The 19th Annual SoCal Film Awards Announces Winners, Honorable Mentions, Finalists, and Official Selections
The SoCal Film Awards is a long-running event that has wrapped its 19th year honoring the independent film and screenwriting community once again.
Anna Key (pictured), directed by Amanda Megan, took the top honors with the Diamond Award for Best Feature Film as well as picking up an additional award for Best Director. Mad Scientists: A.I. Maxima, directed by Antonia Tong, nabbed the Diamond Award win for Best Short Film. There were more than 100 official selections with a bevy of winners, honorable mentions, and finalists. The documentary feature Direct & Reflect was also a multi-award winning film, taking the Diamond Award for Best Documentary Feature as well as the award for Cultural Impact, with its directors Miki Holiday, Kal-El Billy Holiday, Kareem Dula Dixon, Troy L. Mitchell, and Yolanda Nollie.
A complete list of winners and honorable mentions in all categories is listed below.
For more about the SoCal Film Awards and a full list of the more than 100 movies chosen as Official Selections, visit their website.
Next, up The SoCal Film Awards, celebrates a big anniversary, with its 20th year coming up. The event started back in 2005 and screened movies in a live environment until quarantine hit in 2020. Since then, the SoCal Film Awards has been entirely an online-based event but still continues to honor and showcase creative artists.
This is an open-form and open-genre event so it has a pretty wide selection of entries. There are three main categories honoring features, shorts, documentaries, and screenplays, with the Diamond Awards being the top honor.
DIAMOND AWARDS
Best Feature Film: Anna Key, Dir. by Amanda Megan
Best Short: Mad Scientists: A.I. Maxima – Dir. by Antonia Tong
Best Documentary Feature: Direct & Reflect – Dir. by Miki Holiday, Kal-El Billy Holiday, Kareem Dula Dixon, Troy L. Mitchell, Yolanda Nollie
Best Documentary Short: The HoodTrophy Bino Story: Breaking the Generational Curse – Dir. by Sam “Gebar” Gebremiche
Best Screenplay (Long-Form): Mercy – written by Joe Boi
Best Screenplay (Short-Form): Sight Specific – Peter Hardy
AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
Best Feature: Thirst Trap – Dir. by Chantal Massuh-Fox
Best Short: Clean – Dir. by Ryan Kenton
Best Documentary Feature: Plastica – Dir. by Damian Becerra, Luis David Camacho
Best Documentary Short: Look Out Below – Dir. by Michael Dispenza
Best Screenplay (Long-Form): Angels, Demons, and a Court-Martial – written by Chris Kreger
Best Screenplay (Short-Form): The Last Romance – written by Elizabeth Faulkner
AWARDS OF ACHIEVEMENT
Best Feature: The Diamond Couple – Dir. by Sonja Milka Bertucci
Best Short: A Texas Trilogy – Dir. by Robert Marshall Tartell
Best Documentary Feature: Foxtrot: Operation Reunification – Dir. by Roberto Sierra Oregel
Best Documentary Short: College in Prison: Life with the Possibility of Transformation – Dir. by Jennifer Molina
Best Screenplay (Long-Form): Angst – written by Jeff Kimball
Best Screenplay (Short-Form): It’s the Same – written by Bryan Huynh
ADDITIONAL CATEGORY AWARDS
Actor in a Lead Role:
Heroes of Halyard – Adam Davenport
Actress in a Lead Role: Mercy: Veil of Shadows – Emma Burke
Animated Short:
Area 52 – Dir. by Emily Dubovi
Cinematography:
All That Glitters is Not Marigold
Credit Sequence
Big Trip – Dir. by Jared Berger
Cultural Impact:
Direct & Reflect – Dir. by Miki Holiday, Kal-El Billy Holiday, Kareem Dula Dixon, Troy L. Mitchell, Yolanda Nollie
Director: Anna Key – Dir. by Amanda Megan
Experimental Movie:
A Look Ahead – Dir. by Caleb Jarvis
Faith Based Movie:
Found Film – Dir. by Kyle Brooks
First-Time Filmmaker:
Finding Happy – Dir. by Maria Bertrand
International Film:
How to (not) Live a Legacy? – Dir. by Jane Hwang
Micro Short:
Late Sleeper – Dir. by Peter Morris Hardy
Music Video:
Coyote: “Pocho” feat. Mc Magic – Dir. by Justin Marmorstein
Score:
All That Glitters is Not Marigold
Sound Design:
Last Year’s Tomorrow – Beth Hubbard
Trailer:
The Fostered – Dir. by Gunnar E Garrett Jr., Ritchie Greer
Youth Movie:
Guiding Light – Dir. by India Anne Mitchell
Long-Form Screenplay Finalists
Let the Boy Sing – written by Gunnar Garrett
Made in Philadelphia – written by Matthew Clark
Rainbeaux’s End – written by Elizabeth Faulkner
Shooting Star Pilot: Star Seeds – written by TJ Morehouse
The Fifth Ring AKA Vagabond Samurai – written by Arken Wheeler
The Hot Mess – written by Bruce Hickey
Whisper Willow – written by Daniel Edwin Doble
Short-Form Screenplay Finalists
Bagel Dog – written by Tracy L. Swanson
If You Show Me Yours I’ll Show You Mine – written by Riya Agarwal
I’m Not Special – Jeff Kimball
Mississippi, 1958 – written by Michael J. Dunker
Tracy H. Rombosi’s Garden – written by James Shanklin
Wingz – written by Kenge B
Screenplay Honorable Mentions
Big City Nights: Cisero Murphy Saga – written by Tyriek A. Murphy
Sally and Glen at the Palace – written by Peter Morris Hardy
The Adventures of Paleta Man – written by Paul Ramirez, Matthew Ramirez
The Artist’s Son – written by Jack Amsler
The Styrofoam Shaman – written by Christopher Manydeeds
Film Honorable Mentions
Amongst the Stars – Dir. by Ben Smlatic
An Exam’s Journey – Dir. by Carl Bengtsson
Barrier – Dir. by Maqbool Ahmad Durrani
Canary Trap – Dir. by Shana L Darabie
Carbon Men Salvation: The Senator’s Dilemma – Dir. by Roger James Kuhns
Dark & Darker, for Goths, by Goths – Dir. by Richard Tucci
Dreamer – Dir. by Reign Burton
Heaven – Dir. by Masha Shalagina
It’s the Gravy – Dir. by Cherie Belle Kerr
Last Lap – Dir. by Andrew Yardy
Legacy of Sins – Dir. by PakShing Chow
Love Gov 3: The Metaverse of Madness
Man in the Red Jacket – Dir. by Iman Bahrehbakhsh
Overexposed – Dir. by Michele Love Santoro
PJ – Dir. by Patrick Kevin Gamble, Ricky Gamble
Probe – Dir. by Dameon Victorian
The Curtain – Dir. by Leslie-Ann Coles
Timeless Classics: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Monologue – Dir. by Craig Railsback
Where is Diana – Dir. by Samy Chaffaï
