20th SoCal Film Awards Honors Excellence in Independent Filmmaking
The SoCal Film Awards proudly celebrated its milestone 20th season by honoring a diverse slate of exceptional independent filmmakers and screenwriters from around the globe. The event has evolved into a globally recognized platform for emerging and established creatives alike. With a rich history of showcasing future stars and cinematic innovators, the rebranded SoCal Film Awards continues to uphold its legacy of championing artistic vision and storytelling.
This season, the festival highlighted standout projects across a wide range of genres and formats, recognizing excellence with Diamond Awards, Awards of Excellence, and Awards of Achievement, alongside special category honors.
Diamond Awards
The top honors of the season—the Diamond Awards—celebrated exceptional accomplishments in filmmaking and screenwriting:
- Best Feature Film: The Second Coming of John Cooper (pictured), directed by Kevin Kraft
- Best Short: Easter Bunny, directed by Bryan L. Tucker
- Best Documentary Feature: American Pot Story: Oaksterdam, directed by Ravit Markus & Dan Katzir
- Best Documentary Short: Coastal Consciousness: San Diego, by James Wicks
- Best Screenplay (Long-Form): Colors of Silence, by Benjamin Zachariah Wilner
- Best Screenplay (Short-Form): It’s Open, by Doug Maguire
Awards of Excellence
Recognizing high-caliber achievements in independent filmmaking, the Awards of Excellence went to:
- Best Feature: Pégame, directed by Dylan Verrechia
- Best Short: Theft 101, directed by Xihe Huang
- Best Documentary Feature: Prisoners of Fire: The Dude Fire Story, directed by Scott E. Briggs
- Best Documentary Short: Interwoven, directed by Dawn Carpenter
- Best Screenplay (Long-Form): Jazz on a Wave, by Bob Merz
- Best Screenplay (Short-Form): The Age of the Empath, by Steve Brown
Awards of Achievement
This category celebrated emerging talents and powerful storytelling with a strong artistic impact:
- Best Feature: Baby Fever, directed by Nupur Chitalia & Pascale Potvin
- Best Short: Before the Freeze, directed by Tenley Eakin Raj
- Best Documentary Feature: Izh Planet, directed by Georgii Belov
- Best Documentary Short: Only Human: Fairness and Justice, directed by Yasmin Godo
- Best Screenplay (Long-Form): Greater Love, by Peter Herlan
- Best Screenplay (Short-Form): Hamzaad: The Same Bord, by Hamid Baig
Additional Awards
The festival also honored outstanding work in a variety of special categories:
- Actor in a Lead Role: Michael Coppola in That Creep From the Bar Last Night
- Actress in a Lead Role: Tatiana Sokolova in Mary Chris Max
- Animated Feature: The Legend of Sepehr, directed by Emad Rahmani & Mehrdad Mehrabi Gargari
- Animated Short: Out of Control, directed by bellopropello
- Cinematography: Drugs are Fun, directed by Malcolm J. Cook
- Cultural Impact: To the Hands, directed by Marty Austin Lamar
- Director: Mary Piller for Unshod
- Editing: Interview with an Android, edited by Massimo Amici
- Educational Movie: Epic Oblivions to Write Reason, directed by Robert Frank
- Ensemble Cast: Staycation, directed by Russ Emanuel
- Experimental Movie: The Last President, directed by Bin He
- Faith-Based Movie: The Solution, directed by Andrew J. Bullard IV
- First-Time Filmmaker: Dawn Carpenter for Interwoven
- First-Time Screenwriter: Benjamin Zachariah Wilner for Colors of Silence
- International Film: Pégame, directed by Dylan Verrechia
- Micro Short: Lady Henze, directed by Eduardo Cantón Torres
- Music Video: Delulu Girl, directed by Julia Habchi
- Score: We are the Descendants (in 79 Languages), scored by Steven Chesne
- Sound Design: Popcorn, directed by Fangjian Li
- Trailer: Hollow, directed by Marc Ruiz
- Web Series: Scarman, directed by Pavlo Cherepin
- Youth Movie: Shatter, directed by Wes Tian
Screenplay Finalists
Recognized for their compelling narratives and writing craft:
- Don’t Break any Hearts by Bryan Huynh
- Paper Thin by Katherine Garner
- Surfmen by Fay Hauser-Price, Tim Collare & Andrea Everhart
- The Heart of a Feather by Daniel R. Stevens
- Tomorrow Isn’t Promised by Judy Belshe-Toernblom
- Voodoo Valentinos by Michael Louis Gould
Screenplay Honorable Mentions
- The Name of Two Million Faces by Grace Yan
- The Perception of Silence by Jeff Kimball
- Welcome to Concrete Episode 01 by Jeffrey Townsend
- What’s a Girl to Do? by Janet Folger Porter
Film Honorable Mentions
Selected for their artistic and thematic merit:
- Generation Well, directed by Jack Serra
- I.D.O.S. – I Dream of Skating, directed by Gregory Pesochin
- Instant Answers, directed by Jason Maybaum
- Reformed, directed by Christopher O’Conner
- Saudade, directed by Sipho Nixasana
- Second Chance, directed by India Anne Mitchell
- Smiley, directed by Annabel Aust
- The Opaque, directed by Broderick Russell Jr.
- The Perfect Girl, directed by Shihyun Wang
- When it Hits, directed by Veronica Mitsuk
