BHFF
Archives

2024

Award Winners

2022

The 24th Anniversary Edition of the Beverly Hills Film Festival has warmly welcomed an exceptional set of filmmakers and writers.

Remaining dedicated and focused on its artists’ creative vision, the Beverly Hills Film Festival® is more than honored to present the 25th Edition of its Awards with the close collaborative efforts of the Beverly Hills Film Festival Executive Directorial Team and the Beverly Hills Film Festival President of the Jury.

2024 Beverly Hills Film Festival Golden Palm Award

The Kindness Within

Director: Steven Priovolos

Country: United States

RT: 90min

Synopsis: Former broker Leon Logothetis transforms from suicidal to spiritual seeker, traveling through India to find life's meaning. He meets spiritual leaders and serves others while discovering inner truth....

2024 Screenplay Awards

GOLDEN PALM AWARD

A Heart Divided

Mark Schmitz

1st RUNNER UP

Graham

Stephanie Hutchinson

2nd RUNNER UP

Emerald Court

Daniel James Presley

2024 Film Awards

Best Student Film

On the Dying Grass

Country: United States

RT: 15min

Director: Nicholas Grimaldi

After a Hollywood agent suffers the loss of her biggest client and closest friend, she is asked to represent an AI version of the deceased actor....

Best Short Documentary

Confessions from a War

Country: United States

RT: 39min

Director: Shawn Thompson, Leon Shahabian

Confessions From A War is a feature documentary in the tradition of The Sorrow and the Pity about the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). It is not about what happened but about the emotional and psychological cost of war and the value of forgiveness and repentance. Finally, it is not just about this war; it is about all wars....

Best Animated Film

Starship

Country: United States

RT: 6min

Director: Christian Debney

An astronaut embarks on a momentous journey to Mars, driven by the deep-seated desire to fulfill her late father’s wishes. As she traverses the void between Earth and the Red Planet, her thoughts linger on the memories of her father. Upon setting foot on the Martian surface, she not only realizes her own dreams but also honors the legacy of her father, making his long-held aspiration of reaching Mars a reality through her, cementing their bond across the infinite expanse of space....

Best Foreign Film

Document 56

Country: United States

RT: 32min

Director: Christopher Landry

In Cold War-era Romania, two Securitate officers intercept a letter from Richard Nixon to Nicolae Ceausescu. With 48 hours to prepare for the arrival of CIA operatives, the two agents race to determine the hidden agenda of the visit....

Best Editing

Pendulum

Country: United States

RT: 15min

Director: Britt Falardeau

Spiritual Stomach Flu: A period when one experiences unexpected anxiety or overwhelming feelings of being lost. Like a stomach flu, the harder one fights against it, the longer it lasts. This is a story about Cal and his Spiritual Stomach Flu....

Best Producer

Chuck Zito: An American Story

Country: United States

RT: 87min

Director: Dominique Milano

Follows multi-talented and versatile Chuck Zito: Boxer, martial arts expert, bodyguard, stunt man, actor, and ex-president of the New York Hells Angels club....

Best Actress

Chasing June

Country: United States

RT: 15min

Director: Alana Areyzaga, Shelby Slager

Oliver, June, and Michael were inseparable until a terrible accident set them on separate paths. Now, after three years, Oliver is returning home, hoping to avoid his past. But June won't let him....

2024 SPECIAL JURY AWARDS

Best Short Film

Scarlet

Country: Bulgaria

RT: 24min

Director: Maria Bobeva

A young social worker goes on a mission to save a little girl from her mom's underworld but instead she falls into the girl's imaginary reality....

Best Documentary

The Kindness Within

Country: United States

RT: 90min

Director: Steven Priovolos

Former broker Leon Logothetis transforms from suicidal to spiritual seeker, traveling through India to find life's meaning. He meets spiritual leaders and serves others while discovering inner truth....

Best Feature Film

Mississippi Scholar

Country: United States

Director: Marcus Bleecker

MISSISSIPPI SCHOLAR reveals the impediments one underprivileged intellectual must overcome to realize his dreams of the future...

2024 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

Best Short Film

Bottle Money

Country: United States

RT: 14min

Director: Rebekah Tyler

As 16-year-old Nelson protects his siblings from the chaos of their unstable mum, he must decide: how much longer can he stand to love her?...

Best Feature Film

We Rise

Country: United States

RT: 64min

Director: Michael Afendakis

Driven to the cause of social justice, Sofia, Jessica, Sammi, Angela, Celia and Lucas, the impressive rising stars of a high school mock trial team from the heart of Silicon Valley, navigate the defense and prosecution positions of a murder case while sharing their personal challenges, crises, and long fought for victories that have molded them into the strong, powerful, resilient young adults they have now become...

Best Feature Film

My Divorce Party

Country: United States

RT: 91min

Director: Heidi Weitzer

Divorcee Xan gathers her close friends to celebrate her impending split, only to reveal she intends to burn her divorce settlement money to start fresh. Chaos ensues as each friend has a wildly different opinion on what Xan should do....

2024 Juries

Ron Bass

Ron Bass is an American screenwriter and film producer. ...

Nate Thomas

Nate Thomas has directed and produced numerous projects ranging from award-winning PBS documentaries to feature films, IMAX films, television commercials, public service ads, etc. ...

Gary Shapiro

Gary Shapiro launched his career in the movie business in NYC working for Columbia Pictures immediately after graduating from college in Los Angeles to the present where he has moved into the new digital technologies with several major Hollywood film studios. ...

Richard Fischoff

Richard Fischoff was born, raised, and educated in the New York metropolitan area. After graduation from the Horace Mann School, and the University of Rochester, he attended New York University Law School. ...

Brett Leonard

For over 30 years, Brett Leonard has been an award-winning film maker and technologist at the forefront of the digital media revolution. ...

Brian Currie

Brian Currie recently wrote THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER for Skydance with Peter Farrelly directing. ...

Alex Aldana

Alex Aldana is the Executive Director of the Pico Youth & Family Center (PYFC) in Santa Monica, CA. ...

Roberta Augusto

Roberta Augusto is Brazilian-born stalwart in the film industry, boasting an illustrious career spanning two decades. ...

Joel Crawford

Influenced as a young kid by the 1988 animated cyberpunk action film “Akira” by Katsuhiro Otomo, Crawford knew at early age that he loved animation. ...

Frederico Lapenda

Award-winning filmmaker Frederico Lapenda is a global executive who has worked in the entertainment industry for almost 30 years. Lapenda is a pioneer of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and is credited as one of those responsible for the globalization of sport. ...

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