Winners of 29th annual Stony Brook Film Festival announced
The 29th annual Stony Brook Film Festival, presented by Island Federal Credit Union, wrapped up with its closing night awards ceremony on July 27. The evening recognized the outstanding new independent films screened at the festival, which was held at Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University from July 18 to 27.
This year’s festival brought together hundreds of directors and filmmakers and featured 36 films from 19 countries of which 13 standouts received awards.
Mediha Alhamad, the subject and co-writer of the Grand Prize Award-winning ‘Mediha,’ with festival director Alan Inkles. Photo from Staller Center
Mediha took home the Grand Prize Award. Directed by Hasan Oswald, this masterful documentary chronicles the journey of a young Yazidi girl returning from ISIS captivity. Using her camera to process her trauma, she documents her experience while rescuers continue to search for her missing family members. The Grand Prize is given to films that have ‘wowed’ both the audience and the jury beyond what could be contained in the simple phrase ‘best film’ in this or that category. Mediha is the 11th film in the festival’s 29-year history that has received a Grand Prize and only the second time awarded to a Documentary Film.
Two short films won the audience’s hearts, resulting in a tie for this year’s Audience Choice Award for Best Short. The winners for this category included two of the youngest filmmakers to win an award in the 29-year festival history. Mimesis, a drama about a struggling alcoholic actor who finds solace in an audition for the role of therapist, and On the Paths Awakened, a WWII-era story of two French teens facing intimate conflicts as the resistance recruits them. The festival’s youngest filmmakers directed the two winning short films: 20-year-old Zach Finger from Long Island and 19-year-old Axel Dahan from France.
One feature that truly captivated the audience was Running on Sand, which took home the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. Adar Shafran directed this heartfelt crowd-pleaser about a refugee from Israel who, facing imminent deportation, is mistakenly identified as a Nigerian soccer star at the airport. The film highlights the precariousness of refugees’ lives, the power of second chances, and the complex intersections of identity and survival.
The Spirit of Independent Filmmaking Award is for filmmakers who use a distinct indie perspective to bring their stories to life vividly. It is reserved for filmmakers who have created a standout film with very few resources, financial or otherwise. “When it looks and sounds great, plays great, creates its own world, and you would never suspect how hard the filmmakers worked to bring it to life on screen, then you’re watching the kind of film we give these awards to,” said Festival Programmer, Kent Marks.
Daughter of the Sun secured the honor of this year’s award. This vintage-feeling, breathtaking fantasy tells the story of a man with Tourette’s Syndrome and supernatural powers and his 12-year-old daughter navigating life on the run.
The festival also announced that one of the films received an especially rare award in the 2024 Dr. Gabriel Sara Humanitarian Award. In 2022, the Stony Brook Film Festival created an inaugural prize in honor of Dr. Gabriel Sara, who worked wonders in cancer at Mount Sinai in New York by treating patients with dignity through song, dance, and teaming up with some of the most caring individuals in healthcare. He went on to play a role not unlike himself in the film opposite Catherine Deneuve.
This year, the festival hosted a non-competing sneak preview of the film. Titled Audrey’s Children, it tells the story of Dr. Audrey Evans, who brought new treatments to pediatric cancer patients in the U.S. and went on to co-found The Ronald McDonald House.
The Jury Award for Best Short went to Where We Belong, the Jury Award for Directing given to Mastergame, and the Jury Award for Best Feature went to The Strangers’ Case. (To listen to a podcast interview with The Strangers’ Case writer and director Brandt Andersen with TBR News Media reporter Daniel Dunaief, visit www.tbrnewsmedia.com.)
Mastergame director Barnabás Toth, who attended the awards ceremony, said, “Being here as a filmmaker is special. Coming here is like a therapy, a cure for any kind of artist because people who create are appreciated here. So please continue to keep it that way.”
The Festival’s Opening and Closing Night Feature and Short films were also recognized, including Director Aexandre Arcady of The Blond Boy From the Casbah (Opening Night Feature), Christopher Doll, Director/Producer and Karoline Herfurth, actress of One Million Minutes (Closing Night Feature), Daniel Rashid, Director of Chauncey (Opening Night Short), and Tathagata Gosh, Director of If (Closing Night Short).
In addition to Island Federal’s generous support as presenting sponsor, additional sponsors for the Stony Brook Film Festival included News 12 Long Island; Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP; Suffolk Arts and Film; Strata Alliance; and WLIW/PBS.
