2025 SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

AWARD WINNING FILMS ANNOUNCED

Awards were announced at a ceremony this morning hosted by El Encanto, a Belmond Hotel, in Santa Barbara with Jury and Filmmakers in attendance.

“It's an undeniable pleasure to celebrate such a diverse and wonderful array of winning films," said Claudia Puig, SBIFF Programming Director. " We have been so excited to showcase storytelling from 60 countries around the world in our slate of 185 films at SBIFF. The  jury winners this year hail from Cyprus, Spain, Germany, Iran, Taiwan, and the US and exemplify the best of creative independent filmmaking, covering subjects ranging from immigration, pay equity. environmental dangers, unwanted pregnancy,  neuroscience and hempcrete construction.  Congratulations to all the winning filmmakers, and a big thank you to our dedicated jurors.”

The winning films were chosen by jury members Margaret Lazarus, Max Barbakow, Estrella Araiza, Shawn Patterson, Jeff Christian, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Gregory Nava, Andres Castillo, and Jeff Arch.

The Audience Choice Award sponsored by The Santa Barbara Independent

OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT directed by Daniel Straub, Rosanna Xia

Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema

O HORIZON directed by Madeleine Rotzler

The Jeffrey C. Barbakow Award for Best International Feature Film

YEN AND AI-LEE directed by Tom Shu-yu Lin

The Best Documentary Award

ROADS OF FIRE directed by Nathaniel Lezra

The Nueva Vision Award for Spain/Latin America Cinema

GLIMMERS directed by Pilar Palomero

The Best Animated Short Film Award

THE THREE SISTERS directed by Timur Kognov

The Best Documentary Short Film Award

THE GREEN BUFFALO directed by Joel Caldwell

The Best Live-Action Short Film Award

BITTER CHOCOLATE directed by Sahar Sotoodeh

All three of these short award recipients are now eligible for the 2026 Academy Awards.

The Social Justice Award sponsored by the Fund for Santa Barbara

SEPARATED directed by Errol Morris

The ADL Stand Up Award sponsored by the ADL

LILLY directed by Rachel Feldman

The ASC Award for Cinematography sponsored by The American Society of Cinematographers

COLOR BOOK directed by David Fortune