BY JEFF PLUMMER and LILLIANA MONTERO PLUMMER
On Saturday, February 8, the Cambria Film Festival hosted a live awards night celebration to announce the winning films of this year’s festival. The program celebrated over 80 competition films, dozens of attending filmmakers, special event programming, and gala events.
The Nancy Green Founder’s Award for the film that best exemplified the potential for independent filmmaking to achieve an impact in either social, emotional, or societal arenas went to The Unbroken Sky (USA). This moving and timely short film directed by Josh Peterson and based on the beloved books by Francisco Jiménez tells the autobiographical story of an undocumented Mexican teenager and his close-knit family as they navigate the struggles of working and living in a changing nation.
The judging panel made its official selections from nearly 450 feature and short films submitted from around the world. After careful consideration and much deliberation, the judges chose the following films as the 2025 Award Winners:
–Best Feature Film – Reflections in a Room (Spain), directed by Ceres Machado
–Best Short Film – Pequeño (Spain), directed by Meka Ribera and Álvaro G. Company
–Best Animated Film – Dieter (Switzerland), directed by Rolf Broennimann
–Best Feature Documentary – Maji (UK), directed by Charli Doherty
–Best Short Documentary – Edel Rodriguez: Freedom is a Verb, directed by Mecky Creus, Adrienne Hall
–Best Student Feature – Jack & Lou: a Gangster Love Story (USA), directed by Nancy Boyd, Itchy Yang, Lorenzo Mendoza, Alexis Patton, Grace Park, Robin Wang, Aslan Dalgic, Jocelyn Koo, David Willner, Sabatino Ciatti Jr. and Lilith Mo
–Best Student Short – A Better Place (USA), directed by Shih-Chun Hsiao
–Heart Award – Collage (Spain), directed by Marius Conrotto
–Artistic Achievement Award – Incarnatio (France), directed by Aurelien Achache
–Director’s Award – Everybody Wants to be Loved (Germany), directed by Katharina Woll
–Best Late Nite Film – Burn Out (USA), directed by Russell Goldman
Audience members also became their own jury and awarded the following films Audience Awards in their respective categories:
–Feature – Reflections in a Room (Spain), directed by Ceres Machado.
–Short – Death Pays Flora a Visit (USA),directed by Tanna Frederick.
–Late Nite Film – Model Citizen (USA), directed by Rachael Dahl.
–Emerging Filmmaker (Student) – Romchyk (UK), directed by Alexis Bicât.
–Documentary Short Film – Edel Rodriguez; Freedom is a Verb (USA), directed by Mecky Creus, Adrienne Hall.
As a new introduction to this year’s festival, a “Festival Honoree” award was presented to screenwriter and 2025 Guest of Honor Sy Rosen.
The Cambria Film Festival is an official activity of the Cambria Center for the Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to local arts. This year’s festival sponsors were James and Elaine Levin Anderson. The Cambria Film Festival will return in 2026 from February 4 through 8!
For more information, visit www.CambriaFilmFestival.com.
