Malcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson snagged the audience award for Best U.S. Narrative, and Music by John Williams directed by Laurent Bouzereauat won for Best U.S. Documentary at the 2024 Newport Beach Film Festival.
Other top audience awards went to Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig for Best International Narrative, The Last Journey by Filip Hammar and Frederick Wikingsson won Best International Documentary; Best Animation went to Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail and Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain won Best Comedy.
Mistura directed by Ricardo de Montreuil dominated the jury awards winning Best Feature Narrative, Best Feature Narrative Screenplay and Best Feature Narrative Actress for Barbara Mori. Best Documentary: went to Ciaran Cassidy’s Housewife of the Year; with a Special Award- Exceptional Merit Documentary going to Porcelain War directed by Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev.
The 25th edition of the Festival was held from October 17-24, 2024, showcasing over 300 films from around the world.
2024 Newport Beach Film Festival Audience, Jury, and Festival awards; winners are listed below.
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Best U.S. Narrative: “The Piano Lesson” (Director Malcolm Washington)
Best International Narrative: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Director Mohammad Rasoulof)
Best International Documentary: “The Last Journey” (Directors Filip Hammar & Frederick Wikingsson)
Best U.S. Documentary: “Music by John Williams” (Director Laurent Bouzereauat)
Best Animation: “Memoir of a Snail” (Director Adam Elliot)
Best Comedy: “A Real Pain” (Director Jesse Eisenberg)
Best Action Sports: “Shaping the Future” (Directors Robert Helphand & Tony Gentile)
Best Art, Architecture + Design: “Sono Lino” (Director Jacob Patrick)
Best Music: “I Need You: 53 Years of the Band America” (Directors Dustin Elm & David Breschel)
Best Irish Feature: “Fidil Ghorm / The Blue Fiddle” (Director Anne McCabe)
Best Short Narrative: “Scarlet” & “Hearts of Stone” (Tied)
Best Short Documentary: “SoCal Snowy Owl”
Best Short Animation: “Back to Normal”
Best Art, Architecture, + Design Short: “Weree”
Best Action Sport Short: “Motorcycle Mary”
JURY AWARDS
Best Feature Narrative: “Mistura” (Director Ricardo de Montreuil)
Best Feature Narrative Screenplay: “Mistura” (Director Ricardo de Montreuil)
Best Feature Narrative Director: Matthew Rankin (“Universal Language”)
Best Feature Narrative Cinematography: Frank van den Eeden (“Small Things Like These”)
Best Feature Narrative Actor: John Leguizamo (“Bob Trevino Likes It”)
Best Feature Narrative Actress: Barbara Mori (“Mistura”)
Special Award- Best Feature Narrative Ensemble Cast: “Jazzy” (Director Morrisa Maltz)
Best Documentary: “Housewife of the Year” (Director Ciaran Cassidy)
Special Award- Exceptional Merit Documentary: “Porcelain War” (Directors Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev)
Documentary Short: “A Swim Lesson”
Narrative Short: “Calf”
Animated Short: “Bottle George”
FESTIVAL HONORS
Outstanding Performance Female: Danielle Deadwyler (“The Piano Lesson”)
Outstanding Performance Male: Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”)
Outstanding Feature Narrative: “The Last Showgirl” (Director Gia Coppola)
Outstanding Documentary: “The Donn of Tiki” (Directors Alex Lamb & Max Well)
Outstanding International Feature Narrative: “Waves” (Director Jiří Mádl)
Outstanding Musical Score: Hans Zimmer (“Blitz”)
Outstanding Animated Short: “One Happy Customer”
Outstanding Action Sports Short: “Chasing Six Days | The Ride of a Lifetime”
Outstanding Short Doc: “We Can Get There From Here”
Outstanding Short Narrative: “Neither Donkey Nor Horse”