Charliebird, Happy Birthday, and Natchez took top honors at the 24th Tribeca Festival competition, winning in the U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, and Documentary competitions, respectively.
First-time filmmaker Sarah Goher won three awards on behalf of her film Happy Birthday, including Best International Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature and the prestigious Nora Ephron Award, which honors exceptional female filmmakers who represent the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer.
All winning films in the U.S. Narrative category are also first-time directors, including Libby Ewing for Charliebird, Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina for Esta Isla (This Island), who also won the Best New Narrative Director Award, and Isabel Hagen for On a String.
Other first-time filmmakers include The Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director honorees Augusto Zegarra for Runa Simi and Rowan Haber for We Are Pat, and Walter Thompson-Hernandez who took home the Viewpoints Award for Kites.
Natchez, director Suzannah Herbert won Best Documentary Feature along with Special Jury Mention for Cinematography in a Documentary Feature for Noah Collier, and Special Jury Mention for Editing in a Documentary Feature for Pablo Proenza.
Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn shared the Performance Award for Dragonfly, leading a strong showing by women who claimed top honors across the majority of categories at the ceremony.
“Every year at Tribeca we set out to spotlight the most exciting new voices from around the world,” said Tribeca Festival Director and SVP of Programming Cara Cusumano. “We are thrilled our jury honored this mission with winners that brilliantly represent the vibrancy and diversity of global independent storytelling today.”
2025 Winners and Special Jury Mentions, as selected by the 2025 Festival Jury, are as follows:
24th Tribeca Festival Competition Winners
U.S. NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature: Charliebird, director Libby Ewing (United States) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Best U.S. Narrative Feature: Esta Isla (This Island), directors Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina (Puerto Rico) – World Premiere.
Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Gabriela Ochoa Perez for Charliebird (United States) – World Premiere.
Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Isabel Hagen for On a String (United States) – World Premiere.
Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Cedric Cheung-Lau for Esta Isla (This Island) (Puerto Rico) – World Premiere.
INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Best International Narrative Feature: Happy Birthday, director Sarah Goher (Egypt) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for International Narrative Feature: Cuerpo Celeste, director Nayra Ilic García (Chile, Italy) – World Premiere.
Best Performance in an International Narrative Feature: Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn for Dragonfly (United Kingdom) – World Premiere.
Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature: Mohamed Diab and Sarah Goher for Happy Birthday (Egypt) – World Premiere.
Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature: Lev Predan Kowarski for Little Trouble Girls (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia) – North American Premiere.
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Best Documentary Feature: Natchez, director Suzannah Herbert (United States) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Documentary Feature: An Eye for an Eye, directors Tanaz Eshaghian and Farzad Jafari (Denmark, Iran, United States) – World Premiere.
Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature: Chance Falkner and Johnny Friday for The Last Dive (United States) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Cinematography in a Documentary Feature: Noah Collier for Natchez (United States) – World Premiere.
Best Editing in a Documentary Feature: Soren B. Ebbe and Hayedeh Safiyari for An Eye for an Eye (Denmark, Iran, United States) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Editing in a Documentary Feature: Pablo Proenza for Natchez (United States) – World Premiere.
VIEWPOINTS AWARD
A Bright Future, director Lucia Garibaldi (Uruguay, Argentina, Germany) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Viewpoints: Kites, director Walter Thompson-Hernandez (Brazil) – World Premiere.
BEST NEW NARRATIVE DIRECTOR AWARD
Lorraine Jones Molina and Cristian Carretero for Esta Isla (This Island) – World Premiere.
ALBERT MAYSLES AWARD FOR BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR
Augusto Zegarra for Runa Simi (Peru) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for New Documentary Director: Rowan Haber for We Are Pat (United States) – World Premiere.
NORA EPHRON AWARD
The Nora Ephron Award will honor an exceptional female filmmaker who represents the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer.
Sara Goher for Happy Birthday (Egypt) – World Premiere.
SHORTS COMPETITION
Best Narrative Short: Beyond Silence, director Marnie Blok (Netherlands) – International Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Narrative Short: Chasing the Party, director Jessie Komitor (United States) – World Premiere.
Best Documentary Short: I hope this email finds you well, director Asia Zughaiar (Palestine) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Documentary Short: Natasha, directors Mark Franchetti and Andrew Meier (Italy, Russia) – World Premiere.
Best Animated Short: Playing God, director Matteo Burani (Italy, France) – New York Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Animated Short: Petra and the Sun, directors Malu Furche and Stefania Malacchini(Chile) – North American Premiere.
Best Music Video: “Rock The Bells” – LL COOL J, director Gregory Brunkalla (United Stated).
Student Visionary Award: Manya Glassman for How I Learned to Die (United States) – World Premiere.
Special Jury Mention for Student Visionary: Jiayi Li for āyí (United States) – World Premiere.
TRIBECA GAMES AWARD
Cairn (France) – New York Premiere.
AT&T PRESENTS UNTOLD STORIES
Liz Sargent for Take Me Home
TRIBECA X AWARD COMPETITION
Best Feature: Abnormal Beauty Company from The Ordinary, directed by Aref Mahabadi
Best Short: First Speech by Reporters without Borders, directed by Giordano Maestrelli
Best Commercial: Century of Cravings from Uber Eats, directed by Jim Jenkins
Best Episodic: A New York Minute from Mejuri, directed by Gia Coppola
Best Content Creator/Influencer: A Robot’s Guide to Happiness from Brilliant Labs, directed by Lucas Rizzotto
Best Games/Immersive: WICKED RP: The Official Experience on Roblox from Wicked & NBCU, creative directed by Ben Caro
Best Audio/Podcast: Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance from Electronic Arts, BioWare, directed by Matt Sav
Social Impact Award: Daniel Really Suits You from Human Rights Campaign, directed by Karimah Zakia Issa
Environmental Impact Award: A Vital Sun from Fordham University, directed by Alison Bartlett