The 61st AAFF Award Winners

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is proud to announce this year’s award-winning films selected by jurors Amir George, Christine Panushka, and Koyo Yamashita. Read more about the 61st AAFF Jurors here.

The 61st AAFF Online Festival continues until March 29th, 2023 at 11:59pm ET. 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 are the Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival, the Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film, and the Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film. Read more about our Awards here. Watch the programs online: Awards 1 | Stream Online until March 29th at 11:59pm ET Awards 2 | Stream Online until March 29th at 11:59pm ET

The Award Winners for the 61st AAFF:

Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival

Neighbour Abdi, Douwe Dijkstra

Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film

Half Wet, Carlos Irijalba

Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker

Fleshwork, Lydia Cornett

Kodak Cinematic Vision Award

Max and the Freaks, Nathan Clement

Susan Dise Best Experimental Film

Eclipsis, Tania Hernández Velasco

Best Documentary Film

Adieu Sauvage, Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento

The Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for an Emerging Experimental Video Artist

Against Reality, Olivia Peace

Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film

Arrest in Flight, Adrian Flury

Gil Omenn Art & Science Award

2cent / 10coil, Monteith McCollum

Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film

Diomysus, Emily Elizabeth Morus-Jones

The Terri Schwartz Film Award for Parody and Satire

Gold and Mud, Conor Dooley

The Eileen Maitland Award

The Sea is Also Yours, Michelle Coelho

George Manupelli Founder’s Spirit Award

Beautiful figures, Soetkin Verstegen

CameraMall Best Michigan Filmmaker Award

Three Short Shorts, Peter Sparling

Lawther/Graff No Violence Award

Language Unknown, Janelle VanderKelen

Barbara Hammer Feminist Film Award

Pigment-Dispersion Syndrome, Jennifer Reeves

Best Experimental Animation Award

Of Wood, Owen Klatte

Leon Speakers Award for Best Sound Design

Darkness, Darkness, Burning Bright, Gaëlle Rouard

Martin Contreras and Keith Orr \aut\ FILM Award for Best LGBTQ Film

Spirits (Ysbrydion), Amy Daniel

The No. 1 African Film Award

Mangrove School, Filipa César & Sónia Vaz Borges

Peter Wilde Award for Most Technically Innovative Film

Parasite Family, Prapat Jiwarangsan

The Terri Schwartz Asian Film Award

Conversation with a Koel Bird, Yuan Li Elizabeth Xu

UMCU Audience Award

Daron, Daron Colbert, Kevin Edward Steen

Award for Best Music Video

Ganbatene, Yi-Yu Tsai

Juror Award 1 / Best Analog Film

recortes, Kimberly Forero-Arnías

Juror Award 2

Deep 1, Philip Hoffman

Juror Award 3

Syzygy, Joanna McNamara

Juror Award 4

giroscopio, John Muse & Brendamaris Rodriguez

Juror Award 5

Singing in Oblivion, Eve Heller

Juror Award 6

In Passing, Anna Johnson