The Portland Film Festival celebrates the importance of independent voices and cinema in our culture with their selection of award-winning films from the 2024 festival. Out of the 90+ films screened during the four days, the following winners were selected:
Competition Narrative Feature Winner
My Best Friend Depression by Director Heather LeRoy. 2024. Inspired by the writer/director’s personal journey with her depression. Happiness is easy when you’re in love and on meds.
Competition Documentary Feature Winner
The Battle for Kyiv by Director Oz Katerji. 2024. The Battle For Kyiv follows the story of Ukraine’s youngest parliamentarian Sviatoslav Yurash and a group of volunteers as they take up arms to repel the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Competition Short Film
Lifeline by Director Jelle Krings. 2024. On the morning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country’s railway institution “Ukrzaliznytsia” started sending trains into war zones to evacuate civilians. Answering the call, railway workers reporting for work that morning had become rescue workers overnight. Tetiana Vyslohuzova, a train master who had worked for the Ukrainian Railways all her life, was one of those people. This is her story.
Best of Portland
To Kill A Wolf by Director Kelsey Taylor. 2024. A modern re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood as a troubling exploration of trauma and redemption as a social pariah discovers a teenage girl alone in the Oregon forest and does his best to help her find a way home.
The Will Vinton Animation Award
LUKi and the Lights by Director Toby Cochran. 2023 LUKi, a charming and upbeat robot known for living life to the fullest, is diagnosed with the life-altering disease ALS. He must choose how to face life going forward.
Best Student Film
Sleeves by Director Peter Nepi. 2022. While dealing with the worst trauma of her life, Caroline ditches high school for her first time ever to search for her place in the world.
Best of Latine Stories
El Último Tramo by Director Dominick Cura. 2024. A story of perseverance, community, and compassion. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a recovered addict seeking to repair his relationship with his son…
Best of Pride Stories
Chorus Notes by Director Casey de Fremery. 2024. After a chance encounter at a record store, two women form a connection through the power of music.
Best of Black Stories
PIC (Perfectly Imperfect Christian) by Director Desean K. Terry. 2021. Laila loves the Lord and loves that D! It’s her story about faith, f**king and everything in between.
Best of Women’s Stories
How Did I Get Here by Director Kate Hamilton. 2024. Sardonic Cynthia walks us through a play-by- play of a recent “squicky” date, requiring her to confront some uncomfortable truths.
Best of Indigenous Stories
Inkwo For When the Starving Return by Director Amanda Strong. 2024. Dove, a gender-shifting warrior, uses their Indigenous medicine (Inkwo) to protect their community from an unburied swarm of terrifying creatures.
Best Late Night Movie
White Elephant by Director Ryan Copple. 2024. A brother and sister think they’ve committed the perfect crime of murdering their mother to protect their inheritance… until they receive an unexpected present during the family’s white elephant gift exchange.
Best Director Award
Queen of the Ring by Director Ash Avildsen. 2023. The biopic of Mildred Burke, the first ever million dollar female athlete who pioneered the sport of pro-wrestling as a single mom in a time when all girl wrestling was banned in most of America.
Audience Choice
Losing Grace, Finding Hope by Director Marcia Carroll. 2024. Suicide does not discriminate, and the after-effects are just as earth shattering as the tragedy itself. This documentary seeks to spread awareness by shining a light on the loved ones left behind.
FILMMAKERS: Submit your film to the 2025 Portland Film Festival!
