(February 15, 2025) – The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is excited to announce the award-winning films for the 40th edition. 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 Director of Programming. ” 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.
See full list of winners below:
The Audience Choice Award sponsored by The Santa Barbara Independent goes to
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
The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival took place LIVE February 4 – February 15, 2025. Official events included screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, held throughout the city, including at the historic Arlington Theatre.
About the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 39 years, SBIFF has become one of the top 10 film festivals in the United States – attracting 100,000 attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films, tributes and symposiums, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film.
SBIFF continues its commitment to education and the community throughout many free educational programs and events. SBIFF’s programs support over 18,000 kids, students and families in our local community by introducing film as an art form to young children with programs like AppleBox and Mike’s FieldTrip to the Movies; teaching film analysis to highschool and college students with programs like Rosebud and the Film Studies Program; and teaching the craft of screenwriting and filmmaking with Film Camp and 10-10-10 Mentorship programs. Most importantly SBIFF’s programs are always directed towards the under-represented and under-served communities within Santa Barbara County.
In 2016, SBIFF acquired the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day. In 2019, SBIFF opened its own Education Center in downtown Santa Barbara on State Street to serve as a home for its many educational programs and a place for creativity and learning.
SBIFF Social:
