World’s Largest Film Festival for Emerging Filmmakers Announces 2025 Award Winners 

Thursday, April 10, 2025

NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth), the world’s largest and most influential film festival for emerging directors, showcases work by filmmakers 24 and younger from around the globe. NFFTY returned for its 18th year April 3 – 6 in Seattle, Washington with thousands attending the festival. This year’s festival featured 261 films from 28 states and 32 countries, with directors ranging from age 11 to 24 years. The award winners – including jury, audience and honorable mentions – have been announced.

Thanks to support from Adobe Premiere Pro, NFFTY was able to relaunch it’s granting program with the Post Production Pitch Competition. Six finalists competed for cash grants up to $4,000 from a total prize pool of $8,000.

The winning school of the 48 HOUR FILM OFF will receive a $500 cash prize for their school’s film and media program, along with 5 scholarships of up to $10k to Vancouver Film School. JURY AWARD Winners will receive an Adobe Premiere Pro License and a $250 cash prize. BEST NARRATIVE, BEST NARRATIVE STUDENT and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY will receive a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras 6K Pro.

All AUDIENCE AWARD winners will receive a subscription to ShotDeck. STORY STARTS HERE nominees all receive Final Draft 13. The STORY STARTS HERE BEST PILOT SCRIPT and BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY will each receive a $500 cash prize.

NFFTY has a prestigious jury of industry professionals with twelve categories and 36 jurors. The NFFTY 2025 jury bios can be found at: https://www.nffty.org/jury-2025

JURY AWARDS: 

  • BEST NARRATIVE: Awit Natin directed by Pacqui Pascual

  • BEST NARRATIVE (STUDENT): January directed by Jetske Lieber

    • SPECIAL MENTION: El Alma de la Sed by Colleen Ryan

  • BEST DOCUMENTARY: When We Move directed by Jasper & Lukas Fletcher

  • BEST DOCUMENTARY (STUDENT): Tainted by the Visual directed by Laura Calzada

  • BEST ANIMATION: vaguely reflecting in three dimensions directed Skye Ella Schoenhoeft

  • BEST ANIMATION (STUDENT): Paper Swords directed by Anjali Pulim

  • BEST EXPERIMENTAL: The Last Thing I Think I Saw directed Justin Kaminuma

  • BEST EXPERIMENTAL (STUDENT): How to Smell Without a Nose directed by Esther Kong

    • SPECIAL MENTION: Light Sleeper by Luke Donovan

  • BEST MUSIC VIDEO: Devon Again - Deep & Still Can’t Dress Myself directed by Justin Nguyen, Ethan Frank, Devon Again, and Zayd Ezzeldine

  • BEST MUSIC VIDEO (STUDENT): Card Declined for Pizza and Wine directed by Sonora Grace Wright

  • BEST EPISODIC: Culture War directed by Celi Mitidieri

PITCH COMPETITION:

  • Sam Tricomo & Jaclyn Iskow (Puke Bitch): $500

  • Harsimran Sandhu (Mirrors): $1,000

  • Freddie Gluck (Gatorland): $1,000

  • Samiksha Thakur (Clouds in My Coffee): $1,500

  • Natalia Pacheco (Ephestia): $2,000

  • JT Trinidad & Earvic Noay (Honey, My Love, So Sweet): $2,000

NEW TALENT:

  • AGES 14 & UNDER presented by Walnut Hill School for the Arts: Asha Mary Oli Mallicks who directed Squid

  • AGE 15 - 18 presented by Walnut Hill School for the Arts: Audrey Song who directed Small Hair

  • AGE 19 - 24: Martin Lee and Airham Almonte who directed Fields Corner Poet

48 HOUR FILM OFF:

  • WINNER: Sehome High School with the film Faceless Fears

SPECIAL AWARDS:

  • KATHY REICHGERDT INSPIRATION AWARD: Nathan Cowles who directed Thank You For Everything

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:

  • BEST EDITING presented by Adobe Premiere Pro: Odessa, TX directed by Alex Shuryepov Witt

  • BEST DIRECTING presented by MUBI: The Sphinx directed by Jesse Padveen

  • BEST ACTING: Yajnopavita directed by Rahul Koul & Ford Cowan

  • BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Entomologist directed by Lauren Chappell

  • BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY presented by Blackmagic Design: So Long photographed by Brenden Mascherino

  • BEST HIGH SCHOOL FILM presented by Interlochen Arts Academy: Punch Drunk directed by Ellie Nishino

STORY STARTS HERE: SCREENPLAY COMPETITION:

  • BEST PILOT SCRIPT: All Gods Go to Devin by Tira Olkdari

  • BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY: Practice Makes Perfect…You’re a Great Singer! by JT Trinidad and Dale Gugudan

AUDIENCE AWARDS:

  • OPENING NIGHT, presented by MoPOP: When We Move directed by Jasper & Lukas Fletcher

  • THE ART LIFE: King of Super 8 directed Anthony Wegner

  • BREAKING THE MOLD: The End of a Vase directed by Gabi Fedoroff

  • CHANNEL SURFING: Dearborn directed by Leila Bustami

  • FAMILIAL FRAMES: Ān-dé-lǔ directed by Alan He

  • EXPERIENCE POINTS (XP): 2008 directed by Maya Weldon-Lagrimas

  • WIRED IN presented by Blackmagic: Moderator directed by Eli Staub

  • HAPPY HOUR SHORTS: Gong Gong’s Bucket List directed by Caitlyn Phu

  • EXPERIMENTAL VISIONS: Thank You For Everything directed by Nathan Cowles

  • FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT presented by MUBI: Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday directed by Maria Paula Quesada Quiros

  • AFTER HOURS ABSURDITY: (Tie) Sweet Sorghum directed by Brendan Lee Hickey & Freak directed by Aashish Joshi & Nick Knezevich

  • GROWING THROUGH IT: I’ll See You in My Dreams directed by Santana Aguirre

  • MORNING MEDLEY presented by Interlochen School for the Arts: Snow Day! directed by Kiara Lin

  • FACES PLACES presented by FSU: Everywhere I Look directed by November Nolan

  • ALL AROUND US presented by the Scan Design Foundation: At the Riverbank directed by Matthew Wisdom

  • MEMORY LANE: When I See Roses I Think of You directed by Jordie Simpson

  • SEISMIC SOUNDTRACKS: Break a Lil Sweat directed by Elise Schatz

  • FEEL THE YEARN: Nun’s Beach directed by Kate diRienzi

  • BE A GOOD SPORT: Boys directed by Jacob Staudenmaier

  • CENTERPIECE presented by Adobe Premiere Pro: Endling directed Kelly Yu

  • NIGHT TERRORS presented by Chapman University: Please Leave directed by Riley R. Scott

  • REEL IMPACT presented by Team Soapbox: Did You Forget Mr. Fogel directed by Max Karpman

  • IN ABSENTIA: Holding You With Shaky Hands directed by Jiaying Lin

  • LOCAL LEGENDS: Hooyo Macaan directed by Mawahib Ismail

  • HAVING A BODY IS WEIRD: Wet Noodle directed by Julia Lalonde

  • CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE presented by ShotDeck: Munchies directed by Brittany Young

  • GRAY AREAS: Canis Lupus directed by Victoria Capitano

  • CLOSING NIGHT presented by Adobe Premiere Pro: Unholy directed by Daisy Friedman

ABOUT NFFTY

NFFTY is the largest and most influential film festival in the world for young filmmakers. NFFTY occurs in Seattle and its 18th festival included screenings, panels, contests, parties and networking opportunities for emerging filmmakers. Filmmakers from around the world submit short films in narrative, documentary, animation, music video, and experimental categories. NFFTY shows professional development offerings for filmmakers, partnering with such brands as Seed&Spark and top creators and industry talents like Sean Wang, Ben Proudfoot, Mari Walker, and Martin Strange-Hansen. Since its launch in 2007, NFFTY has screened films from over 5,000 filmmakers, ranging in age from 6 – 24 years. For updates and news on NFFTY, visit www.NFFTY.org.

NFFTY is pleased to acknowledge our Presenting Sponsor Adobe Premiere Pro, Our Platinum and Gold Sponsors: MUBI, Vancouver Film School, and Blackmagic Design. Our Silver Sponsors: MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture, Team Soapbox, FSU Film, Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Interlochen and ShotDeck.

A special thanks to Adobe Premiere Pro, Blackmagic Design, Shotdeck, MUBI, Final Draft and Vancouver Film School for their prize donations to our winners.

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For more information:

Email: press@nffty.org

Phone: 206.905.8400