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NYTSIFF Winners
August 2025
This final edition of our festival concludes here, with the announcement of our extraordinary winners. The films we had in this edition were some of the best we have ever seen across the festival's various rounds.
The most important feature common to nearly all of them was the power of expression through images. More than ever, today's filmmakers have mastered the language of the image, and their work is full of astonishing visual details and beauty. This was evident in all the works that participated in this round of the festival, which is why choosing a winner from each category was a difficult task.
The creative and talented filmmakers who took part in this year's festival were able to make films that were watchable, engaging, and full of remarkable details and nuances.
Let's review the list of winners together.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
A Tale of Two Tales
Writer Stephen Kramer Avitabile
in Best Feature (Long) Script
The story of a time when the Earth is overrun with Satanic beasts, and a strong-willed man and misfit group of survivors fight for their lives. However, this story is told by a struggling writer and the story needs to be completed... by his seven-year-old son.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Ones Left Behind
Director Ismail Mamedov
in Documentary Short
This documentary follows my parents as they return to Aghdam, the city they fled 32 years ago. It’s their first time back since the war. There’s no script or narration - just their voices, memories, and quiet moments as they walk through what remains. It’s a story about returning, about memory held in people rather than places, and about the small, powerful ways the past resurfaces when you finally face it.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Plastoc
Director Estelle Cortet
in Best AI Film
Plastoc explores a dystopian world consumed by plastic through fragmented, surreal imagery. This video installation invites the viewer into a space of sensory and conceptual overload — a world where plastic is everywhere.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
One Crawls Over The Spider's Web
Director Dhananjay Nachar
in Debut Films
A wickedly stylish, pulp comedy about a sassy fly thief, Sam, whose attempt at robbery traps her with a hot stud, a widow's love triangle, and a murder, where she becomes a fly trapped in a spider's web.
Caught in the aftermath of a sinister murder of the husband of the malice weaving, Darling, carried out with the help of her ‘Himbo’ boyfriend, Honey — Sam realizes she is the next prey. A fly caught in her web.
Stylish, sharp, and laced with humor, the film blends crime, comedy and drama into a playful yet sinister ride that keeps audiences guessing until the end.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
No Words
Director Martin Haag
in Best Human Rights Film
Stairs should help, but they are a danger to him. No words left. Tired and constrained after so many tries—no words left.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Lost Boy
Writer Dominic Mangiocco
in Best Short Script
After being outed and disowned, a queer teen crashes with friends and spirals through heartbreak, betrayal, and the quiet realization that healing doesn’t always come with closure.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Dear Lilith, I Love You (Sweet Dreams)
Director David Cole
in Best Director
This is not a video for the faint of heart. It is sensual, symbolic, and steeped in esoteric fire. Lilith is not here to be tamed — she is here to be remembered.
In a world that still fears women who walk in power, this piece reclaims the space where love, eros, shadow, and divinity intertwine. To honor Lilith is to honor every woman who dared to be more than the world allowed her to be.
This work is part of a larger mythic and spiritual project exploring duality, divine polarity, and the hidden light within sacred darkness.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
T-Rex in Repose
Director Kirene (Ky-rene) Bolsen-Long
in Best Silent Film
An inflatable dinosaur drifts through France in this silent, fixed-camera short. What begins as a visual absurdity becomes a quiet meditation on identity, extinction, and belonging. Written and directed by 15-year-old university student Kirene Bolsen-Long, T-Rex in Repose is absurd, poetic, and unexpectedly moving. A cinematic love letter to silent film.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
The Whistler
Director Kirene Bolsen-Long
in Best Horror
During a late-night camping trip, four college friends gather around a fire to share scary stories. When Jason mocks a local legend by whistling into the darkness, he unknowingly triggers a terrifying chain of events. As the night unfolds, an unseen presence answers—and by morning, one of them is missing. Haunted by silence and echoing whistles from the woods, the remaining campers are left to question what they summoned… and whether it ever left.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Geriatric Millennials
Director Melissa Dimetres
in Best Comedy
When her best friend Alexis gets a staff writer job in L.A., stand-up comedian Jess is forced to face the complacent life they have built together and what it means for her own future.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
We don't get along
Director Victoria Karakoleva
in Music Video
VICTORIA's new music video reveals how social media's beauty standards and the pressure for popularity create an illusion of perfection, emphasizing that true beauty comes from our unique differences.
The music video for VICTORIA's song "WE DON'T GET ALONG (Crumbs of a Modern Tragedy)" addresses the pressures of social media and beauty standards that drive artists to conform and imitate each other. It critiques the superficiality of popularity and success while celebrating individuality.
The video tells the story of an influencer school called "Digital Grave," where "students" learn to present themselves using their most essential tools: phones and selfie sticks. At the start of their journey, each "student" receives a vacuum-sealed package containing their self-promotion toys as part of their "starter kit."
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Where Dandelions Fall
Director Weronika Jędrzejak
in Animations
A tale of a creature that forgot how to feel and the fragile dandelion that sought to remind it.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Your Choices Are…
Director ming ming Li
in Best Trailer
This film uses the "choice game" as a medium, and through interactive choices in key plotlines, immerses itself in the story of a power supply employee named Chen Jie and a university student named Xiao Li, who work together to "save" Longqian Village from environmental and economic crises caused by extensive farming. When the two were vigorously promoting the "complementary fishing and light" new energy project, they encountered fierce opposition from the conservative faction led by Jiang Shouye. Jiang Shouye used the power of discourse in the village to incite villagers to resist change, and even used the history of mining accidents to stir up villagers' fear of photovoltaic panels. At the critical moment when the crisis was about to erupt by the fish pond, Chen Jie's heartfelt appeal of "turning mining lamps into photovoltaics, illuminating the path of three generations" awakened collective memory. Eventually, the villagers reached a consensus, and Longqian Village successfully transformed into a sustainable development demonstration zone integrating clean energy, ecological breeding, and tourism.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Shaping Kulture
Director Joseph Vialpando
in Experimental Short
Biographical documentary of legendary surfboard shaper, fashion designer, performance artist, entrepreneur, Peter Schroff following his early days as a southern Californian surfer through his controversial performance art pieces, involving hacking surfboards with a chainsaw in protest of the capitalist corporate takeover over of the alternative sport to his architectural and interior design of his new nirvana-on-the-coast air BnB.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Invasion of the Bucket Snatchers
Director Nina Miller
in Best Environmentalist Film
Enter the fascinating world of composting through the lens of Code of Return Compost, an innovative company in Savannah Georgia; on a mission to save the planet, one bucket at a time. Follow these eco-warriors as they embark on a journey to reawaken our planet’s vital cycles, battling waste with buckets and turning food scraps into steaming piles of rich soil.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
The Pursuit Of Forgiveness
Director Thomas McQuillan
in Narrative Short
Liam, a struggling addict, who is battling with his past mistakes tries to attempt to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Claire. As he fights to prove he has changed, Claire must decide whether she can let go of the hurt he caused and allow him back into her life.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
The Silence Of The Adriatic
Director Ozan Polat
in Best Cinematography
"THE SILENCE OF THE ADRIATIC" is a cinematic meditation on the essence of space and time, captured through the objective eye of a neutral, incorruptible observer. The film is a deliberate approach to not stage the world, but to experience it in its raw presence.
Deeply inspired by Chantal Akerman's "News From Home," this documentary consciously foregoes traditional storytelling. Instead, it seeks the profound poetry in the everyday and the subtle traces of human presence in seemingly untouched spaces. On the picturesque island of Brač and in the alleys of Split, places the filmmaker experienced for the first time with fresh, unbiased eyes, a visual diary thus emerges.
Each long take, each meticulously composed shot, is a window into a world where the "emptiness of silence" and the feeling of solitude become palpable. It is a reflection on how each individual lives their own life, often in parallel and unnoticed, while the surroundings unfold their own, quiet existence.
"THE SILENCE OF THE ADRIATIC" is an invitation to immerse oneself in this "space + time" state, to let the atmosphere act as a mood setter, and to sharpen one's own perception for the melancholy and grandeur of existence. The documentary explores universal feelings of isolation and connection in the quiet of the Adriatic.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
7 Veils
Directors Evi Tzortzi, Giorgos Alexakis
in Best Religious/Spiritual Film
The essence of life is protected by seven veils. One after the other, all veils are lifted. Past is explained, faith in life is restored, the eternal spiral is still alive.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Ebony Perry
For 'Shenita's Remorse'
in Best Actress
Shenita, a mother in her 40’s has struggled with alcohol abuse for over 10 years as a coping mechanism, is now faced with the unimaginable—her son, Cameron, succumbs in a car accident just hours after they had a terrible argument. Wracked with guilt, she struggles to stay sober in the wake of his death, believing that her addiction played a role in his loss. Through a series of intense and emotional flashbacks, the audience sees Shenita’s internal battle as she contemplates her future while drowning in the sorrow of her past. Enlightened by the wisdom of her younger sister, Pam, Shenita decides to reach out to her sponsor Janee’ for help and finds hope and just maybe…the road to forgiving herself.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
The Dark Following: Fragments of the Past
Director Toby Rawal
in Narrative Feature
'The time has come...
Imprisoned for possessing otherworldly abilities, the sole survivor of a mysterious disaster must face his past on a quest to stop the source of unlimited power falling into the wrong hands.'
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Don't Be A Pussy
Director Dov Kurtis
in Student Films
A film student who operates on fear gets what he deserves.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Johan Wickholm
For 'Letters Of Love'
in Best Actor
Peter, once a bright young adolescent, struggles reflecting on his past, haunted by trauma addiction & tragedy.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Global Women in Music: Composers Rewriting the Score
Directors Jeff Oppenheimer, Veronica Sabbag
in Female Empowerment
The inspiring story of this groundbreaking music production showcasing music from women composers from around the world
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
White Noise
Director Zanol Simmons
in Best Poster
On a stormy night, two friends uncover a mysterious radio that distorts reality, plunging them into a tense battle with fear, paranoia, and the unknown.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Steel Town
Director Mark Herbrand
in Best Drama
A criminal seeks revenge for a crime he never committed.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Elsewhere
Director Amanda Myrick
in Best Micro Film
A lonely writer struggling with creative block finds inspiration and companionship in an unexpected place.
Elsewhere is a lyrical short film that explores the loneliness of unexpressed art and the transformative magic of being understood.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Changes
Director Valeria R. Caceres
in Best Female Director
Camila finds herself at a crossroads. After working hard to succeed as a businesswoman, she realizes this might not be what she was looking for after all.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Cap and Trade
Director Michael Marentette
in Best Sci-Fi
Where human lives are measured and traded in carbon credits, a man on the run takes on a deadly bounty to survive one more day.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
The Truth
Director Elizabeth Troxler
in Original Score
A stunning aerialist performance on bungee trapeze integrated with powerful poetry and words for this time.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Microdose
Director Alex Pera
in Best Editing
“Microdose” is about a man who takes small amounts of drugs before cruising his motorcycle in Chicago every night. He buys large amounts of drugs to feed his addiction. This film is a point of view of the night of buying his mass amount of drugs, but this night is different than the rest…
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Parallel Tracks
Director Patrick Juranyi
in Best Dance Film
Parallel Tracks is a short dance film following a young woman's journey through a fragmented urban landscape as she confronts her inner self. Caught between motion and stillness, presence and reflection, she navigates an emotional terrain where reality and psyche blur. Echoing the introspective tone of Bergman’s Persona, the film explores identity, duality, and the silent tensions that shape our inner lives.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Remarkable: Voices from the Trans Community
Director Logan Ward
in Best LGBTQ Film
This film addresses many anti-trans talking points that have been mistakenly associated with trans healthcare and social transition. Starring Julia Serano, who introduces a bottom-up approach to identify marginalization, and created by trans man Logan Ward. This film aims to help researchers and journalists see that the best way to address trans marginalization is to bring trans people into the creation process. The interviews and trans perspectives throughout the film propose that believing trans people's identities is the first step to us being able to trust one another again.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
SONNENWAGEN
Director Thomas Pohl
in Documentary Feature
The World Solar Challenge in Australia is the world's most famous and challenging race for solar cars. It runs 3000 kilometres from Darwin in the north across the continent to Adelaide in the south and is regarded as the most innovative solar race with a focus on efficiency and environmentally friendly mobility. The team from RWTH & FH Aachen University has successfully established itself on the global scene and regularly takes part in the race.
The film ‘Sonnenwagen - Future Mobility’ shows the development of the ‘Covestro Adelie’ solar car and sheds light on the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in light of the current mobility and energy debate. In addition, science journalist and author Ranga Yogeshwar, neuroscientist and author Prof Dr Maren Urner, former Opel boss and CEO of Continental Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann, the Board Member for Sales and Marketing at Covestro Sucheta Govil, the CEO DACH of Siemens Digital Industries Software Klaus Löckel, the Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport in NRW Oliver Krischer, the Rector of RWTH Aachen University Prof. Dr Ulrich Rüdiger, the former Head of Aerodynamics at Mercedes-Benz Teddy Woll and the Managing Director of the World Solar Challenge Chris Selwood.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
Heal avec Delphine
Director Delphine Breyne
in Episodic
Heal avec Delphine is a deeply personal docuseries that follows individuals navigating life after cancer, trauma, alopecia, and other challenges. Each episode invites viewers into a powerful journey of reconnection and renewal—beginning with an intimate look at the person’s world, followed by a transformative beauty restoration at Delphine’s atelier, and ending with a meaningful surprise to mark their new beginning. Through heartfelt storytelling, emotional connection, and light-touch artistry, the series introduces a new era of beauty and healing, where feeling truly seen becomes the start of renewed self-confidence, emotional healing, and personal transformation.
NYTSIFF Winners - August 2025
REBORN
Director Aida Korman
in Best CustomDesign
"ReBorn" follows a woman escaping the noise of the city to reclaim the lost pieces of herself. In an abandoned sock factory, its graffiti-covered walls become an open-air museum, whispering stories of identity, rebellion, and style. Wearing ReBorn street couture, she immerses herself in the colors, textures, and rhythm of the asphalt.
Her journey leads her high into the mountains, to the nomadic village of Lukomir. Here, where the wind carries the whispers of ancestors and medieval stećak stones guard forgotten tales, she finds silence. Draped in haute couture inspired by traditional folk costumes, she reconnects with her true self.
"ReBorn" is a visual and emotional journey — from graffiti to stećaks, from urban grit to mountain serenity. A story of escape, encounter, and rebirth.