ANNOUNCING

CICFF40 Awards

Browse all awards from FACETS’ 40th Annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF40), one of only two Oscar-qualifying children’s film festivals in the world.

Want to watch the award-winning films? You have until Nov 19 to watch CICFF40 award-winning films in-person and virtually. Select the “Get More Info & Watch” button on the award listing to buy available tickets.

2023 Best of Fest Award
The Old Young Crow

Directed By

Liam LoPinto (United States)

Milos Stehlik Global Impact Award
Boat People

Directed By

Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma (Canada)

Best Production for Young Children
Little Fan

Directed By

Sveta Yuferova, Shad Lee Bradbury (Germany)

Programmer’s Choice Award
The Tweetations Revue

Directed By

Fraser Collins (Canada)

Girl Empowerment Award
Barricade

Directed By

Alice Johannessen (United Kingdom)

STEM Award
Hollow Tree

Directed By

Kira Akerman (United States)

Liv Ullmann Peace Prize
Island

Directed By

Michael Faust (Israel)

Emerging Director Prize
Dancing Queen

Directed By

Aurora Gossé (Norway)

Embrace Award
Aikane

Directed By

Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson (United States)

Promise Award
I Am Not Your Token

Directed By

Isis Gullette (United States)

Animated Short Film - 1st Prize
Time in a Bottle

Directed By

Chun-Chien Lien, Taiwan

Animated Short Film - 2nd Prize
The Mystery of the Missing Socks

Directed By

Oskar Lehemaa, Estonia

Animated Feature Film - 1st Prize
Butterfly Tale

Directed By

Sophie Roy, Canada

Animated Feature Film - 2nd Prize
The Muckles: The Quest for a New Home

Directed By

Ali Samadi Ahadi & Markus Dietrich, Germany

Animated Television - 1st Prize
HEY DUGGEE - Norrie's First Day

Directed By

Grant Orchard & Sander Jones, United Kingdom

Animated Television - 2nd Prize
The Strange Chores: Clean the Pool

Directed By

Scott Vanden Bosch & Daley Pearson, Australia

Documentary Short Film - 1st Prize
I Won't Stand For It

Directed By

Caroline Bacle, United Kingdom

Documentary Short Film - 2nd Prize
Little Sahara

Directed By

Emilio Martí López, Spain

Documentary Feature Film - 1st Prize
Children of Mavungu

Directed By

Mirjam Marks, Netherlands

Documentary Feature Film - 2nd Prize
The Quilt: A Living History of African American Music

Directed By

Julya Jara, United States

Live-Action Short - 1st Prize
Father's Day

Directed By

Tumelo Lekena, South Africa

Live-Action Short - 2nd Prize
Marias

Directed By

Salvador Salazar & Andres Aurelio, United States

Live-Action Feature Film - 1st Prize
Coco Farm

Directed By

Sébastien Gagné, Canada

Live-Action Feature Film - 2nd Prize
Totem

Directed By

Sandra Burger, Netherlands

Live-Action Television - 1st Prize
Barrumbi Kids

Directed By

Grant Brown & Justin Schneider, Australia

Live-Action Television - 2nd Prize
Goombay Kids: Mammade or Mangrove

Directed By

Maria Govan, Bahamas

Animated Short Film - 1st Prize (tie)
A Tiny Number

Directed By

Luc Lavault, France

Animated Short Film - 1st Prize (tie)
Zeb's Spider

Directed By

Alicia Eisen & Sophie Jarvis, Canada

Animated Short Film - 2nd Prize
All Is Not Lost

Directed By

Daniel Mark Greaves & Ruth Beni, United Kingdom

Documentary Short Film - 1st Prize (tie)
Game Over

Directed By

Saeed Mayahy & Miriam Carlsen, Turkey

Documentary Short Film - 1st Prize (tie)
I Won't Stand For It

Directed By

Caroline Bacle, United Kingdom

Documentary Short Film - 2nd Prize
Oasis

Directed By

Justine Martin, Canada

Documentary Feature Film - 1st Prize
Hollow Tree

Directed By

Kira Akerman, United States

Live-Action Short Film - 1st Prize
Dancer

Directed By

Nomin Gantulga, Mongolia

Live-Action Short Film - 2nd Prize
GIRL No. 60427

Directed By

Shulamit Lifshitz, Isreal

Live-Action Feature Film - 1st Prize
Okthanksbye

Directed By

Nicole van Kilsdonk, Netherlands

Live-Action Feature Film - 2nd Prize
Leaves in the Wind

RAI KIDS, Italy

Animated Short Film - 1st Prize
Lil' Ruby

Directed By

Bertek Kik, United States

Animated Short Film - 2nd Prize
Elegy of Elephant

Directed By

Sijie Lu, China

Animated Feature Film - 1st Prize
A Greyhound of a Girl

Directed By

Enzo d’Alò (Luxembourg, Italy, Irland, United Kingdom, Latvia, Estonia, Germany)

Animated Feature Film - 2nd Prize
Kensuke's Kingdom

Directed By

Neil Boyle, United Kingdom

Animated Television - 1st Prize
The Sound Collector

Created by Erica Angell, Tom Angell
Directed by Chris Tichborne, Lisa Arioli
Produced by Eagle vs Bat (UK) and Enanimation (ITA)

Animated Television - 2nd Prize (tie)
Chocolat Chaud

Directed By

Evelyne Peter, France

Animated Television- 2nd Prize (tie)
Pip and Posy 'Hide No Seek'

Directed By

Seán McCormack, United Kingdom

Documentary Short Film - 1st Prize
Earthbound: Nzambi Matee

Directed By

Farhoud Meybodi, Japan

Documentary Short Film - 2nd Prize
The Orchestra Chuck Built

Directed By

Christopher Stoudt, United States

Documentary Feature Film - 1st Prize
Journey to the Past

Directed By

Ayelet Heller, Isreal

Documentary Feature Film - 2nd Prize
Hollow Tree

Directed By

Kira Akerman, United States

Live-Action Short Film - 1st Prize
Father's Day

Directed By

Tumelo Lekena, South Africa

Live-Action Short Film - 2nd Prize (tie)
Take Me Home

Directed By

Liz Sargent, United States

Live-Action Short Film - 2nd Prize (tie)
Last Call

Directed By

Harry Holland, United Kingdom

Live-Action Feature Film - 1st Prize
KIDDO

Directed By

Zara Dwinger, Netherlands

Live-Action Feature Film - 2nd Prize
Coco Farm

Directed By

Sébastien Gagné, Canada

Live-Action Television - 1st Prize
WAWAWA: Cheng Pao's Farm

Directed By

Shih Hui Hsu, Taiwan

Live-Action Television - 2nd Prize
The Tweetations Revue

Directed By

Fraser Collins, Canada

CICFF38 Awards & Prizes

Awards presented maintian CICFF’s longtime standing as one of the top children’s film festivals in the world.

Awards are determined by a Professional Jury consisting of filmmakers, critics, teachers, community leaders, and parents, who award prizes in all categories including the Oscar®-qualifying Best Animated and Best Live-Action Short Film categories.

The CICFF also hosts a Youth Jury (ages 14-19) and Children’s Jury (ages 7-14) led by a team of media educators who meet separately from the Professional Jury and award their own respective awards in all categories.

Special awards are determined by separate jury groups.

AWARDS

Award categories include: Live-action Feature, Animated Feature, Live-action Short, Animated Short, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Live-action Television Production, and Animated Television Production. Prizes may not be awarded in all categories each year.

Special Prizes that may be awarded include: Best of the Fest Prize, Milos Stehlik Global Impact Award, Best Production for Early Childhood (Ages 2 to 5), Programmer’s Choice Award, Teacher’s Choice Award, Parent’s Choice Award, Girl Empowerment Award, and the STEM Award.

Awards are announced at the conclusion of each Festival. Please note that awards are given to the director of the film, unless otherwise specified on the entry form.

ACADEMY (OSCAR©) QUALIFICATION

Films that win first prize from the Professional Jury in the category of Live-action Short Film or Animated Short Film are eligible for Academy Awards consideration.

CICFF40 Jury

Meet the Jury

CICFF hosts the Children's Jury, Youth Jury, and Professional Jury, who issue awards to CICFF40 films, including the Academy Award-Qualifying Best Animated and Best Live-Action Short Film categories.

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