2023 SFiFF JURIED AWARDS
The Votes Are In!
Santa Fe International Film Festival Announces Juried Award Winners
Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) is proud to announce this year's juried awards in all categories. SFiFF’s 2023 jury recognizes these award winning filmmakers for their cinematic skills and talents. The Best Narrative Feature and Best Narrative Short include prize packages from Panavision and Light Iron. There will also be select cash prizes awarded from the Santa Fe Film Institute, as well as select prizes from XP Pen and Media Services.
Santa Fe International Film Festival’s 2023 VISIONARY AWARD presented to Sterlin Harjo
JURIED AWARDS
Best Narrative Feature presented by Panavision —With Love and a Major Organ directed by Kim Albright
Best Documentary Feature — Bad Press directed by Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler
Special Jury Award for Documentary Feature — Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun directed by Banchi Hanuse
Best New Mexico Narrative Feature — Little Brother directed by Sheridan O’Donnell
Best New Mexico Documentary Feature — First We Bombed New Mexico directed by Lois Lipman
Best Narrative Short presented by Panavision — Mirage directed by Jhanvi Motla
Special Jury Award for Narrative Short — Rabbit Hole directed by Aaron Schoonover
Best Documentary Short — The Test directed by Claudia Myers and Laura Waters Hinson
Special Jury Award for Documentary Short — Eat Flowers directed by River Autumn Finlay
Best Animated Short — Ninety-Five Senses directed by Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess
Special Jury Award for Animated Short — Stages of Lost Freedom directed by Kamran S. Rosen
Best Experimental Short — Lovebugs directed by Teddy Alvarez-Nissen
Best New Mexico Short — Border Lord directed by Andy Pollack
Best Short by an Indigenous Filmmaker — Urpi: Her Last Wish directed by Sisa Quispe
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
Audience Choice Best Special Presentation Narrative Feature — The Promised Land directed by Nikolaj Arcel
Audience Choice Best Special Presentation Documentary Feature — Anselm directed by Wim Wenders
Audience Choice Best Competition Narrative Feature — Chronicles of a Wandering Saint directed by Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Audience Choice Best Competition Documentary Feature — First We Bombed New Mexico directed by Lois Lipman
Audience Choice Best Short Film — Twenty directed by Jason Hogan
2023 SANTA FE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL JURY
Narrative Features Jury
Danny Rubin An award-winning screenwriter and playwright, Daniel Rubin co-wrote with Harold Ramis the screenplay for Groundhog Day, for which the two received a BAFTA Award.
Cassidy Freeman Known for her roles in television's The Righteous Gemstones, Smallville, and Longmire, actress and musician Cassidy Freeman also acted in and produced the stunning New Mexico-filmed feature length drama, Cortez.
Kathleen Broyles President of the Board of The Milagro Initiative, and is a consultant to Sundance Institute, where she has worked since 1990. Broyles is also a location casting director known for productions like Honeydripper and Silver City.
Yolonda Ross Two-time Independent Spirit Award nominee Yolonda Ross is known for acting in The Chi and John Sayles’s Go For Sisters.
Maura Dhu Studi Two-time Emmy winner for writing and producing the award-winning documentaries Canes Of Power and However Wide The Sky by Silver Bullet Productions, Maura Dhu Studi also Associate Produced and wrote narration for A Thousand Voices and Defending The Fire.
Jhane Myers a Sundance and Time Warner Storyteller Fellow known most recently for the film Prey.
Documentary Features Jury
Glenn Silber Two-time Academy-Award nominee Glenn Silber is an influential Producer, and he has directed films like The War At Home and Atomic Artist.
Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso Director of the multi-award winning documentary, Powerlands.
Michele Chiappetta Garza Founding Producer of the KCET Cinema Series, which offers audiences the best of Hollywood, independent, and festival films prior to their theatrical or streaming release, Michele Garza is also the producer of the Earth Focus Environmental Film Festival, which hosts documentary filmmakers, environmentalists, and award-winning scientists.
Gay Dillingham Producer/Director/Owner of CNS Communications, Gay Dillingham began making films with The WIPP Trail, narrated by Robert Redford. Her work as a filmmaker and one of thirty international women delegates is represented in the 2022 documentary film, Crossings. She is currently Chair of the Santa Fe Film & Digital Media Council and Vice President of Wild Earth Guardians.
Sandrine Cassidy USC’s School of Cinematic Arts director of Festivals and Distribution, Sandrine Cassidy counsels current students and alumni on how best to work their shorts in the festival circuit.
New Mexico Features Jury
Hunter Robert Baker Emmy Award-winning feature film, television, and commercial Director of Photography and Producer, Hunter Robert Baker has also been nominated for 2 Emmy Awards.
Shaandiin Tome Sundance fellow Shaandiin Tome is known for her work on short films like Long Line of Ladies, which earned the 2022 SFiFF Audience Choice Best Documentary Short Film.
Pete Ohs Director of SFiFF’s 2022 Best New Mexico feature, Jethica, Pete Ohs is also known for directing films like Youngstown and Everything Beautiful Is Far Away.
Alexandra Henry an award-winning filmmaker with over 15 years of international experience in commercial production and branded entertainment. In 2021 her first feature-length documentary, Street Heroines, won the Best Documentary Jury Prize at the Portland Film Festival and screened at SFiFF.
Short Film Jury
Amy Grappell
Lisa Leeman
Lynn Hamrick
Michael Fink
Raúl Garza
Sarah El Khawand
New Mexico Short Film Jury
Nancy Richardson
Erica Nguyen
Peshawn Bread
Amanda Lundquist
Sylvia Johnson
Indigenous Short Film Jury
Chris Eyre
Shaandiin Tome
Peshawn Bread