‘Hamnet’ Wins the VAFF Audience Award

The 38th annual Virginia Film Festival has honored Hamnet, Chloe Zhao’s fictionalized take on the death of Shakespeare’s son, for its Audience Award for best narrative feature. Having attended the screening of Hamnet this past Sunday, I was certainly not surprised. Hamnet elicited a rare emotional response from the audience, a combination of overwhelming emotion and outright awe. Zhao’s film has received sparkling reviews, and this distinction from festival goers only burnishes the film’s resume heading into the Oscar season. You can read my review of Hamnet at The Contending.

Other post-fest awards were handed out to Come See Me in the Good Light for Festival Favorite Documentary. The doc traces the story of two poets facing down an incurable cancer diagnosis with love and no small amount of humor.

Here is the complete list of the 2025 Audience Awards recipients:

Narrative Feature: Hamnet

Documentary Feature: Come See Me In The Good Light

Narrative Short: Synthesize Me

Documentary Short: All the Empty Rooms

The recipients of the 2025 VAFF Programmers Awards are:

Narrative Feature: Late Shift

Documentary Feature: Ghost Elephants (Read my review at The Contending)

Narrative Short: Nervous Energy

Documentary Short: On Beyond Fences

Additional 2025 VAFF Award recipients included:

Achievement in Film Composition: Nicholas Britell (Jay Kelly)
Achievement in Film Music: Miles Caton (Sinners)
Achievement in Screenwriting: Jay Duplass (Writing for the Screen: The Baltimorons Way)
Achievement in Screenwriting: Michael Strassner (Writing for the Screen: The Baltimorons Way)
Breakthrough Director Award: HIKARI (Rental Family)
Chronicler Award: Jessica Hargrave (Come See Me In The Good Light)
Craft Award: Evgenia Alexandrova (The Secret Agent)
Craft Award: Cara Brower (Hedda)
Governor Gerald L. Baliles Founder’s Award: Chris Farina (Pep Banned)
Impresario Award: James Schamus (The Ice Storm)