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Dallas International Film Festival Announces 2024 Grand Jury Prizes and Audience Awards

DALLAS, May 2024 – DIFF has announced the Grand Jury Prizes and Audience Awards for the 18^th edition of the Dallas International Film Festival, which wrapped May 2 and included screenings of more than 140 films curated from submissions received from nearly 90 countries.

Jurors included:

Short Film Competition – Jerod Couch, Carlos Garcia, Jr., Leigh Stieglitz Morales

Texas Feature Competition – Thaddeus D. Matula, Sara Madsen Miller, Kerri Navarro

Documentary Feature Competition – Melanie Addington, David Gil, Edwin Harris

Narrative Feature Competition – Jim Kolmar, Jhane Myers, Kelly Williams

Winners included:

Grand Jury Prizes

Best Texas Feature – WATER WARS

Special Jury Prize for Perseverance and Bravery – AN ARMY OF WOMEN

Best Documentary Feature – PRINT IT BLACK

Honorable Mention for Cinematography – PORCELAIN WAR

Best Narrative Feature – STAKES IS HIGH

Dallas County Historical Commission Prize for Best Historical Film – MAKING OF A CLASSIC

Best Texas Short Film – HONEY & MILK

Best International Short Film – SOUND & COLOUR

Best Documentary Short Film – A BODY CALLED LIFE

Best Animated Short Film – PERFECT CITY: THE BRAVEST KID

Best Student Film within the Shorts Competition – CRUST

ShotDeck Presents the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film – PLAY DATE

Special Jury Mention Short Film – SMOKE

Special Jury Mention Short Film – JACKPOT

Audience Awards

Best Narrative Feature – RIDE

Best Documentary Feature – BASTARDS OF SOUL

Best International Feature – PORCELAIN WAR

Best Short – PLAY DATE

North Texas High School Showcase – LIFT (Prosper High School)

“The winners of this year’s Grand Jury and Audience Awards reminded all of us, and especially our jurors, why we love watching movies, which is what we set out to do with this year’s Festival,” said James Faust, DIFF Artistic Director. “And, for the first time in a long time, we got to share the reveal of the wins at a ceremony with many of the filmmakers themselves – the winner of Best Student Film was here all the way from Germany.”

DIFF 2024 was held April 25 – May 2, 2024, and also included Q&A sessions and panels with filmmakers and actors, nightly DIFF Red Carpets, and special events at Violet Crown Cinema in West Village Uptown and The Texas Theatre.

The Dallas International Film Festival was cited by Travel + Leisure Asia in naming April among “The Best Times to Visit Dallas for Sporting Events and Festivals”. The festival was also cited by MovieMaker magazine in naming Dallas among the “Best Places to Live and Work as a MovieMaker in 2024”.

DIFF 2024 Sponsors as of April 25 include: PREMIER SPONSOR – Virgin Hotels Dallas; PRESENTING SPONSORS – Akin, Boxer Property, Commerce House, Mercury One, Oliver Wyman, Panavision, Relay Human Cloud, Texas A&M University, Vestals Catering, Violet Crown, West Village; MAJOR SPONSORS – Dallas Film & Creative Industries Office, Fort Worth Film Commission, Selig Polyscope Company; VIP SPONSORS – Bonez, Burned to Light Media, Consulate General of Canada in Dallas, Dallas County Historical Commission, Dehancer, DFW MSP, Downtown Dallas, Inc., Event Horizon Films, Favorite Brands, Filmmakers Academy, Four Corners Brewing Co., H-E-B, K Forbes Social, MoviCo, Nowadays Orange, SAG-AFTRA, ShotDeck, Texas Film Commission, Tulsa Office of Film, Music, Arts & Culture, UnaVida, Univision; PARTNER SPONSORS – AdChat DFW, BestofGuide.com, DIRECTV, DJ Astronaut, E.L.E. Social Marketing LLC, Fade In, Folk & Rowe, Fons PR, Gentle Ben Spirits, IdeaMan Studios, Kevin Porier, Keurig Dr Pepper, LaByron Thomas Media, Ritual Zero-Proof, Sherrill Actors Studio, Soundly, Top Tier Event Rentals; GOVERNMENT SUPPORT – City of Dallas Office of Arts & Culture, Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District, Texas Commission on the Arts.

INSTAGRAM – @WeAreDIFFDallas, FACEBOOK – @WeAreDIFFDallas  

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About Dallas International Film Festival

Now in its 18^th year, the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) is the region’s most powerfully inclusive and equitable platform for diverse, emerging and underrepresented voices in film. Since its founding, DIFF has screened more than 2,500 widely diverse new films from more than 60 countries, provided more than $1.1 million in awards and hosted more than 100,000 filmgoers and filmmakers. The annual festival is presented by Dallas Film Society, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. www.dallasfilm.org