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July – August 2025

These are the winners of July – August 2025:

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Best Film: Face Value – Julie Cordell-Seamons – United States

Best International Film
Winner: Find Me – Molly Li Lin – United States
Honorable Mention:
Pedro’s Pedals – Vinícius di Castro – Brazil
Songs and Secrets – Sherri Z. Heller – United States

Best American Film
Winner: Jules – Tiffany M Abney – United States
Honorable Mention: 
The Boss – Elgin Cahill – United States
KosherSoul – Ilja Sarro – United States

Best European Film
Winner: Nightfall – Chris Moreira – France
Honorable Mention: Patience (Sabali) – Valentin Guiod – Algeria, France, Senegal

Best Asian Film
Winner: My Endless Eclipse – Bijan Aarabi – Canada, Iran
Honorable Mention:
Echo – Minghao He – China
Nanna – Sujith Kumar Kuchana – India

Best Italian Film
Winner: Apnea – Fabio Patrassi – Italy
Honorable Mention: 
Good Situation – Andrea Pecci, Alberto Magnani – Italy
Oltre la pelle – Alessandra Usai – Italy

Best Lombard Film
Winner: Pervert Anthology – Antonio Bocola – Italy
Honorable Mention: Mianhae – Dav Cooper, Andrea Manfé – Italy

Best Micro Short (under 5 minutes)
Winner: The Blossom and the Mountain – Kathleen Stevenson – United Kingdom
Honorable Mention: Remote Death – Kevin Jones – United States

Best Super Short (between 5 and 10 minutes)
Winner: The Threshold – Jacek Kadaj – Poland
Honorable Mention: Closure – Ashley L. Canfield – United States

Best Standard Short (between 10 and 20 minutes)
Winner: The Believing Girl and the Doubting Dad – Nancy Ann Bevins – United States
Honorable Mention:
Rose – Philippe Turcotte – Canada
The Story of the Four Bagels and the One Empanada – David Funny, Not Funny Reibman – United States

Best Medium Length (under 60 min)
Winner: Fortunata – Max Oliva Bartolozzi – Italy
Honorable Mention: 
Quadraturine – Anna Kalinova Yanakieva – Bulgaria
Gornet – Francesco Ciarapica – Italy

Best Low-Budget Film
Winner: Nowhere to Go – Julie Cordell-Seamons – United States
Honorable Mention: Endures – Julian Dominguez – Mexico

Best Original Idea
Winner: The House Girl – Siraje Serunjogi – Uganda
Honorable Mention: 
Peppermint Gum – Paule Sydr – United States
Weirdthings Mottolesi – Chronicles from the Anthropocene – Giovanbattista Lobianco – Italy

Best Debut Film
Winner: Catch You Later – Michael Joaquim Matias – Portugal
Honorable Mention: 
The Wheel – Metîn Ewr – Turkey
Samin – Angie Nicole Pardave Pacheco – France, Peru

REALITY AWARDS

Best Realistic Film
Winner: I am – Ivan Stepanov – Cyprus
Honorable Mention: Building Bub’s Grubs – Loye Miller – United States

Best Drama:
Winner: A Friend in the Night – Vinicius de Castro Gomes, Filipe Coelho – Brazil
Honorable Mention: 
Sequía – Jose Mauricio Fonseca Torres – Mexico
Turner – Tony Barea – Australia

Best Experimental Film
Winner: Bound – Moe Hosseini – Italy
Honorable Mention: 
Atrocious – Nicolás Sánchez Márquez – Mexico
Eyesolation – Damiano Rossi – Italy

Best Inclusive Film (LGBTQ+)
Winner: B Side – Giacomo Mosca – Italy
Honorable Mention: The Sibling Rule – Mari SanGiovanni – United States

Best Documentary
Winner: 1991 Il Rumore Provinciale – Enrico Nocera – Italy
Honorable Mention:
Learning to Value – Samuel Barrington Chevallier – United Kingdom
Fist Bump – Madeleine Farley – United States

Best Animated Film
Winner: Earth’s Echo – Yannis Grimm, Janis Schweizer – Switzerland
Honorable Mention: The Journey – Nadine Mann – United States

Best Social Drama
Winner: Beautiful Habit – Nanako Yamazaki – Japan
Honorable Mention: Diversamente – Luis Luyando, Willy Martin – United States

Best War/Western/History

Winner: Zone of Shards – Dániel Bóta – Hungary
Honorable Mention: Article 92 – Matthew “Gray” Strack – United States

Best Family Drama
Winner: Frater – Valentin Guiod – France
Honorable Mention: The Cigarette – Jefferson Bittencourt – Brazil

Best Female Drama
Winner: Anime Gemelle – Alessio De Bernardi, Leopoldo Susio – Italy
Honorable Mention: 
Celestina – David Biagini – United States
Trapped Inside – Julie Randall Cordell-Seamons – United States

Best Comedy/Irony
Winner: Canelé – Sasha Gitin – United States
Honorable Mention: Booked – Tyson Green – United Kingdom

Best Horror/Mystery
Winner: Fascino d’altri Tempi – Andrea Natale – Italy
Honorable Mention: Howl of the Blue Moon – Marie France Louis – United States

Best Action/Thriller

Winner: Jules – Tiffany M Abney – United States
Honorable Mention: Jax – Nick Casal – United States

Best Web/TV Pilot/TV Series

Winner: Siro – Mario Altieri – Italy
Honorable Mention: It’s All Kubrick’s Fault – Simone Ciancotti Petrucci – Italy

Best Sci-fi/Fantasy/Futuristic
Winner: Il Nido – The Nest – Daniele Fugarese – Italy
Honorable Mention: Theory – Aydoğan Rayman – Turkey

Best Romance
Winner: Borealis – Jo Monteiro – Portugal
Honorable Mention: Take-Out – Poramet Ariyakusonsuthi – Australia

Best Music/Musical

Winner: Fan Letter – Zeb Daemen – Belgium
Honorable Mention: Labyrinth of Love – Armen Pogosyan – United States

Best Crime/Violence Drama

Winner: Echoes Through Time – Elise Wells – United States
Honorable Mention: The crossroads – Gino Versetti – Italy

TECHNICAL AWARDS

Best Director
Winner: Before the Next Step – Zheng Zou – China
Honorable Mention: Kruz’ – Loic Zimmermann – United States

Best Young Director

Winner: Shards of Time – Alexandros Kouros – Greece
Honorable Mention: Get Out My Cave – Otis Sutter Jones – United States

Best Soundtrack

Winner: Lights Up – Sergio Vizuete – United States
Honorable Mention: A Simple Frame – Alex Lyras – United States

Best Editing

Winner: Mercedes – Justine Nagan – United States
Honorable Mention: And Yet It Moves – Antonio Malfitano – Italy

Best Screenplay

Winner: A crowd – Orwa Alahmad – France, Norway, Syrian Arab Republic
Honorable Mention: The Way to Francis Street – Thomas Michael Cowan – Australia

Best Cinematography

Winner: Valley of Shadows – Denise Fujiwara, Gerry Trentham – Canada
Honorable Mention: Tales from the Bridge: The Misfit – Boa Campbell – Japan

Best Vfx

Winner: Holzläufer – Philipp Krautschick – Germany

Best Actor/Actress
Winner: Wrong Address – Abdoulaye Ahmadu Ndiaye – United States
Honorable Mention: Natalie – Emma Kob – United States

Best Producer

Winner: Reunion – Jiahui Tang, Hanting Wei – United States
Honorable Mention: The Last Guest – Colman Otunga – Uganda

Best Movie Poster
Winner: Fiabexit – Lorenzo Giovenga, Giuliano Giacomelli – Italy
Honorable Mention: The Date – Nicola Fierro – Italy

Best Title

Winner: Terra Battuta – Marzio Breglia – Italy
Honorable Mention: Animato Anthropomorphica, the Business of Cats and Dogs – Mike Valiquette – Canada