Awards & Fellowships

Amman Film Festival Award

Jordan’s international film festival, showcasing Arab films, just wrapped its 6th edition.

✦ Farah Kassem’s We Are Inside won the Feature-Length Doc Black Iris Award.

Albie Awards—Maysles Documentary Center

The award honors filmmakers who inspire with their work and broader contributions as mentors, role models, and champions for social justice.

✦ Brittany Shyne’s Seeds

Antenna Documentary Film Festival   

The Rough Cut Lab pairs Australian filmmakers with mentors from around the world to support the completion of their feature documentaries. The 6th edition took place on July 19 and 21.

✦ Elizabeth Lo was a mentor.

Giffoni Film Festival

The Italian children’s film festival just wrapped its 55th program.

✦ Cutting Through Rocks won the Griffin Award for Best Feature Documentary.

Festivals & Screenings

Blackstar Film Festival (July 31-August 3)    

The 14th annual film festival showcasing works from Black, Brown, and Indigenous filmmakers.

✦ Brittany Shyne’s Seeds

✦ Brit Fyer’s Tessitura 

✦ Geeta Gandbhir’s The Devil is Busy (AlumNest)

✦ Contessa Gayles’ The Debutantes (AlumNest)

✦ Latajh Simmons Weaver’s Budget Paradise (AlumNest)

And in the pitch:

✦ Resita Cox presenting Wahnish Keeps Me Free

✦ Jess Devaney as a panel judge

DokuFest (August 1-9)

The 24th annual film festival showcasing international works in Prizen, Kosovo. 

✦ Brett Story: DO YOU MIND IF I ASK YOU A QUESTION? Artist Spotlight 

✦ Amber Fares: Coexistence, My Ass! (AlumNest)

✦ Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni: Cutting Through Rocks 

✦ Alisa Kovalenko: My Dear Théo

✦ Sasha Wortzel: River of Grass 

✦ Brittany Shyne: Seeds

The Dads Screening Fundraiser

Luchina Fisher’s The Dads hosted a screening in Santa Barbara on July 24. The event was sponsored by The Fund for Santa Barbara, with ticket proceeds going towards the completion of the feature film. 

Hollyshorts Film Festival (August 7-17)

This 20 year-old Los Angeles film festival celebrates shorts across genres.

✦ Aurora Brachman and LaTahj Simmons-Weaver’s Hold Me Close

International First Peoples Festival in Montreal (August 5 -14)

The International First Peoples Festival in Montreal, also known as Présence Autochtone, is an annual 10-day event celebrating the cultures and histories of Indigenous peoples from the Americas.

✦ Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler’s Bad Press

✦ Lisa Jackson’s Wilfred Buck (AlumNest)

La Biennale Di Venezia (August 28-September 7)

The Venice Film Festival is the world's oldest film festival, held annually in Venice. ✦ Viv Li’s You Jian Chui Yan (AlumNest)

✦ Laura Poitras’s Cover-up (AlumNest)

Kochi-Muziris Biennale

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is a contemporary art exhibition held in Kochi, Kerala, India. It's the largest art biennale in South Asia and focuses on showcasing contemporary art from around the world. 

✦ Miriam Chandy’s The Leopard’s Tribe screened on July 17. 

Vashon Island 2025 Film Fest (August 7-10)

The Vashon Island Film Festival is held on Vashon Island, Washington, celebrating independent cinema through curated screenings of notable and award-winning films.

✦ Brittany Shyne’s Seeds 

Songs From the Hole screening at DCTV (July 25-31)

Contessa Gayles’s Songs From the Hole had a sold-out screening series at DCTV in New York.

Streaming on Netflix

Coming soon to Netflix are the below supported films. 

✦ Contessa Gayles’s Songs From the Hole (August 13)

✦ Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics (available now)

✦ Isabel Castro’s Selena y Los Dinos (coming this winter)

Streaming on The Criterion Channel

Two documentaries by Brett Story are part of The Criterion’s August 2025 lineup: 

✦ The Hottest August

✦ The Prison in Twelve Landscapes