Frameline46 Award Winners

The in-person portion of Frameline46 is officially a wrap! The winners of the official juried awards, as well as the Amazon Audience Award recipients, were announced at the Castro Theatre on Sunday before the Closing Night feature Peter von Kant.

Frameline has once again partnered with the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle, a group of professional journalists and film writers, to serve as the jury for the Outstanding First Feature award. The jury selected Christoffer Sandler’s So Damn Easy Going (Så jävla easy going), with honorable mentions to two films: Juan Felipe Zuleta’s Unidentified Objects and Marion Desseigne-Ravel’s Besties (Les meilleures). The award comes with a $5,000 prize.

The jury added the following statement: “Nikki Hanseblad’s deeply felt performance as Joanna, a teenager grappling with her mental health and the throes of first love; the delightful chemistry between Hanseblad and Melina Benett Paukkonen as Audrey, Joanna’s alluring new classmate; and a strong, resonant script make this coming-of-age drama so damn easy to love, captivating the jury.”

Director Christoffer Sandler added: “Thank you so much for this award. It warms my heart to know that this film is out in the world for people to see and get affected by. It is a great honor for me, and all the people involved to get this wonderful recognition from Frameline. This film is very dear to me in a lot of ways, not only being my first feature. This festival and the work that you do is as important now as ever, and I am truly grateful to be a part of it. Thank you! I wish you all a great summer and all the best.”

On the honorable mention to Unidentified Objects, the jury stated: “Abetted by the committed performances of his leads, Juan Felipe Zuleta brilliantly manages a delicate balance in his first feature between absurdist comedy and a moving story of unexpected friendship between an ebullient but fragile sex worker and an introverted, grief-stricken dwarf.”

On the honorable mention to Besties, the jury remarked: “The jury was impressed not only by Besties’ evocative storytelling in its tale of teenage girls who face ostracism and worse when they fall in love but also in its close observations of the social hierarchies and rivalries within the milieu of a working-class Paris suburb.”

For the first time this year, Frameline46 presented juried awards for Short Films. Both of these awards come with a $750 prize. Erich Rettstadt’s Tank Fairy was named Best Narrative Short and can be watched virtually as part of Fun in Shorts: Tutti Frutti until June 30.

An honorable mention went to Jude Dry’s Monsieur Le Butch, which streams in the program When Doves Cry until June 30.

Rivkah Beth Medow and Jen Rainin’s Holding Moses was named Best Documentary Short.

An honorable mention was given to Amanda Beane’s I Just Wanna Dance, which can be watched virtually as part of the Homegrown: Perfect Day program until June 30.

This year, Amazon Audience Awards were given in two categories: Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature. Both awards come with a $1500 prize, and both were given to films receiving their world premieres at Frameline46. The Amazon Audience Award for Best Narrative went to Maria Breaux’s Vulveeta.

The Amazon Audience Award for Best Documentary was given to Juliana Curi’s Uýra: The Rising Forest (Uýra – A Retomada da Floresta). Both films can be streamed as part of the Frameline Encore until June 30.

And finally, as previously announced, Micheal Rice’s BLACK AS U R took home the inaugural Out in the Silence Award. The Out in the Silence Award is an annual honor conferred to an outstanding film project that highlights brave acts of visibility, especially in places where such acts are rare and unexpected because of the dominant systems that make it difficult for LGBTQ+ people to live authentic lives. The Out in the Silence Award was presented on Juneteenth to director Rice and is generously underwritten by longtime film community members Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson. BLACK AS U R can be streamed until June 30.