‘If I Go Will They Miss Me’ and ‘A Life Illuminated’ Take Top Wins at 32nd San Luis Obispo International Film Festival

If I Go Will They Miss Me won the Best Narrative Feature, and A Life Illuminated won Best Documentary Feature – the top prizes in the George Sidney Independent Film Competition at the 32nd San Luis Obispo International Film Festival,

The feature documentary, Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon, won two audience awards – Best of the Fest and Best Feature Documentary. The Strawberry, which was shot entirely in San Luis Obispo County, was named the Best Central Coast Film in the juried awards, as well as Best Overall Film from the Central Coast in the Audience Awards.

Festival highlights included two Spotlight Presentation: Craft in Focus Awards, honoring actors Haley Joel Osment and Britt Lower. The feature film, How To Date Again, featuring Haley Joel Osment, went on to win SLOIFF’s “Best Narrative Feature” audience award.

Newly established this year, the Dolce Vita Award recognizing an emerging American director whose work the Noci Film Festival believes will resonate with Italian audiences, while fostering artistic exchange and increased visibility for emerging voices between Puglia, Italy, and California, went to Tiffany So, director of Everything Must Go.

In total, juried awards were given in the following categories: Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Music Video, Episodic, Horror, Central Coast Narrative Feature, Central Coast Narrative Short, and Central Coast Documentary Short. SLOIFF is an Oscar®-qualifying festival in the category of “Documentary Short Subject.”

“The spirit of independent film was alive and thriving at the festival this year, and the festival continues to be a beacon of light and creativity on the scenic Central Coast,” said SLOIFF Executive Director Skye McLennan.

The 2026 category winners in the George Sidney Independent Film Competition, Audience Awards, and the new Dolce Vita Award are as follows.

George Sidney Independent Film Competition

Best Narrative Feature: If I Go Will They Miss Me, (Walter Thompson-Hernandez, Director)
Best Documentary Feature: A Life Illuminated (Tasha Van Zandt, Director)
Best Narrative Short: Vultures (Dian Weys, Director)
Best Documentary Short: A Man Who Takes Pictures Of Flowers (Yoo Lee, Director)
Best Music Video: Animus Ingus (Yu-Ming Huang and Rui Wang, Directors)
Best Episodic: One For The Team (Rain Valdez, Director)
Best Horror Film: Benny’s Second Birthday (R.J. Glass, Director)
Honorable Mention – Short Narrative: What If They Bomb Here Tonight (Samir Syriani, Director)

Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase

Best Central Coast Narrative Feature: The Strawberry (Kyle Plummer and Carlos Plummer, Directors)
Best Central Coast Narrative Short: May I Put You On Hold (Ash Blodgett, Director)
Best Central Coast Documentary Short: The Other Roe (Wendy Eley Jackson, Director)

Audience Awards

Best of Fest: The Strawberry (Kyle Plummer and Carlos Plummer, Directors)
Best Narrative Feature: How To Date Again (Matt Flanders, Director)
Best Narrative Short: My Only Friend Is A Robot Named Beans (Anika Kan Grevstad, Director)
Best Documentary Short: The Right Fil (Nicolas Collins and Max Mollring, Directors)
Best Music Video: The Thought of Me (Elliot Peters, Director)
Best Central Coast Narrative Short: Mi Vida. Mi Futuro (Andres Quintero, Director)
Best Central Coast Documentary Short: That’s So Drag (Jenny Gosnell Director)

Dolce Vita Award

Everything Must Go (Tiffany So, Director)