NOFF2024 Jury Award Winners

NOFF2024 Jury Awards

The 35th New Orleans Film Festival Jury Awards have been announced! Congratulations to all the filmmakers who joined the festival this year.

The New Orleans Film Festival is one of a limited number of film festivals in the country that is Oscar®-qualifying in all three short-form Academy-accredited categories: Narrative Shorts, Documentary Shorts, and Animated Shorts. Jury Award-winning films in these categories at NOFF automatically qualify for consideration for the annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

Narrative Short Award (Oscar®-qualifying category)
The winner of the Narrative Short Award will receive $2,500 in Kodak film stock and will automatically be eligible for Academy Award® consideration. 

Jury Award Winner: Punta Salinas, dir. María del Mar Rosario Ruiz

Special Jury Mention: Saigon Kiss, dir. Hồng Anh Nguyễn

Documentary Short Award (Oscar®-qualifying category)
The winner of the Documentary Short Award will automatically be eligible for Academy Award® consideration.

Jury Award Winner:  The Solace of Sisterhood, dir. Geneva Peschka and Anna Andersen

Special Jury Mention: The Devil Is Busy, dir. Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir

Helen Hill Award for Animated Short (Oscar®-qualifying category)
The winner of the Animated Short Award will automatically be eligible for Academy Award® consideration.

Jury Award Winner: GIGI, dir. Cynthia Calvi

Special Jury Mention: Monsoon Blue, dir. Jay Hiukit Wong and Ellis Kayin Chan

Experimental Short Award

Jury Award Winner: In the Interval, dir. Aeryka Jourdaine Hollis O’Neil

Special Jury Mention: When the Camera Wasn’t Running, dir. Ruby Kline

Narrative Features Competition
The winner of this award will receive a $15,000 Panavision camera rental package and a $13,500 Light Iron Post Production services package.

Jury Award Winner: We Strangers, dir. Anu Valia

Special Jury Mention: Removal of the Eye, dir. Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan

Documentary Features Competition

Jury Award Winner: Mistress Dispeller, dir. Elizabeth Lo

Special Jury Mention: Songs from the Hole, dir. Contessa Gayles

Southern Feature Award
The winner of this award will receive a $15,000 Panavision camera rental package.

Jury Award Winner: The In Between, dir. Robie Flores

Special Jury Mention: The Motherload, dir. Van Tran Nguyen and Alex Derwick

Southern Feature Cinematography Award
The winner of this award will receive a $10,000 Keslow camera rental package.

Jury Award Winner: Color Book, cinematographer Nikolaus “Nik” Summerer

Louisiana Short Award
The winner of this award will receive a $10,000 Keslow camera rental package.

Jury Award Winner: Spring Will Come, dir. Marion Hoang Ngoc Hill

Special Jury Mention: Ishak, dir. Maaliyah Papillion and Mo Grizzly

Special Jury Mention: Wild Hogs and Saffron, dir. Andy Sarjahani

Reel South Award
The winner of this award, selected by the Reel South programming team, will receive $2000 and a distribution offer from the Reel South series broadcast on public media stations around the country and online. 

Winner: The Voice of Bamboo, dir. David (Mingyuan) Zheng

John-Carlo Monti Memorial Award
This year’s recipient receives $500 from the John-Carlo Monti Memorial Award Fund, honoring below-the-line, on-set crew members, not traditionally recognized.

Winner: LeDerek Rocque

South Pitch Program
The winners of this program will each receive a $10,000 cash award. 

South Pitch Documentary Winner: Fraser Jones and Carol Jones, Marry My Mom

South Pitch Narrative Winner: Megz Trufant Tillman and Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence, The Birthday Song

Past NOFF Jury Award Winners

See the #NOFF2023 Jury Award winners here.

See the #NOFF2022 Jury Award winners here.

See the #NOFF2021 Jury Award winners here.

See the #NOFF2020 Jury Award winners here.