WINNERS
11th Annual Women's Voices Now Film Festival Awards Ceremony
Women: In all Their Shapes and Forms
The 11th Annual Women's Voices Now Film Festival Awards Ceremony, promoting emerging women filmmakers creating social-change films that advocate for girls' and women's rights around the world, awarding a total of $13,000 USD in cash prizes to winning filmmakers, is in the books and the winning films have been selected by our jury:
Submissions open for the 2026 WVN Film Festival on August 1st, 2025
Leslie J. Sacks Best Documentary Feature
ANGELS OF SINJAR
Director: Hanna Polak, Poland/Iraq
A heartrending cry for justice. An exposé of a terrible crime against humanity, it reveals the horrors of a forgotten genocide and the people who are denied all of their rights—but it's also a testament to their courage and strength.
Lantos Prize for Best Human Rights Documentary
WE IRANIAN WOMEN
Directors: Anna Migotto and Sabina Fedeli, Italy/Iran
Mahsa Amini's death while in the custody of the 'moral police' galvanised more than 40 years of protests against the Islamic regime's repression of women's rights. Led by women, the current uprising quickly synthesized into a protest for general dissatisfaction with the Islamic regime.
Best Documentary Short
STANDING WITH MOMS
Director: Radha Mehta, United States
A short documentary about two Black mothers, one who seeks support in order to stay united with her 4 children, and the other who seeks justice for her among the many single Black mothers she's supported through decades as an attorney.
Best Emerging Filmmaker, Feature
BANGLA SURF GIRLS
Director: Elizabeth Costa, Bangladesh/Canada
An observational coming-of-age documentary about three teenage girls who get a rare sense of agency over their lives when they join a surf club. Over the course of three years, we follow Suma, Ayesha and Shobe as they fight insurmountable odds to follow their dreams.
Best Emerging Filmmaker, Short
CHALK BACK
Director: Kylie Procita, United States
Sophie Sandberg develops a revolutionary movement in response to her experiences with catcalling as a way to provide a safe community for victims of street harassment both publicly and online, while allowing them the opportunity to reclaim their power.
Best Creative Documentary Feature
URBAN AMAZONS
Director: Thais Odermatt, Switzerland
Modern Amazons are fierce heroines. They are ready to fight for what is important to them. Without explaining, without compromising, always persisting. They fight for victory in the ring, for acceptance, and too, for fellow sufferers and humanity.
Best Creative Documentary Short
MAKING WAVES
Director: Hannah Klaas, Switzerland
This immersive documentary shows how lake water helps a woman assuming her passions and choices despite the judging regards of others. Corinne, a mother living with HIV, takes us on an aquatic journey into her mental universe composed of the surfaces and depths of Lake Geneva.
Best Student Documentary Short
MORE THAN MILK
Director: Abigail Rain Knight, Australia/India
Delves into the transformative power of The Cow Project, as told through the voices of the women experiencing poverty, malnutrition, and inequality in West Bengal, India.
Jury Mentions
HOLY RIGHTS
Director: Farha Khatun, India
PERIODICAL
Director: Lina Lyte Plioplyte, United States
DAGA
Director: Fama Ndiaye, Senegal
Special Screening
The Leslie J. Sacks Grand Prize Winner will be screened live at the Renberg Theater in West Hollywood, CA, September 21st. Tickets will go on sale in August 2025.
Remind Me About TicketsJury & Presenters
2025 Jury
Poulomi Pal, Sarah Gross, Maha El Boukhari, Nina Gielen, Kendra Hodgson, Eva Weitzman-Stangel, Rachel Robles, Yasmin Eftekhar
Award Presenters
Katrina Lantos-Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice; and Tali Bielski, Women's Voices Now Board Member
Festival Sponsors
About Women's Voices Now
Women's Voices Now (WVN), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, uses film to drive positive social change that advances women's and girls' rights globally. We promote, produce, and share social-change films focusing on women's and girls' rights issues, providing active support to filmmakers who give voice to unheard women and girls, and activating civil society by moving audiences from empathy to action.
We envision a global culture shift in which communities and institutions believe in the value of gender equality, and adapt their behaviors and actions to support systematic advancement of women's and girls' rights. WVN has held special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
