The 2023 Newport Beach Film Festival has revealed the slate of winners for its 24th edition, which took place from October 12th to October 19th.
Over eight days, NBFF showcased over 300 films, and was home to a range of film-related programming, including the screenings of Alan Friel’s Irish film Woken, a special conversation with Judy Blume, author of the book behind Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret?, and Chinese film Only the River Flows.
Following on from its recent success at Kerry International Film Festival where it won Best Narrative Feature, Patricia Kelly’s Verdigris has won the Audience Award for Best Irish Film at this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival.
Irish documentary I Dream In Photos, from Gary Lennon and Ollie Aislin of Gambit Pictures, was named among the festival honours for Outstanding International Documentary, while Lochlainn McKenna’s Two for the Road picked up the Audience Award for Best Short Narrative.
The Jury Award for Best Cinematography went to Irish cinematographer Narayan Van Maele (An Irish Goodbye) for his work on Ian Hunt Duffy’s chamber piece horror Double Blind, while JAM Media’s Worry World jointly shared the Audience Award for Best Short Animation with Aikane.
Elsewhere, Japanese film Monster and American Fiction, starring Jeffrey Wright and Issa Rae, were jointly the highest awarded films at the festival - each winning three awards. American Fiction continues its impressive festival run following the receipt of the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Audience Awards for best international feature went to Eugenio Derbez-starrer Radical , while the award for Best US Feature jointly went to Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers and Damian Harris’ Brave the Dark, starring brother Jared Harris.
The full list of winners is as follows:
AUDIENCE AWARDS
- Best International Feature: Radical
- Best U.S. Feature: The Holdovers & Brave the Dark (tie)
- Best Action Sports Film: One Way Ticket – The Story of Greg Lutzka
- Culinary Audience Award: Food & Design
- Best Environmental Feature: Green City Life
- Best Art, Architecture, & Design Feature: Copyright Infringement
- Best Overall Documentary: The Disappearance of Shere Hite and Remembering Gene Wilder (tie)
- Best Short Narrative: Two for the Road
- Best Short Documentary: Sincero
- Best Short Animation: Aikane and Worry World (tie)
- Best Art, Architecture, & Design Short: Barbara Rachko: True Grit
- Best Action Sports Short: #MoCrazyStrong
- Best Irish Film: Verdigris
JURY AWARDS
- Best Feature Documentary: The Michoacán File
- Best Feature: Monster
- Best Screenplay: Yûji Sakamoto (Monster)
- Best Director: Guy Édoin (Frontiers / Frontières)
- Best Cinematography: Narayan Van Maele (Double Blind)
- Best Actor: Eita Nagayama (Monster)
- Best Actress: Pascale Bussières (Frontiers / Frontières)
- Best Short Narrative: Dig Deeper
- Best Short Documentary: Danceable
- Best Short Animation: Inglorious Liaisons
FESTIVAL HONORS
- Outstanding Performance: Annette Bening (Nyad)
- Outstanding Performance: Colman Domingo (Rustin)
- Outstanding Feature Narrative: American Fiction – Cord Jefferson
- Outstanding Screenplay: American Fiction – Cord Jefferson
- Outstanding Documentary: Immediate Family
- Outstanding Documentary: Williams & Mansell: Red 5
- Outstanding International Documentary: I Dream in Photos
- Outstanding Editing Feature: American Fiction – Hilda Rasula
- Outstanding Editing Short: Numan – Salem Salavati
- Outstanding Short Narrative: A Wedding Day
- Outstanding Short Documentary: Eat Flowers
- Outstanding Youth Short: Ovaryacting
