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57th AAFF Awards!


The Ann Arbor Film Festival is proud to announce this year’s award-winning filmmakers selected by this year’s jurors, Bryan Konefsky, Akosua Adoma Owusu, and Stacey Steers. The 2019 awards competition presents $22,500 to filmmakers through cash and in-kind awards such as film stock, film processing, camera equipment, and digital scanning services.

An award from the AAFF confers prestige and financial support; it can also qualify filmmakers for an Oscar® nomination by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the short film category. Qualifying awards include the Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival, the Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film, the Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film, and Best Experimental Film.

Congratulations to the 57th AAFF award winners:

Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival - $3,000

On Destruction and Preservation - Maija Blåfield

Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker - $2,000

Mom’s Clothes - Jordan Wong

Kodak Cinematic Vision Award - $2,000 in film stock

vulture - Philip Hoffman

Best Experimental Film - $1,500

TROPICS - Mathilde Lavenne

Best Documentary Film - $1,000

Gloria’s Call - Cheri Gaulke

Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film - $1,000

Flowers - Vado Vergara

Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film - $1,000

32-Rbit - Victor Orozco Ramirez

Cutters Studios Archival Film Award - $1,000 in film scanning services

Flame - Sami van Ingen

Gil Omenn Art and Science Award - $1,000

The Leafcutters - Catherine Chalmers

Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film - $1,000

Under Covers - Michaela Olsen

The Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for an Emerging Experimental Video Artist - $1,000

The Divine Way (La Via Divina) - Ilaria Di Carlo

The Eileen Maitland Award - $750

We Were Hardly More than Children - Cecelia Condit

PROCAM Best Regional Filmmaker Award - $750 in kind

As Above, So Below - Cooper Holoweski

The No Violence Award - $512

60 Elephants. Episodes of a Theory. - Sasha Pirker and Michael Klein

UMCU Audience Award - $500

BIRD MILK - Christopher Strickler

George Manupelli Founder’s Spirit Award - $500

Running in Circles - Ei Toshinari and Duy Nguyen

Leon Speakers Award for Best Sound Design - $500

Screen - Christoph Girardet and Matthias Müller

Peter Wilde Award for Most Technically Innovative Film - $500

Traces With Elikem - Ariana Gerstein

Tíos Award for Best International Film - $500

At the Horizon - Manuel Knapp and Makino Takashi

\aut\ FILM Award for Best LGBTQ Film - $300

La Mesa - Adrian Garcia Gomez

Overture/Wazoo Award for Best Music Video - $300

Sun Zoom Spark - Gina Kamentsky

Jury Awards - $1,888 total

ANATOPIES - Jean-Baptiste Decavèle

Armed Lullaby - Yana Ugrekhelidze

Mudanza Contemporánea - Teo Guillem

New Panther: A Call for Action - Sage Love and Nola Asantewaa

Object Dream - Kyungwon Song

Phantom Ride Phantom - Siegfried A. Fruhauf

Pictured Rocks - Jack Cronin

TÅKE - Inger Lise Hansen

Wolves From Above - Demelza Kooij

Xvideo - Miss Free Collective

Congratulations again to all of the 57th AAFF award winners and to all whose work was screened at this year’s festival. It was truly an honor to present all of the incredible works of film art from this year’s festival. We cannot wait for next year!