Award Winners

47TH CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
AWARD WINNERS

CLEVELAND (Sunday, April 2, 2023) – CIFF47 at Playhouse Square, which took place March 22nd – April 1st, held its Closing Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 1st in the KeyBank State Theatre, where the winners of the Festival’s esteemed awards were announced. Closing Night was sponsored by Case Western Reserve University.

FEATURE FILM AWARD WINNERS
Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Best Film
Sponsored by the Callahan Foundation
1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED CULTURE, directed by Sharon "Rocky" Roggio (USA)
$15,000 cash prize

Reel Women Direct Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman
Presented with generous support from Deborah Bachman Ratner
Christine Yoo (for 26.2 TO LIFE; USA)
$10,000 cash prize

George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Competition
Endowed by The George Gund Foundation
PAMFIR, directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine, France, Poland, Chile)
$10,000 cash prize

Nesnadny + Schwartz Portrait Documentary Competition
MAY THE SCHWARTZ BE WITH YOU Director’s Award
Presented with generous support from Nesnadny + Schwartz
JOONAM, directed by Sierra Urich (USA)
$10,000 cash prize

New Direction Competition
JOYLAND, directed by Saim Sadiq (Pakistan, USA)
$10,000 cash prize

Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition
Endowed by The George Gund Foundation
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL, directed by Mstyslav Chernov (Ukraine)
$10,000 cash prize

Global Health Competition
Presented with generous support from Mark Smith and Janet Rosel Smith
NURSE UNSEEN, directed by Michele Josue (USA)
$7,500 cash prize

American Independents Competition
Presented with generous support from Mike and Nicki Cancelliere
PLAYING THROUGH, directed by Balbinka Korzeniowska (USA)
$7,500 cash prize

Local Heroes Competition
Presented with generous support from Lauren Rich Fine and Gries Financial Partners
WE ARE THE TROOPERS, directed by Jonathon Kimble (USA)
$7,500 cash prize

Ad Hoc Docs Competition
Presented with generous support from Tom and Anita Cook
CHOP & STEELE, directed by Ben Steinbauer and Berndt Mader (USA)
$7,500 cash prize

International Narrative Competition
Presented with generous support from Tom Piraino and Barbara McWilliams
MY SAILOR, MY LOVE, directed by Klaus Härö (Finland, Ireland)
$7,500 cash prize

FilmSlam Student Choice Award for Best Feature Film
Presented with generous support from Overdrive
JUNETEENTH: FAITH & FREEDOM, directed by Ya'Ke Smith (USA)
$2,000 Cash Prize

SHORT FILM AWARD WINNERS
Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film Overall
Sponsored by Char and Chuck Fowler
One Small Visit, directed by Jo Chim (Canada)
$1,000 Cash Prize

Best Animated Short Award*
Sponsored by MP Star Financial
It's a Gray, Gray, World, directed by Seyed Mohsen Pourmohseni Shakib (Iran)
$1,000 cash prize

Best Documentary Short Award*
Sponsored by Jules and Fran Belkin
A Chocolate Lens, directed by Gabriel Veras (USA)
$1,000 cash prize

Best Live Action Short Award*
Sponsored by Jules and Fran Belkin
Girl No. 60427, directed by Shulamit Lifshitz (Israel)
$1,000 cash prize

FilmSlam Student Choice Award for Best Short Film
Sponsored by Overdrive
Foreign Uncle Directed by Sining Xiang (China, USA)
$1,000 Cash Prize

In addition, CIFF47 presented its fifth DReam Maker Award to award-winning filmmaker, director, and co-producer of the CIFF47 film 1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED CULTURE: Sharon “Rocky” Roggio.

The Festival also celebrated the third year of its Groundbreaker Award. CIFF47 was thrilled to recognize two pioneering filmmakers whose work has proven to lift up marginalized voices. This recognition comes with a $5,000 cash award to support the filmmakers’ future work. The Festival was honored to present its Groundbreaker Award to Vivek Bald and Alaudin Ullah, co-directors of the CIFF47 film IN SEARCH OF BENGALI HARLEM.
*These award winners will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards.®

For a full list of short subject film award winners, please visit clevelandfilm.org.

CIFF47 Streams, presented by PNC, takes place April 2 – 9, 2023 online. Hundreds of films will be available on demand. Tickets and passes are now on sale at clevelandfilm.org.

CIFF48 will take place April 3 – 13, 2024 at Playhouse Square.

The Cleveland International Film Festival is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Also, the Cleveland International Film Festival is made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agepncy that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.

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