Seattle International Film Festival 2024 Winners

The 50th Annual Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) wrapped up on Sunday and announced the winners of the 2024 Golden Space Needle Audience and Juried Competition Awards.

The festival began on May 9 and screened 261 films representing 84 countries with “62% of the feature films were created by first or second-time filmmakers; 43% were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; 35% of filmmakers identify as a BIPOC director; and nearly 60% are currently without U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States,” according to SIFF.

SIFF holds two categories of competition: juried and audience based. Juried competitions include five feature subcategories including the Official Competition, New American Cinema Competition, New Directors Competition, Ibero-American Competition and Documentary Competition. Short film categories include live action, animation and documentary.

In addition, over 32,000 ballots were submitted for the Golden Space Needle Awards (GSNA). Films judged through the GSNAs are selected by audience members through post-screening ballots. The categories include best film, best documentary, best director, best performance and best short film.

“Celebrating these filmmakers and honoring the incredible work they have gifted us over the last 11 days feels especially meaningful as we close out the 50th Seattle International Film Festival” said Beth Barrett, SIFF artistic director. “With over 300 filmmakers and thousands of patrons coming together around film, this is not just a marker of a momentous occasion for our Festival, but is a true beacon of a thriving film community in Seattle and around the world.”

Below is the full list of this year’s winners.

Golden Space Needle Award Winners

Best Film
“Sing Sing”, directed by Greg Kwedar (USA)
First runner-up: “Ghostlight,” directed by Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson (USA)
Second runner-up: “Bob Trevino Likes It,” directed by Tracie Laymon (USA)
Third runner-up: “Green Border,” directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland/USA/France/Czech Republic/Belgium/Germany/Turkey)
Fourth runner-up: “Red, White & Brass,” directed by Damon Fepulea’i (Samoan) (New Zealand)

Best Documentary
“Porcelain War,” directed by Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev (Ukraine/USA/Australia)
First runner-up: “Black Box Diaries,” directed by Shiori Ito (Japan/USA/United Kingdom)
Second runner-up: “Sono Lino,” directed by Jacob Patrick (USA)
Third runner-up: “Luther: Never Too Much,” directed by Dawn Porter (USA)
Fourth runner-up: “The Ride Ahead,” directed by Dan Habib, Samuel Habib (USA)

Best Director
Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson, “Ghostlight” (USA)
First runner-up: Sean Wang, “Dìdi” (弟弟)(USA)
Second runner-up: Pascal Plante, “Red Rooms” (Canada (Québec))
Third runner-up: Shiori Ito, “Black Box Diaries” (Japan/USA/United Kingdom)
Fourth runner-up: Shuchi Galati, “Girls Will Be Girls” (India/France/USA/Norway)

Best Performance
Keith Kupferer, “Ghostlight” (USA)
First runner-up: Barbie Ferreira, “Bob Trevino Likes It” (USA)
Second runner-up: Brigitte Hobmeier, “Woodland” (Austria)
Third runner-up: Holden-Mandrial Santos, “Moloka’i Bound” (USA)
Fourth runner-up: Katherine Mallen Kupferer, “Ghostlight” (USA)

Best Short Film
“Jellyfish and Lobster,” directed by Yasmin Afifi (United Kingdom)
First runner-up: “The Queen vs Texas,” directed by Emil Lozada, Raemonn James (USA)
Second runner-up: “Vakaraitaka,” directed by Fenton Lutunatabua (Fijian) (Fiji)
Third runner-up: “The Ugandan Quidditch Movement,” directed by Ben Garfield (USA)
Fourth runner-up: “Magic Candies,” directed by Daisuke Nishio (Japan)

SIFF 2024 Official Competition

Grand Jury Prize
“Gloria!” | dir. Margherita Vicario (Italy)

Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary
“Sugarcane” | dir. Julian Brave NoiseCat (Secwepemc Nation), Emily Kassie (USA)
“All Shall Be Well” (d: Ray Yeung, Hong Kong 2024)
“Critical Zone” (d: Ali Ahmadzadeh, Iran 2023)
“Dìdi” (弟弟) (d: Sean Wang, USA 2024)
“Evil Does Not Exist” (d: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Japan 2023)
“Gloria!” (d: Margherita Vicario, Italy 2024)
“Love Machina” (d: Peter Sillen, USA 2024)