The 13th annual Social Impact Media Awards is honored to present this year’s winners:
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE WINNERS
BEST DOCUMENTARY AND ETHOS JURY PRIZE
MEDIHA
A powerful testament to the human spirit, Mediha turns her camera on herself to process her trauma while rescuers search for her missing family members, revealing the strength and determination of a young survivor.
Director(s): Hasan Oswald
United States, Iraq, Turkey, Syria | 90 minutes
Language(s): Kurdish
Subtitles: English
BEST DIRECTOR
HOLLYWOODGATE
Unprecedented and audacious, HOLLYWOODGATE is the riveting result of the year director Ibrahim Nash’at spent with the Taliban in the wake of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Risking his life in the war-torn nation, Nash’at is on the ground with the Taliban when they enter an American base loaded with a portion of the roughly $7 billion worth of U.S. armaments left behind.
Director(s): Ibrahim Nash’at
Germany, Afghanistan | 91 minutes
Language(s): Multilingual version
Subtitles: English
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
QUEENDOM
In defiance of Putin’s regime, a queer, 21-year-old artist risks her life performing in surreal costumes throughout Moscow. Jenna Marvin’s radical public performances blend artistry and activism – and put her life in danger.
Director(s): Agniia Galdanova
Russia, United States | 90 minutes
Language(s): Russian
Subtitles: English
BEST EDITING
SUGARCANE
An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.
Director(s): Julian Brave Noisecat, Emily Kassie
Canada | 107 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English, Latin Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese
BEST SOUND
MARCHING IN THE DARK
Intent on providing a better life for herself and her children after her farmer-husband’s suicide, Sanjivani struggles against her culture’s traditional abandonment of widows, until she joins a discussion group with other farmer-suicide widows. Empowered by community, shared stories of resilience, and unexpected solidarity, Sanjivani forges a path forward.
Director(s): Kinshuk Surjan
Belgium, Netherlands, India | 109 minutes
Language(s): Without dialogue – With intertitle
Subtitles: Marathi, English, Dutch, French
TRANSPARENCY JURY PRIZE
BLACK SNOW
When the residents of a remote Siberian city discover an old Soviet mine has caught fire beneath their neighborhood, they turn to Natalia Zubkova, a local homemaker-turned-journalist, for help. But after her news videos go viral, she suddenly finds herself the target of a massive government disinformation campaign.
Director(s): Alina Simone
Siberia, United States | 100 minutes
Language(s): Russian
Subtitles: English
SYSTEMIC CHANGE AWARD (SPONSORED BY THE FOUNDATION FOR SYSTEMIC CHANGE)
IGUALADA
In Colombia, a nation marred by profound racial and socio-economic disparities, a Black woman from a rural background challenges the status quo by launching a presidential campaign. Reappropriating the term “igualada,” Francia Márquez, catapults a movement to the upper echelons of power, by refusing to “know her place.” Fifteen years in the making, this documentary peels back the curtain on how unprecedented change can happen.
Director(s): Juan Mejia
Colombia | 81 minutes
Language(s): Spanish
Subtitles: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Korean, Arabic
DOCUMENTARY SHORT WINNERS
BEST DOCUMENTARY AND BEST SOUND
UNTIL HE’S BACK
After learning that his son, Yahya, has died at sea trying to get to Spain, Ahmed Tchiche must find a way to bring his remains back home to Morocco so he and his family can have a proper goodbye. Through interweaving threads, UNTIL HE’S BACK explores a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean and the difficulty of returning the bodies of those who drown at sea.
Director(s): Jacqueline Baylon
Morocco | 39 minutes
Language(s): Arabic
Subtitles: English, French, Darija (Arabic)
BEST DIRECTOR
A MOVE (خونه)
Elahe returns to her hometown in Mashhad, Iran, to help her parents move to a new place after 40 years. Influenced by the Woman-Life-Freedom movement, she’s also hoping for a bigger move, not just a new apartment.
Director(s): Elahe Esmaili
Iran | 27 minutes
Language(s): Persian
Subtitles: English
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
CHASING ROO
The legally sanctioned harvesting of kangaroos in Australia equates to the largest commercial killing of a land-based animal in the world each year. CHASING ROO is an intimate portrait of the Kangaroo harvesting industry from the POV of those who professionally hunt Kangaroos – in tension with wildlife rescue experts who have devoted their lives to saving the very animals being killed.
Director(s): Skye Fitzgerald
Australia | 34 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
BEST EDITING
THE LAST ICE AGE
For storyteller Andri Snær Magnason, climate change is so big, it’s larger than language. Retracing his grandparents’ annual spring journey to Iceland’s Vatnajökull glacier to witness the loss of Europe’s largest ice cap with his son, Andri Snær Magnason searches for the stories that can help him understand our ecological crisis.
Director(s): Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Adam Loften
Iceland | 39 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
STYLISTIC ACHIEVEMENT JURY PRIZE
WE EXIST IN MEMORY (EXISTIMOS EN LA MEMORIA)
How do you rebuild home from nothing but memories? We are thrust us into the intimate conversations between Maria and her grandchild, Marucha: two Indigenous refugees living in displacement. To Maria, the Venezuelan delta is her home. To Marucha, refugee camps are all she knows. Through the rhythms of their daily lives, we witness the complexity of raising a new generation in displacement and explore how land, memory and identity are deeply intertwined
Director(s): Darian Woehr
United States, Venezuela | 13 minutes
Language(s): Spanish
Subtitles: English
LENS TO ACTION JURY PRIZE (SPONSORED BY
HUMAN SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT)
STRANGLED
Garment worker Veasna bets big on her husband’s barber shop, providing her family’s land title as collateral to obtain a microfinance loan and finance his business. Soon after opening, the business goes bust and her husband runs off with his mistress, leaving her alone to face credit officers. Pherng is a trash collector living in the Cambodian border town of Poipet. The pressure from microfinance loans, paired with rent and grandchildren’s school fees, force Pherng and his wife to scour the streets for hours on end looking for trash and disposed items to resell. In the province of Ratanakiri, indigenous farmer Nga is haunted by the memory of her late husband, who committed suicide after pressure from microfinance loans became unbearable. Nga’s farmland is at risk of being confiscated to pay this outstanding debt.
Director(s): Robin Narciso, Thomas Cristofoletti
Cambodia | 40 minutes
Language(s): Khmer
Subtitles: English
IMPACT VIDEO WINNERS
HUMANITAS AWARD
UNCLE BULLY’S SURF SKOOL
Local Maui surf instructor, “Bully” Kotter, is a life coach and mentor for underserved youth during the pandemic. A powerful story about one person’s quest to shape a hopeful future for the next generation, and the last documentary filmed in Lahaina, Maui, before the August 8, 2023 wildfires destroyed the town and left many in the film (including Bully) homeless. In the aftermath of the fires, Bully is a beacon of resilience for his community.
Director(s): Leah Warshawski, Todd Soliday
United States | 39 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
CREATIVE ACTIVISM AWARD
HUSH NOW.
HUSH NOW. offers a bluntly intimate look at world leaders during some of their everyday moments, pondering what’s in their minds when the world mourns, what they think about when they’re alone, in their moments of relaxation, or what they dream about during their power naps.
Director(s): Laen Sanches
France | 4 minutes
Language(s): Without dialogue – With intertitle
Subtitles: None
INNOVATION JURY PRIZE
WHERE 4X4S FAIL
To understand and protect the unique fog oases of Peru, botanical researchers from Peru and the UK collaborate with Brazilian paramotorists to collect plant samples from regions too remote and rugged for 4×4 vehicles. By utilising paramotors, they access largely untouched ecosystems with minimal impact. Their mission aims to uncover information about the ecosystem that could hold the key to preserving it for generations to come.
Director(s): Emily Stoker
United Kingdom, Peru | 12 minutes
Language(s): Multilingual version
Subtitles: English
IMPACT JURY PRIZE
A HAND TO HOLD
In the heart of Los Angeles, two members of an innovative Street Medicine team devote their livelihood to helping their unhoused patients receive care, hope, and connection.
Director(s): Reed Martin
United States | 22 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
XR + INTERACTIVE WINNERS
IMMERSIVE IMPACT AWARD
ORIGEN, CHAPTER 1: JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE AMAZON RAINFOREST
ORIGEN is a narrative, interactive, and poetic journey through the Amazon Rainforest. In our voyage, first-person interactions weave the tapestry of encounters and teachings endowed with transcendence. “Journey To The Heart Of The Amazon” is the first chapter of a VR series co-created with its narrators, uniting different territories and celebrating the dialogue held between the great diversity of life forms and Mother Earth.
Director(s): Emilia Sánchez Chiquetti
Brazil | 23 minutes
Language(s): Spanish
Subtitles: Shipibo, English
CREATIVE ADVOCACY JURY PRIZE
SOUL PAINT
SOUL PAINT exists at the nexus of immersive technology, creative storytelling and wellbeing to explore the richness of the embodied human experience. Participants are taken on a journey to explore and creatively express feelings of emotion and sensations in the body. Through the process of bodymapping, 3D drawing and movement, they are invited to reveal their unique inner reality and then observe the creations of others.
Director(s): Sarah Ticho, Niki Smit
United Kingdom, Netherlands | 20 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
IMPACT CAMPAIGN WINNERS
LEGACY AWARD
THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED
In the Arab-American neighborhood outside of Chicago where director Assia Boundaoui grew up, most of her neighbors think they have been under surveillance for over a decade. While investigating their experiences, Assia uncovers tens of thousands of pages of FBI documents that prove her hometown was the subject of one of the largest counterterrorism investigations ever conducted in the U.S. before 9/11, code-named “Operation Vulgar Betrayal.” With unprecedented access, The Feeling of Being Watched weaves the personal and the political as it follows the filmmaker’s examination of why her community fell under blanket government surveillance. Assia struggles to disrupt the government secrecy shrouding what happened and takes the FBI to federal court to compel them to make the records they collected about her community public. In the process, she confronts long-hidden truths about the FBI’s relationship to her community. The Feeling of Being Watched follows Assia as she pieces together this secret FBI operation, while grappling with the effects of a lifetime of surveillance on herself and her family.
Impact Campaign Producer(s): Ahlam Said
Film Director(s): Assia Boundaoui
Organization(s): Multitude Films
USA
CATALYST AWARD
ANOTHER BODY
ANOTHER BODY follows a college student’s search for answers and justice after she discovers deepfake pornography of herself circulating online. Through candid video diaries, synthetic media, and 2D and 3D animation, the film takes you into Taylor’s online and offline worlds, humanizing a vast social issue in a compelling personal story. The film is directed by Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn and produced by Elizabeth Woodward at WILLA.
Impact Campaign Producer(s): Elizabeth Woodward, Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn
Film Director(s): Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn
Organization(s): #MyImageMyChoice
USA, UK
PRODUCTION COMPANY WINNERS
VITAL VOICES AWARD
MULTITUDE FILMS
Multitude Films is a queer- and women-led independent production company dedicated to telling nonfiction stories by and about historically excluded and underrepresented communities. Oriented by a culture change approach, Multitude Films makes award-winning films that change the way global audiences see the world around them. We produce, executive produce, and consult on nonfiction features, shorts, and series with a focus on equity and representation both on screen and behind the camera.
New York | United States
CREATIVE IMPACT AWARD
CLIN D’OEIL FILMS
Clin d’oeil films is a Belgian audiovisual company founded and managed by Antoine Vermeesch and Hanne Phlypo out of their love for film. The company focuses on creative documentaries and author-driven film with a clear preference for films with a social or political statement by creative and innovative filmmakers. We work in close collaboration with the filmmakers.
Belgium
SPECIAL MENTIONS
BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT
In Uganda’s 2021 presidential election, music star, activist and opposition leader Bobi Wine, together with his wife Barbie, rallies his people in a dangerous fight for freedom from President Museveni’s oppressive 35-year regime.
Director(s): Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp
Uganda | 118 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Mandarin, Spanish (Latin American)
BYE BYE TIBERIAS
Years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, Emmy-nominated Hiam Abbass (SUCCESSION, RAMY, BLADE RUNNER) returns home with her daughter, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.
Director(s): Lina Soualem
France, Palestine | 82 minutes
Language(s):
Subtitles: English
SABBATH QUEEN
Filmed over 21 years, SABBATH QUEEN follows Amichai Lau-Lavie, descendent of 38 generations of rabbis, from drag-queen rebel to rabbi, as he radically reinvents religion and ritual, challenges patriarchy and supremacy, and stands up for peace.
Director(s): Sandi Dubowski
United States | 105 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: German, Italian, Portuguese
ZURAWSKI V TEXAS
Women denied abortions under Texas’s ambiguous and unforgiving abortion bans band together with a fearless attorney to sue Texas. While battling in court against the state and its immovable Attorney General, the extent of their traumatic experiences is revealed as they wrestle to regain their reproductive futures and set a precedent for millions of other women and families. ZURAWSKI V TEXAS reveals the dire impact of losing access to healthcare.
Director(s): Maisie Crow, Abbie Perrault, Impact campaign by GSD Group
United States | 99 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
ENCHUKUNOTO (THE RETURN)
Laissa Malih — the first female Maasai filmmaker — returns to the community her parents left behind in this deeply personal look at how the lands of her forefathers are being reshaped by climate change.
Director(s): Laissa Malih
Kenya | 15 minutes
Language(s): Maasai, Samburu
Subtitles: English, Maasai, Samburu
M/OTHER
Three childfree women in their 40s face the ultimate explanation: their mothers. In a unique twist, they have their long-overdue heart-to-heart, not with their own moms, but with each other’s.
Director(s): Iris Zaki
Israel | 18 minutes
Language(s): Hebrew
Subtitles: English
PUBLIC DEFENDER
What happens when a liberal public defender represents right-wing January 6th rioters? PUBLIC DEFENDER takes on America’s epidemic of division and misinformation with humanity and comic relief, modeling how to restore trust and accountability one relationship at a time.
Director(s): Andrea Kalin
United States | 40 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
ADIDAS OWNS THE REALITY
Prankster activists perform an elaborate hoax to improve conditions for garment workers in the Adidas supply chain. Staging a shocking runway show at Berlin Fashion Week, they use humor and mischief to make the world pay attention to labor and environmental abuses that the massive sportswear brand is trying to hide.
Director(s): Keil Troisi, Igor Vamos
United States | 22 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, Portuguese
DANCING PAST THE ODDS
Diverse Abilities Dance Collective (DADC) is an inclusive dance troupe from Singapore that welcomes performers with disabilities. Founded by retired Bharatanatyam dancer Kavitha Krishnan, DADC offers a platform for its members to express themselves and challenge societal perceptions of disability. Members like Chen Wanyi have not only improved their dance skills but also developed confidence and leadership abilities, thus thriving as individuals.
Director(s): Jeanette Lim
Singapore | 5 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
MURMURATION
MURMURATION invites us to meet Kanope, a young Nigerian on his way to Europe. In a clever tale between fable and dream, Kanope reaches out to us and draws us into his hopeful journey. Inspired by real-life stories, the narrative is told by minor migrants who arrived in Sicily between 2015 and 2020. A shocking dive into humanity.
Director(s): Patricia Bergeron, Ali Kays
Canada | 19 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: None
THIS IS MY HEART (CECI EST MON COEUR)
THIS IS MY HEART (CECI EST MON COEUR) is an immersive site-specific work exploring an extraordinary love story, that of a child’s reconciliation with his body. An immersive tale that, through the intermediary of a coat embroidered with light, offers a singular experience of how we perceive our bodies. THIS IS MY HEART (CECI EST MON COEUR) explores intimate immersive art in new forms, offering an unprecedented sound and visual experience.
Director(s): Nicolas Blies, Stéphane Hueber-Blies
Luxembourg | 35 minutes
Language(s): English
Subtitles: None
A TOWN CALLED VICTORIA
A South Texas town is thrown into the national spotlight when the local mosque erupts in flames. After decades of harmony, the small Muslim community of Victoria watches their cherished place of worship reduced to ash. With the fire ruled an arson and a local man arrested as the suspect, this small town must confront its own troubled history and its consequences in the present. From the trial of the suspect to the rebuilding of the mosque, A TOWN CALLED VICTORIA presents a nuanced portrait of a community confronting hate in its own midst, and grappling with deep-seated racial, religious, political, and economic rifts to find a collective way forward.
Impact Campaign Producer(s): Li Lu, Michael Latt
Film Director(s): Li Lu
Organization(s): Time and Place, Film Exchange
United States
BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN
BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN is a story of community resistance and resilience. Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian racism, the documentary takes us into the lives of residents, businesses and community organizers whose neighborhoods are facing active erasure. Coast to Coast the film follows Chinatown communities resisting the pressures around them. From the construction of the world’s largest vertical jail in New York, Montreal’s fight against developers swallowing up the most historic block of their Chinatown, big box chains and gentrification forces displacing Toronto’s community, to a Vancouver Chinatown business holding steadfast, the film reveals how Chinatown is both a stand-in for other communities who’ve been wiped off the city map, and the blueprint for inclusive and resilient neighbourhoods of the future.
Impact Campaign Producer(s): Sean Tse, Karen Cho
Film Director(s): Karen Cho
Organization(s): Eyesteelfilm
Canada
HOME IS SOMEWHERE ELSE
HOME IS SOMEWHERE ELSE is an animated feature documentary providing a window into the hearts and minds of immigrant youth and their undocumented families. This 2D feature “animentary” features three personal stories about immigrant youth to highlight the complexities and challenges they face today. Voiced by the actual children and their families, the stories are woven together by spoken word poet Lalo “El Deportee”, the film’s host and MC whose vibrant “Spanglish” breaks codes, switches standards, and pushes the viewer to decipher his poems. Each story has its own unique visual animation style drawn by three different teams. The animation allows us to truly see and feel these characters’ worst nightmares, alongside their colorful hopes and dreams for a better future.
Impact Campaign Producer(s): Mariana Marin
Film Director(s): Carlos Hagerman, Jorge Villalobos
Organization(s): Shine Global Inc
Mexico, USA
VICTIM /SUSPECT
The emmy-award winning VICTIM/SUSPECT chronicles journalist Rae de Leon’s investigation into a disturbing pattern: young women report sexual assault to the police and instead of the perpetrators being brought to justice, the women are arrested for filing a false report. Working for The Center for Investigative Reporting, de Leon’s exhaustive research uncovers a surprisingly large number of these cases nationwide. In re-examining elements of the initial law enforcement investigations, de Leon unearths telling recordings of police interviews of people reporting their sexual assault. Featuring firsthand accounts from numerous young women, as well as interviews with police, investigators, and legal experts, VICTIM/SUSPECT raises crucial questions about how the criminal justice system views and treats sexual assault victims.
Impact Campaign Producer(s): Eliza Licht
Film Director(s): Nancy Schwartzman
Organization(s): Red Owl
United States