbara McWilliams

THANK YOU GUYS, directed by Riccardo Milani (Italy)

$7,500 cash prize

 

FilmSlam Student Choice Award for Best Feature Film

Presented with generous support from Overdrive

FALSE POSITIVE, directed by Ismail Al-Amin (USA)

$2,000 Cash Prize

 

SHORT FILM AWARD WINNERS

Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film Overall

Sponsored by Char and Chuck Fowler

Jane Austen’s Period Drama, directed by Julia Aks and Steve Pinder (USA)

$1,000 Cash Prize

 

Best Animated Short Award*

Sponsored by MP Star Financial

Anita, Lost in the News, directed by Behzad Nalbandi (Iran)
$1,000 cash prize

 

Best Documentary Short Award*


Sponsored by Jules and Fran Belkin
Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World, directed by Julio Palacio (USA)

$1,000 cash prize

Best Live Action Short Award*

Sponsored by Jules and Fran Belkin

Room Taken, directed by TJ O’Grady – Peyton (Ireland)

$1,000 cash prize

 

FilmSlam Student Choice Award for Best Short Film

Sponsored by Overdrive

LUKI and the Lights Directed by Toby Cochran (USA, Netherlands)

$1,000 Cash Prize

*These award winners will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards.®

For a full list of short subject film award winners, please visit https://www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/awards-winners-ciff48

In addition, the Festival presented two very special awards that each come with a $5,000 cash award to help support the filmmakers’ future work, the DReam Maker Award and the Groundbreaker Award.

DREAM MAKER AWARD

Celebrating its sixth year, CIFF48 was thrilled to present its DReam Maker Award to pioneering LGBTQ+ filmmaker, and director and producer of the CIFF48 film CHASING CHASING AMY: Sav Rodgers.

The DReam Maker Program and Award is generously supported by Jinny and John Johnson.

 

GROUNDBREAKER AWARD

The Festival was honored to present its fourth Groundbreaker Award to the director of the CIFF48 film UNSEEN: Set Hernandez. During their time in Cleveland, Set connected with organizations whose missions support the themes and topics in their film.

The Groundbreaker Program and Award is generously supported by Stephanie and Bruce Hearey.

CIFF48 Streams, presented by PNC, takes place April 14th-21st online.  Hundreds of films are available on demand. Tickets and passes are now on sale at clevelandfilm.org.

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CIFF49 will take place March 26-April 5, 2025 at Playhouse Square.

The Cleveland International Film Festival is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Also, the Cleveland International Film Festival is made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.

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