Manhattan Independent Film Festival
2025 Awards

Manhattan Independent Film Festival Unveils Award Winners Of Its 2025 Edition!

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The 2025 Manhattan Independent Film Festival concluded with a bold and brilliantly diverse program that showcased the full spectrum of contemporary independent cinema. Over three days, audiences were invited into a rich tapestry of perspectives—from the sensorial and meditative to the deeply personal, politically charged, and emotionally raw. This year’s Official Selection brought together resurrected archival experiments, intimate portraits of grief and resilience, urgent social dramas, and boundary-pushing visual poetry. Whether through the crimson dreamscapes of Aka 赤, the transgenerational artistic dialogue of Moi-même, or the visceral confrontations in works like Scarred and Dandelion, the festival illuminated the power of filmmakers from around the world to challenge, console, provoke, and inspire. It was a program defined not by uniformity but by its fearless range—a testament to the vibrant, ever-evolving landscape of independent film.

 

The Manhattan Independent Film Festival is pleased to share with you today the award winners of the 2025 edition:

 

Best Narrative Feature Film 

A Hunt For Hedgehogs (Hungary) by Mihály Schwechtje

 

Best Documentary Feature Film 

Ahab Was Here: Reflections on Moby Dick (Bulgaria) by Todor "Tosh" Lichev

 

Best Narrative Short Film 

Dandelion (United States) by Fiona Obertinca

 

Best Documentary Short Film 

Tokyo Toy Boy (Belgium) by Esli Balatova

 

Best Underground Film 

Moi-même (United States) by Mojo L Lorwin, Lee Breuer

 

Best Experimental Film

Dearest Ghost (Estonia) by Margaret Mäses

 

Best Music Video 

Get Out (United States) by Brock Cooper

 

Best Actor (f/m/x)

Dorottya Mari in A Hunt For Hedgehogs (Hungary)

 

Best Director (f/m/x)

Mihály Schwechtje for A Hunt For Hedgehogs (Hungary)

 

Congratulations to all!

 

Official Selection / Winners of The Tarkovski Grant

Aka 赤 (Mexico) by Abinadi Meza

Dearest Ghost (Estonia) by Margaret Mäses

Moi-même (United States) by Mojo L Lorwin, Lee Breuer

Stay Strong and Be Quiet (France) by Anne Loriot

A Hunt For Hedgehogs (Hungary) by Mihály Schwechtje

Get Out (United States) by Brock Cooper

Sick Enough (United States) by Allegra Venturi

Tokyo Toy Boy (Belgium) by Esli Balatova

Scarred (Canada) by Zeddy Chevron

Arrested (Lithuania) by Indrė Juškutė

Wanderer (United States) by Oscar Sayago

Dandelion (United States) by Fiona Obertinca

Ahab Was Here: Reflections on Moby Dick (Bulgaria) by Todor "Tosh" Lichev

Endocast: A Non-Linear Memoir  (United States) by Efrem Hawk

Dragonfly (China) by Siyang Liu

Kissing Ralph (United States) by Daniel Lewinstein

Hairy Dreams (Canada) by Lina Cruz