Congratulations to all of the winners!
| Winner Project | Synopsis |
| Best Feature Fiction: FORTIS FEMINA by Betty Ramirez | “Based on a true story” Seven women embark on a transformative weekend in Sedona, Arizona, forging bonds and finding inner strength through shared struggles and secrets. |
| Best Experimental: Oh Shit!: The Sketchbook of Dusty Deen, Volume 2 by Dusty Deen | Experimental film based on the audio/visual gatherings of Dusty Deen’s animated sketchbook. |
| Best International Short Fiction: Shep by Chris Milner | In a remote part of South Sudan, the time honoured routine of a young cattle herder is taken from him. He is then forced to face his new reality. |
| Best Local Short Documentary: Stay on the Path by Brandon Martinez | Black-Native sister duo Lindy Vision work on new music for an upcoming album, while struggling to find balance in their home and concert life. Lindy Vision is a local new wave/synth-pop band in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dorothy and Natasha Cuylear make up the Black-Native (Jicarilla Apache) sister-duo band. They are currently anticipating their first album release following the departure of their third band member, who left in 2021. This album is set to release in early 2023. |
| Best Short Films: The Haunters by Kaidin Jarjusey | In the search for scientific truth, three arrogant ghost hunters disturb the peace and quiet of a haunted library. |
| Best Thriller: Beneath the surface by Thomas Van Eps | A serial killer sits in a cell plotting her escape as she reminisces on the origins of her ways, her past victims and her dead lover which she has buried under the floorboards of her home. |
| Honorable Mention: The Smoker’s Circle by Collin Luther | After discovering their friend murdered in a bathtub, a group of strangers tries to figure out who among them is responsible. |
| Best Music video: Afterglow by John Graham | Afterglow is a mixed media animation that combines cut paper stop motion animation and video to create a an unusual animation for the band, Pacifico. |
| Best Student Film: Where’s Grandma?! by John FreelyKirk | A kleptomaniac steals the urn of a dead woman, unaware of what it actually is. |
| Best Drama: Tutu Grande by Derek Sitter | Tagline: Pain is Temporary. Trauma Is Forever. The tables are turned on a torturer. In a mysterious backwoods warehouse, a vengeful father teaches a young man the consequences of causing trauma. |
| Best Feature Fiction: The Virgin of Highland Park by Sonia Sebastian | During a medical test to join the soccer team, a virgin teenager is shocked to discover she is pregnant. |
| Best Feature Documentary: Along the Way by Austin Seder | See all the unique and inspiring moments along one of America’s most difficult hiking trails, the Continental Divide Trail, from New Mexico’s barren deserts, Colorado’s high peaks, Wyoming’s diverse landscapes, and Montana’s rugged forests. Enjoy all the special moments of friendship, determination, and sore feet during a 2023 thru-hike of the CDT. |
| Best horror: Bitch Horror by Louie Duran | A young woman running away from her mistakes becomes cursed with a strange illness and insatiable hunger. Convinced that God is punishing her, Mary battles anger and isolation in the mountains. When all seems hopeless the curse takes hold and threatens everything she loves. |
| Best Science-Fiction: Smiley by Jon Muotka Pedersen, Gerry Lister | The story is a modern take on Sami legends about the battle between good and evil, set in a post-apocalyptic and overgrown Finnmarksvidda, where murder, curses and revenge are the norm. |
| Best Animation: Good Bad and the Bloodthirsty by John Kalning | Three tales converge that are driven by a dark personal history. This gothic western delves deep into themes of love, redemption, and the eerie boundaries that blur man and monster. |
| Audience Favorite -Ancient Evil: FrankenCock | A fast paced, twisted tale of obsession and dark desires, a brilliant but unhinged surgeon, Dr. Frank Stien, redefines the boundaries of life and death. After an accident leaves him without his own manhood, he uses forbidden knowledge to construct a Frankenstein monster from his own severed appendage. As the creature awakens, it quickly descends into madness and threatens to consume them both. “Ancient Evil: FrankenCock,” is a provocative, insane, and chilling exploration of the consequences of playing god with the very essence of humanity. |
Albuquerque Film Festival 