Ricardo de Montreuil’s Mistura, a drama set in 1960s Peru, has won both the Jury Award and Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Durango Independent Film Festival 2025 in Durango, Colorado. Barbara Mori (winner of the Jury Award – Best Performance Female Actor Narrative Feature) stars as a privileged French-Peruvian woman whose life unravels after her husband’s betrayal ostracizes her from elite society.

The Jury award for Best Documentary Feature went to Ultimate Citizens by Francine Strickwerda, a film following Jamshid Khajavi, an Iranian American immigrant, school counselor, chicken rescuer, and Ultimate Frisbee coach at Seattle’s Hazel Wolf K-8 school, tirelessly devoted to the city’s immigrant kids.

The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to the Academy Award-nominated Porcelain War by Slava Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo. It follows Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya and Andrey, who choose to stay behind and fight, navigating their transformation into soldiers while continuing to find beauty amid destruction.

Durango Independent Film Festival 2025 Jury Award Winners

Jury Award – Best Narrative Feature
Mistura
Director: Ricardo de Montreuil

Jury Award – Best Performance Male Actor Narrative Feature
Karol Kopiec – The Road to Nowhere

Jury Award – Best Performance Female Actor Narrative Feature
Barbara Mori – Mistura

Jury Award – Best Documentary Feature
Ultimate Citizens
Director: Francine Strickwerda

Jury Award – Best Documentary Short
Frozen Frames: Murphy’s Yellowstone
Director: Allison Argo

Jury Award – Best Native Cinema Film
Woven Together
Director: Malakye Tsosie

Jury Award – Best Adventure Film
147
Director: Maggie & Cam Hartmans

Jury Award – Best Live Action Narrative Short
Calf
Director: Jamie O’Rourke

Jury Award – Best Animated Short
In Your Orbit
Director: Jules Vostrejs & Luka Brown

Durango Film: An Independent Film Festival 2025 Audience Award Winners

Audience Award – Best Narrative Feature Film
Mistura
Director: Ricardo de Montreuil

Audience Award – Best Documentary Feature Film
Porcelain War
Director: Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev

Audience Award – Best Documentary Short
Moving Line
Director: Cameron Wyatt

Audience Award – Best Narrative Short Film
A Wedding Day
Director: Brendan Beachman

Audience Award – Best Native Cinema Film
Where We Once Roamed
Director: Ruthie Weeks

Audience Award – Best Adventure Film
147
Director: Maggie & Cam Hartmans

Audience Award – Best Family Film
Through Thin Ice
Director: Arthur Veenema & Gabrielle Kardon

Audience Award – Best REEL Learning Film
In Your Orbit
Director: Jules Vostrejs & Luka Brown