Brooklyn Film Festival's 24th Edition Announces Award Winners

Brooklyn Film Festival's 24th edition: The Clearing, which was staged both in person at Windmill Studios and online, wrapped up Sunday, June 13th, and has announced the winners of the festival's awards.

Three groups determined the winners: 1) The external panel of judges, 2) The festival Board of Directors, and 3) the Audience. Through the resources of industry-related sponsors, selected filmmakers are awarded more than $50,000 in cash, products and services. To learn more about the BFF selection process and check the full awards breakdown: visit winners and award prizes.

SEIVA BRUTA [Under The Heavens] directed by Gustavo Milan picked up the coveted Grand Chameleon Award. CORRAL won Best Narrative Feature and LIFE & LIFE took home the award for Best Documentary Feature.

"'The Clearing' was a wonderful journey with a group of people the festival trusts. It was a diverse and eccentric film program, created by a group of programmers who made the 2021 fest a truly remarkable venture. In the end, it was exactly what it was setup to be: an optimistic trajectory in the midst of one of the toughest human crises many of us have had to experience for the very first time in our lifetime," said Marco Ursino, Brooklyn Film Festival Executive Director. "Thanks to indie filmmakers for helping us re-imagine a brand new world."

The prizes were sponsored by: Brooklyn Film Society, Sobre Vista Resort, Blue Table Post, Xeno Lights, AbelCine, Be Electric, Final Draft, MPE, Media Services, Papapietro Perry, Lentini Communications, Noble Jewelry

The awards go to:

Grand Chameleon Award
SEIVA BRUTA (UNDER THE HEAVENS), by GUSTAVO MILAN

Best Narrative Feature
CORRAL, by MARCELO BRENNAND

Best Documentary
LIFE & LIFE, by NC HEIKIN

Best Short Documentary
MAKE HIM KNOWN, by RUDY VALDEZ

Best Narrative Short
SEIVA BRUTA (UNDER THE HEAVENS), by GUSTAVO MILAN

Best Animation
THE GREAT MALAISE, by CATHERINE LEPAGE

Best Experimental
OUR MINE, by SHAYNA STRYPE

Best New Director
GOSSAMER FOLDS, by LISA DONATO

Best Brooklyn Project
LITTLE PAKISTAN - FUTURE HISTORIES, by SANA AKRAM

Spirit Awards

Feature Narrative
WALK WITH ME by ISABEL DEL ROSAL

Feature Documentary
AND SO I STAYED, by NATALIE PATTILLO and DANIEL A. NELSON

Short Documentary
THE MOUNTAIN & THE MAIDEN, by SHMUEL HOFFMAN and ANTON VON HEISELER

Short Narrative
THE TANK, by MOJTABA POURABDOLLAH

Experimental
PERFECT AS CATS, by KEVIN VU

Animation
THE BROKEN CANDLE, by FELIX KINER

Audience Awards

Feature Narrative
KRINGLE TIME, by MATTHEW LUCAS

Feature Documentary
AND SO I STAYED, by NATALIE PATTILLO and DANIEL A. NELSON

Short Documentary
LITTLE BERLIN, by KATE MCMULLEN

Short Narrative
THE GOLDFISH, by ASHLEY PAIGE BRIM

Experimental
OUR MINE, by SHAYNA STRYPE

Animation
OPEN MIC, by Jonathan Rosen

Certificates of Outstanding Achievement

Producer
NATHAN FOLBRECHT, for QUEENS OF PAIN

Screenplay
Joe Bologna, JOS LANIADO, CLAUDIO LANIADO, for TANGO SHALOM

Cinematography
SURESH DESHMANE, for KALOKHACHYA PARAMBYA [PROP SHOOTS OF DARKNESS]

Editing
ROBERT CARTER, for INTO THE LIGHT

Style
MATTHEW LUCAS, for KRINGLE TIME

Original Score
Grace McLean, for OUR MINE

Actor Female
Bridget Barkan, for WALK WITH ME

Actor Male
Benny Elledge for KRINGLE TIME