WINNERS

11th Annual Women's Voices Now Film Festival Awards Ceremony

Women: In all Their Shapes and Forms

Los Angeles, CA • April 2025

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:

Leslie J. Sacks Best Documentary Feature

$3,500

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

$2,000

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

$2,000

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

$1,500

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

$1,000

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

$1,500

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

$1,000

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

$500

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 Tickets

Jury & 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

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).

Festival Sponsors

The 2025 Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival

FINAL WEEKS: LIMITED-TIME DISCOUNTS