World’s Largest Film Festival for Emerging Filmmakers Announces 2024 Award Winners
Monday, April 29, 2024
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 17th year April 25 – 28 in Seattle, Washington with thousands attending the festival. This year’s festival featured 234 films from 26 states and 28 countries, with directors ranging from age 13 to 24 years. The award winners – including jury, audience and honorable mentions – have been announced.
The winning school of the 48 HOUR FILM OFF will receive a $500 cash prize for their school’s film and media program. JURY AWARD Winners will receive an Adobe Premiere Pro License. BEST NARRATIVE, BEST NARRATIVE STUDENT and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER will receive a Pocket Cinema Cameras 6K Pro from Blackmagic Design.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 SCRIPTBEST and SHORT SCREENPLAY will each receive a $500 cash prize.
NFFTY has a prestigiuos jury of industry professionals with twelve categories and 36 jurors. The NFFTY 2024 juy bios can be found at: https://www.nffty.org/jury.
JURY AWARDS:
BEST NARRATIVE: Sirena directed by Olivia De Camps
BEST NARRATIVE (STUDENT): The River that Never Ends directed by JT Trinidad
SPECIAL MENTION: The Third Ear directed by Nathan Ginter T
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Cicada directed by Matteo Moretti
SPECIAL MENTION: My Sisters in the Stars: The Story of Lee Yong-Soo by Ian Kim
BEST DOCUMENTARY (STUDENT): Shred directed by Giovanna Trujillo
BEST ANIMATION: Getting Used to Loneliness directed Seo Pyoungwon
BEST ANIMATION (STUDENT): To Beat a Dead Horse directed by Gabrielle Selnet
BEST EXPERIMENTAL: Somewhere Everywhere in the Motherland directed Boluwatife Adeniran
BEST EXPERIMENTAL (STUDENT): Kino Kopf directed by Jack Cosgriff
BEST MUSIC VIDEO: Devon Again - GumV6.4 directed by Justin Nguyen and Ethan Frank
BEST MUSIC VIDEO (STUDENT): Coins directed by Ama Buzo
BEST EPISODIC: Non Grata directed by Sabrina Yum-Shuster
NEW TALENT:
AGES 14 & UNDER: Sacha Reyes who directed Here It Is
AGE 15 - 18: Santiago Salazar who directed The Incongruent Congruent Outlook of Two Insecure Teenage Boys
AGE 19 - 24: Lucas Manuel-Scheibe who directed Terra Natal
48 HOUR FILM OFF:
WINNER: Mt. Si High School with the film Money Bags
SPECIAL AWARDS:
KATHY REICHGERDT INSPIRATION AWARD: Jaina Galves who directed Am I Hawaiian Enough?
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:
BEST EDITING presented by Adobe Premiere Pro: They Got Me Going in on my Day Off directed by Luis Figueroa Caunedo
BEST DIRECTING presented by MUBI: Little directed by Noah Nicholson
BEST ACTING: Deserter directed by Aiden Lesser
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Dalila’s Salon directed by Luis Reyes
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY presented by Blackmagic Design: Grace directed by Natalie Jasmine Harris
STORY STARTS HERE: SCREENPLAY COMPETITION:
BEST PILOT SCRIPT: Disappointing by Ariana Padilla-Rogers
BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY: Mad Summer by Larissa Salazar
AUDIENCE AWARDS:
OPENING NIGHT, presented by MoPOP: Lovebugs directed by Teddy Alvarez-Nissen
BREAKING THE MOLD: Cupid directed Augustus Boettcher & Ford Cowan
YOUNG & RESTLESS: Good Boy / 乖仔 directed by Yvette Sin & Nikita Zhang
FUTURESCAPES, presented by Chapman University: Skin directed by Cyrus Gainer
FAMILIAL FRAMES: Sun, Moon and Four Peaks directed by Kevin Jin Kwan Kim
IMMENSE IMMERSIONS: Fortune Favors the Fantabulous directed by Emmanuel Li
SEISMIC SOUNDTRACKS: Lost Myslf directed by Eliot Lee
MATTERS OF THE HEART presented by FSU Film: Discharged directed by Bridget Taylor
PEDAL TO THE METTLE: Tuesday Film directed Kaylinn Duffy
HAPPY HOUR SHORTS: Legally Brown: The Musical The Short directed by Kirsten Hoang
EXPERIMENTAL VISIONS: Living Reality directed by Philip Thompson
FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT presented by MUBI: In the Garden of Tulips directed by Julia Elihu
ECLECTIC ENDEAVORS presented by Vancouver Film School: The Star and the Scribe directed by Mariel Jones
PARENTAL INSTINCTS: Under the Kasaya directed by Jennifer Fan Jiang
ALL AROUND US presented by the Scan Design Foundation: Rigs to Reefs directed by Callie Mejia
FRESH EYES: Kiki & the Ghost directed by Mavi Mercan
REEL IMPACT presented by Team Soapbox: My Sisters in the Stars: The Story of Yong-soo directed by Ian Kim
WORK ETHICS: Scooter directed by Riley Street
CENTERPIECE presented by Adobe Premiere Pro: The Third Ear directed Nathan Ginter
UNEASY STREET: Into the Group directed by Connor Williams
THE EVERGREEN SCREEN: A Long Way to Nowhere directed by Vincent DiFrancesco
FABLED FLICKS presented by Blackmagic Design: Ayat directed by Samina Saifee
PASSIONATE PURSUITS: Pigeon People directed by Julia Hogg
ON THE ROAD: Remember Me Here directed by Davi PeÑa
EPISODIC SHOWCASE: Non Grata directed by Sabrina Yum-Shuster
COPING FOR THE BEST: Cicada | Τζιτζίκι directed by Matteo Moretti
CLOSING NIGHT presented by Adobe Premiere Pro: Twofold directed by Ella Greenwood
ABOUT NFFTY
NFFTY is the largest and most influential film festival in the world for young filmmakers. NFFTY occurs in Seattle and its 17th festival included 40 separate events including 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 4,000 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: Vancouver Film School, MUBI, and Blackmagic Design. Our Silver Sponsors: MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture, Team Soapbox, FSU Film, Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Official AI 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