SIFF 2024 Award Winners

The in-person portion of the 50th Seattle International Film Festival has sadly come to a close, and as the SIFF staff sweeps up confetti and stares longingly off into space reminiscing about all the fun times we had this year, we’ll take comfort in knowing that the party was absolutely legendary. It’s also not really over. Part of the joy of Festival comes from recognizing the most outstanding of each year’s films with awards and prizes and watching the films that graced our screens go on to play at other fests and theaters around the world.

This year, SIFF screened 261 films across the 11-day Festival, and those features and shorts competed in juried and audience competitions for prestige and cash prizes. On May 19, we announced the winners of the Juried Competition and Golden Space Needle Awards at a ceremony and banquet held at the Grand Hyatt Seattle. Congratulations to all the award-winning filmmakers, and thank you to this year’s jurors and audience for a spectacular SIFFTY celebration! Here’s a recap of who won what.

Golden Space Needle Awards

SIFF is proud to be known as an Audience Festival, so each year we collect votes from our audiences so that they can make their voices heard by awarding their favorite films Golden Space Needle Awards.

Best Film - Sing Sing, directed by Greg Kwedar (USA)

Best Documentary - Porcelain War, directed by Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev (Ukraine/USA/Australia)

Best Director - Kelly O’Sullivan & Alex Thompson, Ghostlight (USA)

Best Performance - Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight (USA)

Best Short Film - Jellyfish and Lobster, directed by Yasmin Afifi (United Kingdom)

Lena Sharpe Award For Persistence Of Vision, presented By Women In Film Seattle - Black Box Diaries, directed by Shiori Ito (Japan/USA/United Kingdom)

Juried Competition Awards – Features

The Jury, comprised of filmmakers, journalists, and industry professionals, selects a winning film for each category. Winning features are awarded a cash prize of $5,000 each.

Official Competition Grand Jury Prize – Gloria! | dir. Margherita Vicario (Italy)

Official Competition Special Jury Prize – Sugarcane | dir. Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie (USA)

Ibero-American Competition Grand Jury Prize – Through Rocks and Clouds | dir. Franco Garcia Becerra (Peru)

Ibero-American Competition Special Jury Prize – The Major Tones | dir. Ingrid Pokropek (Argentina)

New Directors Competition Grand Jury Prize – City of Wind | dir. Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (Mongolia)

New Directors Competition Special Jury Prize – Young Hearts | dir. Anthony Schatteman (Belgium)

New American Cinema Competition Grand Jury Prize – We Strangers | dir. Anu Valia (USA)

Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize – A New Kind of Wilderness | dir. Silje Evensmo Jacobsen (Norway)

Documentary Competition Special Jury Prize – The Ride Ahead | dir. Dan Habib, Samuel Habib (USA)

Wavemaker Award: Best FutureWave Feature – Empire Waist | dir. Claire Ayoub (USA)

Prodigy Camp Scholarship Prize - Newman's Block | dir. Hudson Hillin (USA)

Juried Competition Awards – Shorts

The Jury, comprised of filmmakers, journalists, and industry professionals, selects a winning film for each category. Winning shorts are awarded a cash prize of $2,500 each.

Narrative Short Grand Jury Prize – The Shell Covered Ox | dir. Daniel Barosa (Brazil)

Narrative Short Special Jury Prize – Essex Girls | dir. Yero Timi-Biu (United Kingdom)

Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize – The Waiting | dir. Volker Schlecht (Germany)

Animated Short Grand Jury Prize – Madeleine | dir. Raquel Sancinetti (Canada, Québec)