Frameline47 Awards

Director of Programming Allegra Madsen and the programming team announced the winners of six Festival awards before the screening of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music at the Castro Theatre.

For over 20 years, Frameline has presented the annual juried Outstanding First Feature Award to a notable narrative feature from an emerging voice in LGBTQ+ cinema. Since 2020, Frameline is proud to partner with the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle to jury this award.

Outstanding First Feature ($2,500): 20,000 Species of Bees (20.000 especies de abejas), directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren

Jury Statement: “Working in naturalistic, richly human tones, director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren movingly depicts female and childhood identity quests and the importance of acceptance among family, combining warmth and character in this quietly powerful debut set in Spain’s Basque country.” 

Honorable Mention for First Feature: Big Boys, directed by Corey Sherman

Jury Statement: “An awkward 14-year-old crushes on his cousin’s boyfriend during a weekend camping trip, experiencing first love in this funny and sweet-natured coming-of-age tale that touches the adolescent heart in all of us and marks an auspicious debut for writer-director Corey Sherman.” 

In addition to our annual juried award for Outstanding Documentary Feature, Frameline recently introduced two new juried awards for short films: Outstanding Narrative Short and Outstanding Documentary Short.

Outstanding Documentary Feature ($2,500): Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project directed by Michèle Stephenson & Joe Brewster

Jury Statement: “This visually poetic portrait of an enigmatic literary icon masterfully weaves archival materials with observational footage to celebrate Nikki Giovanni and her importance to Black artistic expression and American culture today.” 

Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature: Every Body, directed by Julie Cohen

Jury Statement: “For its insightful and inspiring representation of the diversity of intersex experiences and identities that place historic struggles for bodily autonomy alongside of the urgency of our contemporary political landscape, the Frameline Documentary Jury awards an Honorable Mention to Every Body.”

Both of the short film awards went to films in the Ace of Wands Tarot shorts program. The award for Outstanding Narrative Short ($750) went to Renato Sircilli’s The Cutest and Funniest Animals in the World (Os Animais Mais Fofos e Engraçados do Mundo), which had its North American premiere at Frameline47.

And the award for Outstanding Documentary Short ($750): Ob Scene (Ob scena), directed by Paloma Orlandini Castro, which had its US premiere at this year’s Festival.

Voted on by Frameline47 audience members, the Audience Award went to Sébastien Marnier’s The Origin of Evil (L’origine du mal) for Narrative Feature ($1,500).

And the Audience Award for Documentary Feature ($1,500) went to Tünde Skovrán’s Who I Am Not, which was also a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant earlier this year.

Frameline47 marks the second year of presenting the Out in the Silence Award. Presented during the Festival, the Out in the Silence Award, which provides $5,000 to the selected filmmaker, honors an outstanding film project that highlights brave acts of visibility, especially in places where such acts are rare and unexpected. This year, Frameline honored Babatunde Apalowo, the director of the Nigerian gay romance All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White.

And physical awards were given to the three recipients of the Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Grants during the award ceremony. The recently announced 2023 filmmakers each received $15,000 in funding for their next projects: Daisy Friedman (As You Are), Karina Dandashi (Cousins), and Emilio Subía (Ñaños). These grants are generously underwritten by the Colin Higgins Foundation, which is named after the late Colin Higgins, the acclaimed screenwriter and director responsible for such classic films as Harold and Maude, 9 to 5, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Photos from the award ceremony by Barak Shrama.