AWARDS

2023 SFiFF AWARDS

Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) presented the following Jury Awards and Audience Choice Awards in 2023, and the Santa Fe Film Institute also provided a new $500 cash prize for a new award, the Best Short by an Indigenous Director.

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

2022 SFiFF AWARDS

Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) is proud to announce this year’s juried awards in all categories. With select prizes from Panavision, as well as cash prizes from the Santa Fe Film Institute, SFiFF recognizes these award winning filmmakers for their cinematic skills and talents to continue supporting these filmmakers, whose work has captivated SFiFF’s 2022 festival jury.

2022 SFiFF JURY

Narrative Features 

Jhane Myers - Producer Jhane Myers is a Sundance and Time Warner Storyteller Fellow known most recently for the film Prey.

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.  

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  

Danny Ladely - Served as the Director of the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center for over 40 years and began the Great Plains Film Festival in 1992. 

Ed Khmara - Known for his work as an American screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is best known for his work on Enemy Mine, Ladyhawke and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. 

Sandrine Faucher 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.

Jeanne LeBlanc - Director of Our Own, which earned Best Narrative Feature at 2020 SFiFF. 

Amanda Lundquist - Winner of SFiFF’s 2017 Best Narrative Feature with the film, Pinsky, Amanda Lundquist is a writer and director known for her comedic storytelling. 

Séverine Tibi - French filmmaker Séverine Tibi is a Producer and co-founder of the Cannes-based production company, Sevana Films. 

Documentary Features 

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. 

Andrea Meditch - Emmy winning Producer Andrea Meditch has also executive-produced the Oscar-winning Man On Wire, Oscar-nominated Encounters at the End of the World, and short-listed BUCK. 

Ricardo Acosta - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Member and Internationally renowned Film Editor, Story Editor, Creative/Editorial Consultant, Ricardo Acosta has been working in the film industry for over 25 years. He has been awarded with an Emmy, and has been nominated several times to Genie, Gemini, CCE and CS Awards. 

Ina Fichman - President and Executive Producer/Producer at INTUITIVE PICTURES, Ina Fichman has produced titles such as Guy Nattiv’s Mabul (The Flood, 2010), which was featured at Berlinale. 

Gay Dillingham - Producer/Director/Owner, CNS Communications 

Gay Dillingham began making films with The WIPP Trail, narrated by Robert Redford and which aired nationally on PBS. 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. 

Alexandra Henry - Alexandra Henry is 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. 

NM Features 

Hannah Jayanti - Hannah Jayanti is the director and producer of 2020 SFiFF’s Best New Mexico Feature, Truth or Consequences. 

Ryan Lacen - Hailing from New Mexico, Ryan is an award-winning writer and filmmaker whose first feature, The Dust Storm, was produced and sold to HULU. His follow up feature All the World is Sleeping flipped the narrative on substance abuse with a stellar cast of Melissa Barrera (In the Heights, Scream) and Jackie Cruz (Orange is the New Black); the film won the Best New Mexico Narrative Feature at 2021 SFiFF. 

Erica Nguyen - As a grassroots documenteur, Erica Nguyen's interdisciplinary background in Sociolinguistics, Ethnography and Applied Language Studies at UC Berkeley frames her process around how estrangement from our origins manifests in our bodies. A Vietnamese-American, she belongs to the modern diaspora that seeks to transform generational trauma into a reclaimed sense of belonging. Erica directed Shadow Weavers, about the endangered languages transcribed in Peruvian hats; which was awarded the Best NM Feature Documentary by SFiFF 2021. 

Paul Lazarus - Producer of Westworld (1973) and Barbarosa (1982) 

Lily Zepeda - Director of Mr. Toilet: The World's #2 Man 

NM Short Film Jury

Sylvia Johnson - Director of Free Roaming Studios, her film Mermaids Against Plastic: Tamara earned Best New Mexican Short at 2020 SFiFF

Jordyn Romero - Empowering diverse outdoor women, director Jordyn Romero has won the Best New Mexican Short at SFiFF in 2019 and 2021.

Scott Hussion - Director, Actor, Special Effects, known recently for directing 14 Cameras

Julia Eringer - New Mexico-based actress known for her work on the SFiFF film Paring.

Lindsy Campbell - Actress/Filmmaker, most recently known for her roles on Longmire and The Messengers 

Hunter Stiebel - Director known the New Mexican short film BnB 

Justin Rhody - is a photographer, filmmaker, and sound artist who currently runs No Name Cinema, operates the Physical media label, and performs in the K/S/R expanded cinema trio.

2021 SFiFF AWARDS

The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival's 13th edition screened our largest program to date. We are delighted to recognize the talents of our filmmakers and announce the following outstanding films, which have earned top scores from our talented festival jury and astute audiences.

2021 SFiFF JURY

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES JURY

Sam Pollard – Sharing a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Documentary for 4 Little Girls(1997) with Spike Lee, documenteur Sam Pollard has earned much acclaim for his directing, editing, producing, and screenwriting. Pollard has also earned an Emmy, a Peabody Career Achievement Award, and Best Documentary at 2020 SFiFF.

Alexandria Bombach – Alexandria Bombach is an award-winning director, cinematographer, and editor from Santa Fe, NM. Her feature-length documentary, On Her Shoulders (2018), won Best Directing in the US Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards, and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature. Bombach founded the Santa Fe Editing & Writing Residency, is a 2019 Sundance Institute Momentum Fellow, and a 2019 Chicken & Egg Award Fellow.

Ina Fichman – President and Executive Producer/Producer at INTUITIVE PICTURES, Ina Fichman has produced titles such as Guy Nattiv’s Mabul (The Flood, 2010), which was featured at Berlinale.

NARRATIVE FEATURES JURY

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. Kathleen is also a location casting director known for productions like Honeydripper and Silver City. 

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 for Best Screenplay.

Jeanne Leblanc – Winner of SFiFF’s 2020 Best Narrative Feature with the film, Our Own, Jeanne Leblanc is a writer and director recognized for her unique perspective in drama.

Amanda Lundquist – Winner of SFiFF’s 2017 Best Narrative Feature with the film, Pinsky, Amanda Lundquist is a writer and director known for her comedic storytelling.

NEW MEXICO FEATURES JURY

Paul Lazarus – Producer of Westworld(1973) and Barbarosa(1982)

Lily Zepeda – Director of Mr. Toilet: The World's #2 Man

Priscilla Naunġaġiaq Hensley Holthouse – Director of WE UP: Indigenous Hip-Hop of the Circumpolar North

SHORT FILM JURY

Adam Brummond, Steve Holleran, Margaret Murray, Castle Searcy, Patti White, and Summer Yang

NEW MEXICO SHORTS JURY

Scott Hussion, Lindsy Campbell, Julia Eringer, and Hunter Stiebel

2020 SFiFF Awards

Award Winners at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival
For the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival's 12th edition, SFiFF presented a hybrid festival, both Virtually and with Drive-In films. The following films earned high accolades from our festival jury and audience members.

2020 SFiFF Jury

NARRATIVE FEATURES JURY
Laura Terruso - Director of the Netflix film Work It. She co-wrote and directed the comedy Good Girls Get High, now available on HBO Max.  Her feature debut as writer/director/producer Fits And Starts premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival and is available on Amazon. She co-wrote and co-produced the film Hello, My Name Is Doris, starring Sally Field. Released by Roadside Attractions, it went on to become one of the top grossing indies of 2016. Laura graduated from NYU's graduate film program at the Tisch School of the Arts.
Kathleen Broyles - President of the Board of The Milagro Initiative, and is a consultant to Sundance Institute, where she has worked since 1990. Kathleen is also a location casting director known for productions like Honeydripper and Silver City. 
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.
Ed Khmara - Known for his work as an American screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is best known for his work on Enemy Mine, Ladyhawke and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.
Jon Moritsugu - Making movies since 1985, the writer/director has created a miasma of protopunk deconstructions of popular genres and formats with scabrous and pointedly garish results. The New York Times describes them as "funny, anarchic, provocative and exhilarating". Since 1989 he has collaborated with his wife of 25 years and creative partner, Amy Davis, when he directed her in his first feature, My Degeneration, which played at Sundance and was hailed by Rolling Stone as “One of the top 25 greatest punk rock movies of all time.” 
Ani Simon-Kennedy - Raised in Paris and based in New York, Ani Simon-Kennedy is a feature film, documentary and commercial director. Under the banner of Bicephaly Pictures, she collaborates with cinematographer Cailin Yatsko on socially-conscious stories. Her second narrative feature, The Short History of the Long Road, starring Sabrina Carpenter, Steven Ogg, Maggie Siff, and Danny Trejo, won Best New Mexico Narrative Feature at SFiFF 2019 and is now available on digital platforms everywhere.

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.
Alexandria Bombach - Alexandria Bombach is an award-winning director, cinematographer, and editor from Santa Fe, NM. Her recent work has focused on exploring ethics in journalism and advocacy, and challenging misperceptions of the refugee crisis. Her feature-length documentary, On Her Shoulders (2018), won Best Directing in the US Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards, and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature. Alexandria is the founder of the Santa Fe Editing & Writing Residency, a 2019 Sundance Institute Momentum Fellow, and a 2019 Chicken & Egg Award Fellow.
Maura Studi - Actress, producer, and writer Maura Studi is known for Defending the Fire and A Thousand Voices. 
Jenifer McShane - An independent filmmaker committed to using film to bridge understanding in situations where structural, cultural, or religious divisions that typically keep people apart. Her Emmy Award-winning film, Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops won the Jury Award for Empathy & Craft at SXSW in 2019 and multiple jury prizes at other film festivals including the 2019 Santa Fe Independent Film Festival and is currently streaming on HBO.  Jenifer spent nearly five years visiting Bedford Hills Correctional Facility to make her previous documentary, Mothers of Bedford (Hot Docs premiere), which reveals the impact of incarceration on jailed mothers and their children. 
Holly Morris - Holly Morris is an author, filmmaker and presenter best known for her work on the PBS series' Globe Trekker and Adventure Divas, as well as for the feature films she directs and writes, including The Babushkas of Chernobyl and the forthcoming Exposure, about the Women's Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition.

New Mexico Features Jury
Nathan Hollis, Castle Searcy, Lily Zepeda

Short Film Jury
Alem Dauletkulov, Colleen Hammond, Judith Kriger, Castle Searcy, Matthew Spain, Patti White, Kosta Nikas, Jordyn Romero, Scott Hussion 

2019 SFiFF Awards

2019 SFiFF Jury

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES JURY

Robert Chang - Robert Chang is an Associate Producer of America ReFramed (a curated series of independent documentaries and is broadcast on public television / WORLD Channel). Chang assists in managing America ReFramed’s submissions, film evaluations, filmmaker deliverables, and contributing to the curation of the series. He leads the generating of social media and outreach activities of the series, and manages and mentors its crew of interns. Chang is also a documentary filmmaker whose work has screened at various festivals and is distributed by DER.

James Cullingham - James Cullingham is an award winning documenteur, historian, and journalist with Tamarack Productions based in Nogojiwanong, Peterborough, Ontario. His documentaries concerning social justice, history, and popular culture have been screened around the world. Cullingham was an executive producer with the radio service of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and has been published by Canada’s leading newspapers and magazines.

Hunter Robert Baker - Hunter Robert Baker is a New York-based Emmy-winning feature film, television, and commercial Director and Director of Photography. His work has been nominated for two additional Emmy Awards. Baker is the recipient of the 2018 ICG: International Cinematographers Guild Emerging Cinematographer Award. Baker has lectured at New York University, Harvard University, and, most recently, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. 

NARRATIVE FEATURES JURY

Kathleen Broyles - President of the Board of The Milagro Initiative, Kathleen Broyles also does consultations for the Sundance Institute, where she has worked since 1990. Broyles is also a location casting director known for productions like Honeydripper and Silver City. 

Cassidy Freeman - Known for her roles in television's Smallville and Longmire, and HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, actress and musician Cassidy Freeman also acted in and produced the stunning New Mexico-filmed feature length drama, Cortez. 

Edward Khmara - Edward Khmara is a writer and actor, known for Enemy Mine (1985), Ladyhawke (1985) and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

Maura Dhu Studi - Actress, producer, and writer Maura Studi is known for Defending the Fire and A Thousand Voices. 

Kyle Greenberg - Kyle Greenberg is a film distributor/marketer and occasional filmmaker having worked in the film and startup industries over the last decade. Before launching the new consulting firm Circle Collective and teaming up with upstart distributor Utopia, Greenberg built the theatrical division at the studio Gunpowder & Sky where he successfully launched campaigns for films like Hearts Beat Loud, The Little Hours, Her Smell, Lords of Chaos, Summer of '84, Hounds of Love, and many more.

2019 SFiFF Short Film Jurors

Tracey Adlai, Tim Anderson, John Andrews, Deirdre Brenner, Matthew Curtis, Valerie Cisneros, Mimi Edmunds, Lynn Hamrick, Megan O'Neill, Castle Searcy, Laura Ball