2025 Awards

Best Picture - Motherland (Evan Matthews, USA) 
Nominees: Finding the Zone, Second Chance City, Still Smiling

Best Student Film - Brothers: A Civil War Story (Casey Schaffer, USA)
Nominees: Peace and Serenity, Wrestle-Off, Selfless Ash, Sparklers, Collarbone, HOME, The Why, Canicas, Frail Grounds

Best Alternative Film -  Still Smiling (Jared Cohn, USA)
Nominees: Still Smiling, Direct Action, JULES, The Entertainer, Venus Descending, You Are Special, Baron Munchausen, Cycles

Best Short Film - Princeton's in the Mix (Jonathan DiMaio, USA)
Nominees: JULES, Baron Munchausen, I Hate My Love Life, HomePlanet, You Are Special, Izidor, On Paper, The Field, Because I Love You

Best Short Short -  A Robot Rom Com (Jonathan Hludzinski, USA) 
Nominees: Clowning Around, Cycles, Canvas, HOPE

Best Documentary -  World Without Cows (Michelle Michael, Brandon Whitworth, USA) 
Nominees: World Without Cows, Rap Dixon: Beyond Baseball, The Ramba Effect, She Rises Up, Saffron Robe, Blue Death: The 1918 Influenza in Montana, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story

Best Horror Thriller -  Because I Love You (Bob Celli, USA)
Nominees: Princeton's in the Mix

Animal Welfare - The Ramba Effect (Claire Sandberg, USA)
Nominees: The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, Here Where the Sea Shines, World Without Cows

Cultural Spirit -  Go to the People (Jeff Sewald, USA)
Nominees: Direct Action, You've Seen Us Before, Stories of Regeneration: North Dakota, Rap Dixon: Beyond Baseball, Saffron Robe, World Without Cows, Underdogs

Best Short Documentary -  Resilience (David Trachtenberg, Jonathan Bank, USA)
Nominees: Here Where the Sea Shines, Underdogs, VIENNA: Suddenly an Angel, Stories of Regeneration: North Dakota, She Is Us: The Story of Judge Songhai Armstead, James Wilson Marshall: The Gold Discover's Journey from Lambertville into History, Artists at the Edge

Best Foreign Film - Direct Action (Tor Kristoffersen, UK)
Nominees: You Are Special, Here Where the Sea Shines, Izidor, Porcelain War, Sky-Sky, Baron Munchausen, Venus Descending

Best Faith Film - So Help Me God (Sophia Conger, USA)
Nominees: The Root, Finding the Zone, The Field

Social Justice Spirit - She Is Us: The Story of Judge Songhai Armstead (Samara Hutman, C. Lily Ericsson, USA)
Nominees: The EKSPATS - We're Going to Africa, You've Seen Us Before, Rap Dixon: Beyond Baseball, She Rises Up

Best Local Film - The Fries Rebellion (Dan Hertzog, USA)
Nominees: History Lives On: 300 Years of Plumstead Township, James Wilson Marshall: The Gold Discoverer's Journey from Lambertville into History

Best Educational Film - Blue Death: The 1918 Influenza in Montana (Dee Garceau, USA)
Nominees: Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story, Rap Dixon: Beyond Baseball, The Way It Was: Paris Restaurants in the 1970s, Stories of Regeneration: North Dakota, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, World Without Cows

Best Biographical Film - Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story (Jack Teetor, USA)
Nominees: Resilience, Go to the People, Rap Dixon: Beyond Baseball

Best Experimental Short - Baron Munchausen (Ilya Noyabrev, Ukraine)
Nominees: Frail Grounds, The Root, So Help Me God, Princeton's in the Mix, The EKSPATS - We're Going to Africa

Indie Spirit - Second Chance City (Chris Cardillo, USA)
Nominees: Finding the Zone

Best Animation - A Robot Rom Com (Jonathan Hludzinski, USA)
Nominees: Izidor, She Is Us: The Story of Judge Songhai Armstead, The EKSPATS - We're Going to Africa, Ariel, Porcelain War, Te Seguire a la Oscuridad

Best Animated Film - Ariel (C.A. MacFinn, USA)
Nominees: A Robot Rom Com, She Is Us: The Story of Judge Songhai Armstead, The EKSPATS - We're Going to Africa

Female Eye Filmmaking - JULES (Tiffany M. Abney, USA)
Nominees: Motherland, VIENNA: Suddenly an Angel, Goodnight Gracie, Underdogs, She Rises Up

Best Sci-Fi Film - HomePlanet (Andrew Pritzker, USA)
Nominees: Motherland, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Best TV Pilot - The EKSPATS - We're Going to Africa (Ron Myrick, USA)
Nominees: I Hate My Love Life

Best Sports Film - Rap Dixon: Beyond Baseball (Scott Orris, USA)
Nominees: Finding the Zone, Wrestle-Off, Collarbone, Resilience

Best Comedy -  I Hate My Love Life (Tiffany Jackman, USA)
Nominees: Clowning Around, A Robot Rom Com, HOPE, Don't Pick Up, Sienna and the Sit, Te Seguire a la Oscuridad, I Hate My Love Life

Best Period Film -  Izidor (David Kabbe, USA, Romania)
Nominees: The Fries Rebellion, Blue Death: The 1918 Influenza in Montana, Brothers: A Civil War Story, Baron Munchausen

Student Cultural Spirit - The Why (Ciara Evans, USA)
Nominees: Frail Grounds

New Hope - She Rises Up (Maureen Castle Tusty, USA)
Nominees: Go to the People, The Ramba Effect, VIENNA: Suddenly an Angel

Artistic Spirit - Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Ukraine, USA)
Nominees: Trail Mix, The Way It Was: Paris Restaurants in the 1970s, Go to the People, She Rises Up

LGBTQ+ Spirit - Artists at the Edge (Patrick A. Riviere, USA)
Nominees: Before the Party, The Lift

Best Supernatural Film - The Root (Courtney Lee Simpson, USA)
Nominees: Finding the Zone, Frail Grounds, On Paper, HomePlanet

Best Music Video - Until the Last Minute (Ilya Noyabrev, Ukraine)
Nominees: Off Course, See You at the Show, Sky-Sky

Best Narrative Feature - Finding the Zone (Elan Milkes, USA)
Nominees: Motherland, Still Smiling, Second Chance City

Best Director - Evan Matthews (Motherland, USA)
Nominees: Scott Oris (Rap Dixon: Beyond Baseball), Claire Sandberg (The Ramba Effect), Jared Cohn (Still Smiling), Jack Teetor (Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story), Bob Celli (Because I Love You), Ilya Noyabrev (Baron Munchausen), Dee Garceau (Blue Death: The 1918 Influenza in Montana)

Script Jury Awards

Best Script - Headcase (Christopher Jones)
Nominees: ANOTHER LOOK, Provenance, JUMP, Departures, Bunny Slopes, Beacon Beyond the Bay, TALITHA

Best Narrative Feature Script - Beacon Beyond the Bay (Bryan Regan, Vincent Chiu)
Nominees: ANOTHER LOOK, JUMP, Departures, Bunny Slopes, TALITHA

Best Streaming/Premium TV Script - Provenance (Amy Otey and Olivia Brady)
Nominees: Headcase

Best Action Thriller Script - JUMP (Marc Levin, Ian Monahan)
Nominees: Beacon Beyond the Bay, Departures, ANOTHER LOOK

Best Period Script - TALITHA (Stephanie Hutchinson)
Nominees: Provenance, Beacon Beyond the Bay

Audience Choice Awards