‘The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia’ and ‘The Pantone Guy’ Win Top Awards at 9th Waco Indie Film Festival

The Waco Independent Film Festival (Waco Indie) concluded its 9th edition with an emotional Awards Brunch where Chris Beier’s The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia walked away with Best Narrative Feature and Patrick Creadon’s The Pantone Guy won Best Documentary Feature.

Audience Awards went to Twila LaBar’s inspirational documentary Where Horses Heal the Soul for Best Feature, and Aaron and Alex Craig’s George won for Best Short.

Co-Founders and Co-Directors Louis Hunter and Samuel Thomas, said, “This year’s Waco Independent Film Festival continued our growth as a top entertainment and culture event for Waco, while being a perfect reminder of why we are also getting more-and-more national recognition for what we do. Our attending filmmakers once again found themselves embraced by the Waco film fans and community as well as each other, creating a supportive momentum that grew with each screening, panel, and party, leading up to the awards brunch and presentations. The appreciative reception they gave to their fellow filmmakers with each announcement of the next award exemplified that generous energy artist-to-artist. And that’s what Waco Indie is all about.”

Films cited with Special Programmers’ Awards due to the impact they made on the film festival’s directors and top programmers included the first time a script in competition was cited: H. Cherdon Bedford’s “Ambient Light”. Bedford was a notable presence at Waco Indie as she wore a bonnet and 1800’s sack dress each day of the film festival to ring attention to her script and project. Additional recipients of Programmers’ Awards were Michael Charron’s The Time Capsule, Colette Robicheaux’s How To Be High All the Time, Lauren Santucci’s Teddy, and Eirene Houston’s Life Is Dance. Houston made the trip to Waco, Texas from Glasgow, Scotland to represent her documentary, which provided a lively look at the dance culture in Cuba.

2025 Waco Indie Film Festival Filmmaker Award Winners

Feature Film Awards

Best Feature Film (Narrative)
The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia
Director: Chris Beier

Best Feature Film (Documentary)
The Pantone Guy
Director: Patrick Creadon

Best Director – Feature Film
Josh Munds (Peeping Todd)

Best Performance – Feature Film
Logan Donovan (The Twin)

Audience Awards

Feature Film
Where Horses Heal the Soul
Director: Twila LaBar

Short Film
George
Directors: Aaron Craig, Alex Craig

Short Film Awards

Best Short Film
His Mother
Director: Maia Jo Scalia

Best Texas Short Film
The Ohio, Texas Remix
Director: Ya’Ke Smith

Best United States Short Film
What It’s Like To Be Okay
Director: Noah Bean

Best Foreign Short Film
Elvira
Director: Sarah Segal-Lazar

Best Student Short Film
Healing Hands
Director: Jordan Ochel

Short Film Awards by Genre

Best Drama Short
German Ridge
Director: Sam Sulam

Best Comedy Short
The Bride’s Curse
Directors: Alex Kavutskiy, Jerzy Rose

Best Documentary Short
Far West
Director: Stephen Michael Simon

Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short
Lab Rats
Director: Stimson Snead

Best Horror/Thriller Short
Banjo
Director: Cameron Poletti

Best Family Short
Healing Hands
Director: Jordan Ochel

Best Music Video
“Lost in Space”
Director: Rupert Höller

Short Film Craft Awards

Best Director – Short Film
Chap Edmonson (Heavy is the Head)

Best Performance – Short Film (Drama)
Bethany Ann Linn (His Mother)

Best Performance – Short Film (Comedy)
Adrien Martinez (George)

Best Cinematography – Short Film
Joe M. Han (People Walk Dogs Late at Night in the Suburbs)

Best Editing – Short Film
Chap Edmonson (Heavy is the Head)

Best Screenplay – Short Film
Jackie Oudney (What I Am)

Best Production Design – Short Film
Paul Kaiser (Casual Vignettes of Gilded Vulgarity)

Programmers’ Choice Awards

“Ambient Light” (Writer: H.Cherdon Bedford)
The Time Capsule (Director: Michael Charron)
How To Be High All the Time (Director: Colette Robicheaux)
Teddy (Director: Lauren Santucci)
Life Is Dance (Director: Eirene Houston)

Screenplay Competition

Best Unproduced Screenplay – First Place
“Gorgeous As You Are” (Writer: Keaton A Morris-Stan)

Best Unproduced Screenplay – Honorable Mention
“Blood and Sex Over Ambition” (Writer: Chen Drachman)