2015 AFI Fest Award Winners

The 2015 AFI Fest came to end Thursday night but before bidding adieu came the announcement of the awards winners of the festival. AFI Fest gave out various Audience Awards through the different sections of the festival (World Cinema, New Auteurs, American Independents) as well as handed out prizes from select jury. Among the Audience Award winners including French Oscar submission Mustang and James White, a film that premiered at Sundance earlier this year starring Christopher Abbott (Girls) and Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City).

This years’ AFI Fest opened with the world premiere of By the Sea, the third film directed by Angelina Jolie Pitt. Other premiered included The 33 starring Antonio Banderas, Concussion starring Will Smith and the festival closer The Big Short starring Christian Bale (The Fighter), Steve Carell (Foxcatcher) and Ryan Gosling (Gangster Squad). Other films that played the festival included awards hopefuls Carol45 YearsYouth and Anomalisa. Check out the full list of winners below:

AUDIENCE AWARDS

  • WORLD CINEMA: Landfill Harmonic– directed by Brad Allgood, Graham Townsley, Juliana Penaranda-Loftus
  • NEW AUTEURS: Mustang– directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven
  • AMERICAN INDEPENDENTS: James White– directed by Josh Mond
  • BREAKTHROUGH: Ma– directed by Celia Rowlson-Hall

NEW AUTEURS AWARDS

  • GRAND JURY AWARD: Land and Shade– directed by César Augusto Acevedo
  • SPECIAL JURY MENTION FOR DIRECTION: Alice Winocour, Disorder
  • SPECIAL JURY MENTION FOR SCREENPLAY: Lorenzo Vigas, Desede Alla

SHORTS PRIZES

  • GRAND JURY AWARD (Live Action Short): Boys– directed by Isabella Carbonell
  • GRAND JURY AWARD (Animated Short): World of Tomorrow– directed by Don Hertzfeldt
  • LIVE ACTION SHORT SPECIAL MENTION FOR INNOVATIVE STORYTELLING: Rate Me– directed by Fyzal Boulifa
  • LIVE ACTION SHORT SPECIAL MENTION FOR NON-FICTION FILMMAKING: The Reagan Shorts – Ronald Reagan Light the LightsRonald Reagan Pardons a TurkeyMaryland Public Television Interviews The Reagans – directed by Pacho Velez
  • ANIMATED SHORT SPECIAL JURY MENTION FOR SCREENWRITING: Teeth
  • ANIMATED SHORT SPECIAL JURY MENTION FOR CREATIVE VISION: Monoman
James Tisch: Managing Editor, mxdwn Movies || Writer. Procrastinator. Film Lover. Sparked by the power of the movies (the films of Alfred Hitchcock served as a pivotal gateway drug during childhood), James began ruminating and essaying the cinema at a young age and forged forward as a young blogger, contributor and eventual editor for mxdwn Movies. Outside of mxdwn, James served as a film programmer for one of the busiest theaters in the greater Los Angeles area and frequently works on the local film festival circuit. He resides in Los Angeles. james@mxdwn.com
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