Award-Winning Films Named at Santa Barbara International Film Festival

The jury is in! After 11 days of screening more than 200 films (with a whopping 45 world premieres and 77 U.S. premieres from 48 countries), on Saturday morning the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) announced the award-winning films for the 39th edition at a ceremony and breakfast hosted by El Encanto, A Belmond Hotel.

“The winning films tell stories that span the globe, from the magic of movie palaces in the Atacama Desert to the stunning mystery of ice caves in Antarctica to the social hazards of cancel culture in Indonesia. All are riveting tales told with verve and originality. We at SBIFF are thrilled to congratulate this year’s jury award winners,” SBIFF Programming Director Claudia Puig told the audience of filmmakers, jury members, and selected journalists.  

Left: SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling with Claudia Sanchez, director of the Audience Choice Award winner ’Transmexico.’ Right Sophia Sabella and Pablo Feldman, winners of the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema for ‘Edge of Everything.’ | Photos: Ingrid Bostrom

Awards include the Audience Choice Award sponsored by the Santa Barbara Independent (which I was honored to present): TransMexico, directed by Claudia Sanchez. A powerful documentary about the resilient spirit of Latin American trans women battling pervasive transphobia, the film showcases three trans women and their triumphant journey against daunting odds. 

Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema: Edge of Everything, directed by Sophia Sabella and Pablo Feldman. The film is a coming-of-age story about a young woman about to turn 15, who straddles the line between childhood and adulthood when she is forced to move in with her father and his younger girlfriend after her mother’s death. This award comes with a prize of a $60,000 camera rental package from Panavision.

Jeffrey C. Barbakow Award — Best International Feature Film: Andragogy, directed by Wregas Bhanuteja. This film is the story of a middle-aged schoolteacher who gets trolled online after her angry video goes viral.

Best Documentary Award: Diving into the Darkness, directed by Nays Baghai. Our critic Josef Woodard wrote, “Diving is an unusually visceral and deep (so to speak) hero’s tale about not only [super cave diver Jill] Heinerth’s remarkable and ongoing career as a cave diving explorer, but also as a filmmaker, author, and general advocate for female empowerment.” (Read more here.)  

Nueva Vision Award for Spain/Latin America Cinema: The Blue Star (La estrella azul), directed by Javier Macipe. This Spanish-Argentinian film is  the story of a Spanish rock-and-roll musician who, trying to reconnect with his vocation, travels across South America, where he meets an elderly musician going through hard times.

Best Nordic Film Award: Before It Ends (Når befrielsen kommer), directed by Anders Walter. Woodard wrote: “Also worth seeing on Saturday are the Danish film Before It Ends, a twist on the refugee theme, regarding a Danish town late in WWII where German refugees are facing a health crisis and townsfolk facing a moral quandary over compassion versus steering clear of aiding the enemy.” (Read more here.) 

Social Justice Award for Documentary Film: The Last Daughter, directed by Brenda Matthews and Nathaniel Schmidt. This film, which you can read more about here, also won the ADL Stand Up Award, sponsored by ADL Santa Barbara/Tri-Counties.

The ASC Award for Cinematography sponsored by The American Society of Cinematographers: The Movie Teller, directed by Lone Scherfig. This Spanish, French, and Chilean film is a celebration of storytelling, about a young girl whose uncanny ability to recount movies spreads throughout her Chilean desert village and changes the fortunes of her family. 

Best Documentary Short Film Award: A Man’s Man, directed by Myles Desenberg. This film is now eligible for the 2025 Academy Awards.

Bruce Corwin Award — Best Live-Action Short Film: Area Boy, directed by Iggy London. This film is now eligible for the 2025 Academy Awards.

Bruce Corwin Award — Best Animated Short Film: On the 8th Day (Au 8ème Jour) directed by Agathe Sénéchal, Alicia Massez, Elise Debruyne, Flavie Carin, and Théo Duhautois. This film is now eligible for the 2025 Academy Awards.

“We are so grateful to our dedicated group of jurors for their fine selections,” said Puig. The winning films were chosen by jury members Lesley Chilcott, Alex Keledjian, Chris Landon, Lael Loewenstein, Jacqueline Lyanga, David Magdael, Gail Mancuso, Greg Nava, Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Carla Renata, Gil Robertson, Ondi Timoner, Clay Tweel, and Ali Wolfe.