SEATTLE – SIFF closed out its 51st Seattle International Film Festival today, announcing the winners of
the 2025 Juried Competition Awards & Golden Space Needle Audience Awards. The awards were
presented at a ceremony held at Tagney Jones Hall on May 25, 2025.
The 11-day festival, which began May 15, screened 245 films from 74 countries/regions around the globe communicating in 63 different languages including 83 features, 122 short films in 14 different programs, 35 documentaries, three archival features, and two secret films. The Festival lineup included 19 world premieres, 27 North American premieres, and 13 US premieres. Nearly 51% of filmmakers are female or nonbinary-identifying, 37% identify as a BIPOC director, and 20% identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. 60% of the feature films are from first- or second-time filmmakers, and 73% of films don’t currently have US distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States.
“When we announced our lineup for this year’s Festival slate, we wanted to make sure our audience
knew that SIFF is doubling down on spotlighting independent and international voices,” said SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett, “This year’s award winners absolutely reflect the intention behind this year’s focal points. It has been an incredible 11 days; and with hundreds of filmmakers and tens of thousands and patrons filling our theaters, it’s clear the need for these voices, these films, is greater than ever.”
The Festival holds two forms of competitions during its run, both juried and audience-based. Juried competitions evaluate films selected by Festival programmers and represent the best in their category from all over the world. Winners are chosen by a carefully selected jury of industry professionals and film lovers. The winner in each feature category is awarded $5,000 in cash, and $2,500 in each short film category.
SIFF holds five feature juried competition categories: The Official Competition, the New American Cinema Competition, the New Directors Competition, the Ibero-American Competition, and the Documentary Competition. The short film categories are: Live Action, Animation, and Documentary. In addition to juried competitions, SIFF also hosts the Golden Space Needle Awards (GSNA). Films evaluated through the GSNAs are selected by SIFF audience members through post-screening ballots. Categories for the GSNAs are Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Performance, and Best Short Film.
The Golden Space Needle Award design has been created by artist Piper O’Neill since 2013. O’Neill is Principal & Creative Director of Idlewild Union, where each award is forged in glass by a team of artisan glassblowers. Inspired by the metamorphic process of a crystal formation, the design celebrates the creative cycle in its most innate and organic form.
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD WINNERS WILL BE AVAILABLE SUNDAY 5/25 @10AM PT WHEN
VOTING HAS CLOSED
________________________
SIFF 2025 FEATURE COMPETITION AWARDS
SIFF confers five juried competition awards: SIFF Official Competition, Ibero-American Competition, New Directors Competition, New American Cinema Competition, and Documentary Competition. The winners in each juried competition receive $5,000 in cash.
SIFF 2025 OFFICIAL COMPETITION WINNER
The SIFF Official Competition Jury members were David Ansen (Lead Programmer of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, former film critic for Newsweek, former Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival from 2010-2014), Megan Griffiths (film and television writer/director, board member of Northwest Film Forum), Garineh Nazarian (founder and managing director of Venera Films).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Seeds | dir. Brittany Shyne (USA 2025)
JURY STATEMENT: For its lyric and compassionate evocation of an underrepresented community, filmed with great intimacy over 8 years, we award the Grand Jury Prize to SEEDS, by Brittany Shyne.
SIFF OFFICIAL COMPETITION AWARD, SPECIAL JURY MENTION
The New Year that Never Came | dir. Bogdan Mureșanu (Romania/Serbia 2024)
JURY STATEMENT: THE NEW YEAR THAT NEVER CAME, a kaleidoscopic vision of life under authoritarianism that resonates with special urgency in these troubling times.
2025 Entries:
Home Sweet Home (d: Frelle Petersen, Denmark 2025, 112 min)
The New Year That Never Came (d: Bogdan Mureşanu, Romania/Serbia 2024, 138 min)
Raptures (d: Jon Blåhed, Sweden/Finland 2025, 108 min)
Rebuilding (d: Max Walker-Silverman, USA 2025, 95 min)
Remaining Native (d: Paige Bethmann (Haudenosaunee), USA 2025, 87 min)
The Safe House (d: Lionel Baier, Switzerland/Luxembourg/France 2025, 90 min)
Seeds (d: Brittany Shyne, USA 2025, 122 min)
Summer’s Camera (d: Divine Sung, South Korea 2025, 82 min)
SIFF 2025 IBERO-AMERICAN COMPETITION
The SIFF Ibero-American Competition Jury members were Florangela Davila (former race and immigration reporter at The Seattle Times, former managing editor and Crosscut Now host at Cascade PBS, former KNKX news director), Luis Ortiz (Managing Director at PBS), Claudia Puig (Director of Programming for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, National Public Radio’s “Film Week” film critic, lead critic at USA Today, host of The Screening Room.)
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Deaf | dir. Eva Libertad (Spain 2025)
JURY STATEMENT: DEAF/SORDA is awarded the Grand Jury Prize for its authentic and emotionally layered portrayal of deaf motherhood. With rare intimacy and emotional depth, the film offers a powerful new perspective on communication, identity, and belonging within the deaf community.
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Transfers | dir. Nicolás Gil Lavedra (Argentina/Uruguay 2024)
JURY STATEMENT: TRANSFERS/TRANSLADOS is awarded a Special Jury Mention for its powerful reflection on dictatorship and historical memory—offering a haunting reminder of the dangers of authoritarianism that feels urgently relevant in today’s America.
2025 entries:
Beef (d: Ingride Santos, Spain/Mexico 2025, 85 min)
Bitter Gold (d: Juan Olea, Chile/Mexico/Uruguay/Germany 2024, 83 min)
Deaf (d: Eva Libertad, Spain 2025, 99 min)
Hanami (d: Denise Fernandes, Switzerland/Portugal/Cape Verde 2024, 96 min)
Manas (d: Marianna Brennand, Brazil/Portugal 2024, 101 min)
The Nature of Invisible Things (d: Rafaela Camelo, Brazil/Chile 2025, 90 min)
Transfers (d: Nicolás Gil Lavedra, Argentina/Uruguay 2024, 90 min)
Undercover (d: Arantxa Echevarría, Spain 2024, 118 min)
SIFF 2025 NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION
The SIFF New Directors Competition Jury members were Chris Lane (President of Distribution and Audience at Joint Venture), Jonathan Marlow (Executive Director of Scarecrow Video Archive, curator, composer, cinematographer, filmmaker and producer), Peter Van Steemburg (former Vice President of Acquisitions & Production at the Universal Pictures Content Group).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
The Crowd | dir. Sahand Kabiri (Iran 2025)
JURY STATEMENT: We are thrilled to award the SIFF New Director’s Grand Jury Prize to THE CROWD directed by Sahand Kabiri from Iran! The jury was captivated by this film from the first frame of cellphone video showing a part of Iranian life that very few have the privilege to witness. We found the film to be so refreshing and joyous and want to applaud the filmmakers for sharing this story with us. The story is so bold, the actors deliver top notch performances, and the director sutures you to the screen. We also want to recognize the technical achievements of this film, from the photography, to the sound design, down to the lighting of a pop-rave in a Tehrani warehouse. We applaud the filmmaking team of THE CROWD and thank them for sharing their story with us.
SIFF NEW DIRECTORS AWARD, SPECIAL JURY MENTION
DJ Ahmet | dir. Georgi M. Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia 2025)
JURY STATEMENT: We also would like to provide special recognition to DJ AHMET directed by Georgi M. Unkovski from North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, and Croatia. We equally found DJ AHMET to be so joyous, refreshing, and surprising. This coming of age story captivated us all the way down the pink sheep. We thank the DJ AHMET filmmaking team for proving such a unique window into a part of the world very few get to see.
2025 entries:
Beginnings (d: Jeanette Nordahl, Denmark/Sweden/Belgium 2025, 96 min)
The Crowd (d: Sahand Kabiri, Iran 2025, 70 min)
DJ Ahmet (d: Georgi M. Unkovski, North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia 2025, 97 min)
Mongrels (d: Jerome Yoo, Canada 2024, 110 min)
Ready or Not (d: Claire Frances Byrne, Ireland 2025, 84 min)
To Kill a Mongolian Horse (d: Xiaoxuan Jiang, Malaysia/Hong Kong/South Korea/Japan/Saudi
Arabia/Thailand/USA 2024, 97 min)
The Village Next to Paradise (d: Mo Harawe, Somalia/Austria/France/Germany 2024, 133 min)
SIFF 2025 NEW AMERICAN CINEMA COMPETITION
The SIFF New American Cinema Jury members were Alison Foreman (Features Writer at IndieWire), Bill Guentzler (former Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Operations for Gravitas Ventures), Zia Mohajerjasbi (filmmaker, writer, director).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Invention | dir. Courtney Stephens (USA 2024)
JURY STATEMENT: For too many, American life is an endless source of grief. “Invention” navigates the so-called “free marketplace” by way of the death industrial complex to deliver a subtly ferocious reflection on that fact. Sensitive, strange, hopeful, and harrowing, director Courtney Stephens and star Callie Hernandez break the mold in this diaphanous meta dramedy — intuitively capturing the feeling of today with timeless vision.
2025 Entries:
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions (d: Kahlil Joseph, USA 2025, 113 min)
Color Book (d: David Fortune, USA 2024, 98 min)
F*cktoys (d: Annapurna Sriram, USA 2025, 107 min)
Invention (d: Courtney Stephens, USA 2024, 72 min)
She’s The He (d: Siobhan McCarthy, USA 2025, 81 min)
Slanted (d: Amy Wang, USA 2025, 104 min)
SIFF 2025 DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
The SIFF Documentary Jury members were Russel Brewer (Operations Director for Denver Film’s Sie FilmCenter and the Denver Film Festival), Sarah Menzies (Director of Original Productions at Cascade PBS), Cara Ogburn (Artistic Director at Milwaukee Film, previous president of the Board of Directors of the national Film Festival Alliance).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Suburban Fury | dir. Robinson Devor (USA 2024)
JURY STATEMENT: The Documentary Competition Jury was collectively obsessed by this film, which combines luscious visuals, compelling and relevant archival material, and a narrative track and singular protagonist that constantly escapes the viewer’s comprehension – in a good way. This film left us thinking about big topics like truth, persuasion, and compulsion, positioning us alongside the filmmaker and leading us to want to talk and think about this film for hours. The Documentary Jury Grand Prize winner is… SUBURBAN FURY, directed by Robinson Devor.
SIFF DOCUMENTARY AWARD, SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Billy | dir. Lawrence Côté-Collins (Canada (Québec)/Finland 2024)
JURY STATEMENT: For a deeply personal film which blends styles, serves as a vehicle for introspection, and puts the viewer in the position of understanding and experiencing mental health episodes on a visceral and empathetic level.
2025 Entries:
Between Goodbyes (d: Jota Mun, USA 2024, 96 min)
Billy (d: Lawrence Côté-Collins, Canada (Québec)/Finland 2024, 107 min)
Drowned Land (d: Colleen Thurston (Choctaw Nation), USA 2025, 86 min)
Freeing Juanita (d: Sebastián Lasaosa Rogers, Guatemala/Mexico/USA 2024, 74 min)
The Librarians (d: Kim A. Snyder, USA 2025, 88 min)
Suburban Fury (d: Robinson Devor, USA 2024, 118 min)
Unclickable (d: Babis Makridis, Greece/Cyprus/USA 2024, 74 min)
Viktor (d: Olivier Sarbil, Ukraine/USA 2024, 89 min)
SIFF 2025 SHORT FILM JURY AWARDS
Every short film in the Seattle International Film Festival is eligible for both the Golden Space Needle Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize. Our Shorts Competition jurors will choose winners in the Live Action, Animation, and Documentary categories. Each Grand Jury Prize winner will receive $2,500; winners may also qualify to enter their respective films in the Short Film category of the Academy Awards® for the concurrent season without a theatrical run.
The SIFF Short Film Juries were:
Documentary / Animation: Michael Huang (founding Seattle Film Commissioner), Missy Laney (Director of Development at Adult Swim), Anderson Le (Artistic Director for the Hawai’i International Film Festival, programming consultant for the Far East Film Festival, and Head of Programming for the inaugural Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival) Live Action: Carlos A.F. Lopez (filmmaker), Chelsea Lupkin (Senior Programmer at Short of the Week, filmmaker), Gabe Van Amburgh (Senior Film Programmer and Manager for the SXSW Film & TV Festival)
SHORT FILM JURY AWARD WINNERS WILL BE AVAILABLE SUNDAY 5/25 @10AM PT AFTER
DELIBERATION
Press inquiries, materials, and interview requests can be made at pr***@**ff.net.
