From over 11,750 films submitted by more than 7,500 filmmakers, the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards announced the 2025 winners (see shortlist) at a special ceremony hosted by Denny Directo of Entertainment Tonight.
Filmmaking
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Sony Future Filmmaker Awards 2025 Announces Winners
(L-R) Rossana Montoya, Fiction Winner; Hayder Hoozeer & Franz Böhm, Student Winners; José Navarro, Animation Winner; Juliet Klottrup, Non-Fiction Winner (Courtesy of Creo)
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California Film Institute’s DocPitch and Black Public Media’s PitchBLACK Announce 2025 Award Winners
California Film Institute DocPitch 2025 award winners California Film Institute’s DocPitch 2025 has selected five documentary projects currently in development or post-production as the winners of a total of $100,000 in funding. Black Public Media (BPM) selected a documentary about caregiving with comedy and two science fiction immersive projects for a total of $225,000 in production and development funding at the 2025 PitchBLACK Awards.
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Documentaries BELLA! and PHILLY ON FIRE Win 4th Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film
Pictured from left to right: Jonathan Lavine, Ken Burns, Ross Hockrow, Jeff L. Lieberman, Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden [Photo Credit: Katie Dance] Bella!, directed by Jeff L. Lieberman, and Philly on Fire, directed by Ross Hockrow and Tommy Walker are the two winners of the fourth annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. The filmmakers will each receive a $200,000 finishing grant to help with final production and distribution.
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Filmmakers Mohamad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad Arrested in Iran
Mohammad Rasolouf Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, winner of the Berlinale Golden Bear for There Is No Evil, along with documentary filmmaker Mostafa Al-Ahmad have been arrested in Iran for posting a statement on social media urging members of the Iranian security forces to lay down their weapons..
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Through Her Lens : The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program Announces 2021 Winners
Through Her Lens Winners Shuchi Talati and Maya Tanaka (C) attend Through Her Lens: The Tribeca CHANEL Women’s Filmmaker Program Cocktail Celebration at Soho House on October 14, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage ) Tribeca and CHANEL concluded the seventh annual Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program, and Maya Tanaka and Schuchi Talati are the winning recipients of this year’s grand prize for their film Honolulu. Honolulu tells the story of Yuki, a 12-year-old with a vivid fantasy life, who complicates her already morose beach vacation with her father and grandmother.
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Radha Blank – Director, Writer, Actor of “The Forty-Year-Old Version” to Receive Sundance Institute 2020 Vanguard Award
THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION: RADHA BLANK (WRITER, DIRECTOR) as RADHA. Cr. JEONG PARK/NETFLIX ©2020 Sundance Institute will honor filmmaker Radha Blank with the 2020 Vanguard Award presented by Acura, given annually to an artist whose work highlights the art of storytelling and creative independence. The award honors the artistic achievement of her feature film directorial debut The Forty-Year-Old Version, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was developed by Blank at the Institute’s Labs. The Institute invites fans and supporters of independent cinema to celebrate Radha with a special event on Wednesday, December 2, 2020 hosted on Sundance Collab, the community platform for creators from around the world. The celebration, free for all, will feature Octavia Spencer, who was an advisor to Blank at the Labs, and a conversation between Blank and 2019 Vanguard Award recipient Lulu Wang (The Farewell).
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BFI London Film Fest: Cathy Brady, Aleem Khan and Francis Lee Shortlisted for Filmmaker Award
Cathy Brady, Aleem Khan and Francis Lee Shortlisted for Filmmaker Award Three British filmmakers – Cathy Brady, writer/director of her debut feature Wildfire, Aleem Khan, writer/ director of his debut feature After Love and Francis Lee, writer/director of his sophomore feature Ammonite – are shortlisted for the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award which will be announced at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival.
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IF/Then Shorts Selects 6 Finalists for Inaugural North Shorts Program
FLATBUSH! FLATBUSH! directed by Alex Mallis IF/Then Shorts announced the finalists for the inaugural North Shorts Program, a fellowship and fund in partnership with Points North Institute, LEF Foundation, and ScreeningRoom.
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2020 Louisiana Film Prize Reveals 20 Finalists Competing for $25,000 Grand Prize
GREEN’S ALLEY directed by Abigail Kruger The 2020 Louisiana Film Prize announced the 20 finalists who will compete for a $25,000 grand prize (the world’s largest cash prize for a narrative short film). The 9th edition of the award-winning Louisiana Film Prize will be take place virtually this year with viewing and voting online open, for the first time ever, to an international audience. The grand prize winner will be determined, as in past years, via a rare combination of voting from audience members and judges comprised of film and industry veterans, tastemakers, and celebrities.
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4 Documentary Films Win SFFILM 2020 Documentary Film Fund Grants
SFFILM announced the four winners of 2020 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund grants totaling $80,000, which support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Giovanni Buccomino’s After a Revolution (working title), Clarke Lyons and Gabe Dinsmoor’s Squeegee, Farah Kassem’s We Are Inside, and Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing with Fire were each awarded funding that will help push each project towards completion.
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Exclusive: Teen Filmmaker Kalia Love Jones Shoots Music Video for Animanted Film THE POWER OF HOPE
Kalia Love Jones The animated film The Power of Hope will be in Shorts By The Sea in September and features a song by 13-year-old filmmaker Kalia Love Jones and co- writer Grammy-nominated producer Ben Franklin. Kalia Love Jones will be featured in Univision’s Primios Juventud on Thursday, August 13th at 7pm. Watch the exclusive behind the scenes music video shoot footage for the song in The Power of Hope.
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Sundance Institute Announces First-ever Winners of Women at Sundance | Adobe Fellowship
Winners of 2020 Sundance Institute Women at Sundance | Adobe Fellows (clockwise – top l to r) Jameka Autry, Milisuthando Bongela, Ericka Blount Danois, Dionne Edwards, Dina Hashem, Suzanne Kite 
Winners of 2020 Sundance Institute Women at Sundance | Adobe Fellows (clockwise – top l to r) Lauren Lee McCarthy, Laura Moss, Elissa Blount Moorhead, Jenny Shi, Iliana Sosa