Awards

Xalé

Jury Statement

The 2023 Circle Award has selected the film Xalé as the winner of this year's award. By focusing on the intimate personal stories of a broad range of characters, director Moussa Sène Absa weaves a masterful tale highlighting the ways in which men, women, and youth in a picturesque seaside community in Senegal navigate the world.

While the stories are specific to Senegal, their themes are universal, reflecting traditions that are both ancient and contemporary. The director reinforces this idea with his artful use of singers and dancers—in the style of ancient Greek drama—whose colorful presence connects the diverse stories, propels the plot—and in the end—helps in creating an artful and compelling film that should be seen by wider audiences.

Broken Keys

The Audience Award is sponsored by the American University School of Communication.

Lakota Nation vs. United States

Jury Statement

As a film dealing with an important social justice matter, Lakota Nation vs United States is truly outstanding in its consistent storytelling of attempted extermination, forced and brutal assimilation, reparations involving the Landback movement, and the fortitude of a people. Its excellent photography, editing, use of music and compelling interviews with the Lakota and the other Great Plains Indian people make for an extraordinarily impactful film. The US government's intent to gain access to Indian lands through broken treaties and land grabs has been treated before in other documentaries but it has not been presented in such a complete and profound manner that grips and informs its audience. The stunning photographic images of nature are handled in a poetic way using closeup shots of plants, trees and water providing the viewer with a more emotional and intimate understanding of the landscape.

The important impact of understanding the history of what happened to the American Indian is loud and clear. The message that the land and the people are inextricably connected endures today. "We are not for sale. How can you sell what makes us our people?" The film reminds us of the unaddressed issues in justice matters amongst the American Indian nations. However, by the end of the film, a vision of hope and persistence amongst the Lakota and other indigenous people is uplifting. The spirit of their people lives on today. They are here. They are proud. They will survive. Its visual and filmic consistency as well as strong and poetic interviews throughout the film make Lakota Nation Vs. United States an award-winning documentary and a film everyone should see.

Pureza

The Committee would also like to give an Honorary Mention Award to Pureza and Director Renato Barbieri for his insightful, moving and revealing depiction of modern slave practices, the brutal treatment of workers in the Brazilian Amazon, and one woman's brave and determined pursuit to save her son from the grip of slavery.

The Sixth Child

Jury Statement

Signis is an international lay Catholic media organization which seats juries in some forty international film festivals worldwide – including Cannes, Venice, and Berlin – celebrating films of exceptional artistic merit that also delve deep into the human spirit.

The Signis Award at Filmfest DC goes to the film judged by its jury to "best illuminate and celebrate what it means to be human in a diverse and challenging world."

The Filmfest DC Signis Prize goes to The Sixth Child.

Writer/director Leopold Legrand and his co-writer, Catherine Paille, deftly tell the story of two couples from opposite ends of the economic/cultural spectrum who share a desperation: on one side to have a child, on the other side to avoid having an unaffordable sixth baby. The resulting clash of legal realities and human yearning leads to excruciating decisions and a moving exploration of the meaning of love. It is a film that brilliantly illuminates the human condition in these difficult times, earning it the Filmfest DC Signis Prize 2023.

One Careful Owner

Jury Statement

In this Spanish comedy two disgruntled women struggling with meaning in their lives overcome their mutual hostilities and transform one another through laughter to embrace the joy of life.

You Left Me Alone

Our awards to short films aim to shine a light on work by emerging filmmakers which provide a rich, emotionally resonant experience that lingers and expands.

These films create a multilayered story arc, using the art of film to highlight the power of visual communication in other arts.

The Short Stories Award goes to Lauren Fondren and Derek Kelly for You Left Me Alone, which uses dance to express the relationship between siblings grappling with the complex legacy of child abuse.

Sobre Elas

Our awards to short films aim to shine a light on work by emerging filmmakers which provide a rich, emotionally resonant experience that lingers and expands.

These films create a multilayered story arc, using the art of film to highlight the power of visual communication in other arts.

Honorable Mention goes to Brazil's Sobre Elas by Bruna Arcangelo for three interwoven stories of women's empowerment.

A Chocolate Lens

The MetroShorts Award goes to Gabriel Veras for his profile of Washington photographer Steven Cummings and his visual record of a changing city in A Chocolate Lens.