SIFF 2023 Award Winners

Eleven days and 264 films later, the Golden Space Needle Audience and Juried Competition Awards have been announced. Congrats to all these award-winning filmmakers, and thanks to our jurors and our treasured audience for a terrific 49th year!

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Best Film - Dancing Queen, directed by Aurora Gossé (Norway)

Best Documentary - 26.2 to Life, directed by Christine Yoo (USA)

Best Director - Maryam Touzani, The Blue Caftan (Morocco/France)

Best Performance - Lubna Azabal, The Blue Caftan (Morocco/France)

Best Short Film - Donkey, directed by Matt Kazman (USA)

Lena Sharpe Award For Persistence Of Vision, presented By Women In Film Seattle - 26.2 to Life, directed by Christine Yoo (USA)

JURIED AWARDS - FEATURES

Official Competition Grand Jury Prize - 20,000 Species Of Bees | dir. Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain)

Official Competition Special Jury Prize - Actress Marall Nasiri in Opponent | dir. Milad Alami (Sweden)

Ibero-American Competition Grand Jury Prize - The Fishbowl | dir. Glorimar Marrero Sánchez (Spain)

Ibero-American Competition Special Jury Prize - Actress Maria Vásquez in Matria | dir. Álvaro Gago (Spain)

New Directors Competition Grand Jury Prize - Next Sohee | dir. by July Jung (South Korea)

New Directors Competition Special Jury Prize - Hanging Gardens | dir. Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji (Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Kingdom)

New American Cinema Competition Grand Jury Prize - Mutt | dir. Vuk Lungulov-Klotz (USA)

New American Cinema Competition Special Jury Prize - This Closeness | dir. Kit Zauhar (USA)

Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize - Against the Tide | dir. Sarvnik Kaur (India, France)

Documentary Competition Special Jury Prize - King Coal | dir. Elaine Mcmillion Sheldon (USA)

Youth Jury Prize For Best Futurewave Feature - And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine | dir. Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck (Sweden, Denmark)

Youth Jury Prize For Best Futurewave Feature Special Jury Mention - Lonely Castle in the Mirror | dir. Keiichi Hara (Japan)

Wavemaker Award Grand Jury Prize - ROOM (USA 2022) | dir. Ian Dani Kim

Wavemaker Award Special Jury Mention - American Ball Game (USA 2022) | dir. Teja Mettu, Krish Mysoor

JURIED AWARDS - SHORTS

Live Action Short Grand Jury Prize - AirHostess-737 | dir. Thanasis Neofotistos (Greece)

Live Action Short Special Jury Prize - Sisters of the Rotation | dir. Gaby Zarazir, Michel Zarazir (Lebanon)

Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize - Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma) | dir. Sean Wang (USA)

Documentary Short Special Jury Prize - 45th Parallel | dir. Lawrence Abu Hamdan (United Kingdom)

Animated Short Grand Jury Prize - fur |z dir. Zhen Li (USA)