imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Announces 2025 Festival Award Winners

 

Toronto- The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival’s Moon, Sun, Water and Land juries have selected winners across film, video, audio, and digital media works in 17 different categories for the 2025 Awards Presentation. Hosted at the TIFF Lightbox, a total of $68,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to artists and filmmakers in recognition of their outstanding work, innovation and excellence. 

This year’s imagineNATIVE Awards Presentation was hosted by Janelle Niles, stand-up comedian, emcee, content creator, TV personality and producer of Got Land? Indigenous comedy show. The show featured performances by Indigenous soul singer/songwriter Lacey Hill with Juno-award-winning singer Derek Miller, as well as Americana artist Adrian Sutherland. 

In addition to the existing categories, imagineNATIVE honoured iconic actor Graham Greene with the August Schellenberg Award of Excellence (Augie) at the ceremony. Debuting on screen in the 1983 Running Brave and earning stardom in his Academy Award-nominated role in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves, Greene continues to be a gifted Indigenous actor whose career has shown longevity and impact. The Augie Award is presented in partnership with Joan Karasevich Schellenberg to honour her late husband, the legendary actor August Schellenberg and is supported by ACTRA National and individual donations.

While the Awards Presentation marks the last day of the 2025 in-person festival, imagineNATIVE continues online from June 9 to 15 to allow audiences from around the world to stream many of the films from the 2025 official selection, including some of the award-winning works. 

The 2025 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival winners are:



Moon Jury Prize   Anywhere (Nooj Goji) Evelyn Pakinewatik

Indigenous Language Production Award

The Legends of Eternal Snow (Khaar Kuyaar Nomokhtoro) Aleksei Romanov

After Dark Award in honour of Jeff Barnaby Seeds  Kaniehtiio Horn

Live Action Short Award  Rapido  Richard J Curtis

Dramatic Feature Award  We Were Dangerous, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu

Outstanding Performance in a Feature Seeds  Kaniehtiio Horn

Outstanding Performance in a Short Thin Places Quannah Chasinghorse

Sun Jury Award  Inkwo for When the Starving Return  Amanda Strong

New Voice in Storytelling Award ÁHKUIN  Sunná Nousuniemi, Tuomas Kumpulainen

Documentary Short Award In my hand  Marja Helander, Liselotte Wajstedt

Documentary Feature Award Singing Back the Buffalo Tasha Hubbard

Innovation in Storytelling Award  Confluence Charlene Moore, ODMK

Animated Short Award  Inkwo for When the Starving Return  Amanda Strong

New Artist in Digital + Interactive Award  orange pekoe  Vanessa Racine

Digital + Interactive Award  Wilfred Buck's Star Stories  Lisa Jackson, The Macronauts

Experimental Audio Award  ᎭᏫᎾᏗᏢ ᎤᏪᏴᎢ (beneath the stream) Robbie Wing

Narrative Audio Award Sous les barrages (Under the Dams): Tshishe Manikuan

Jean Luc Kanapé

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest presenter of Indigenous cinema, running from June 3 to 8, 2025, and will continue online from June 9 to 15, 2025. For more information about the festival, please visit the imagineNATIVE website.

About imagineNATIVE: 

imagineNATIVE is the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content. The organization is recognized locally, nationally, and internationally for excellence and innovation in programming and as the global centre for Indigenous media arts. imagineNATIVE (legal entity: The Centre for Aboriginal Media) is a registered charity committed to creating a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through the presentation of contemporary Indigenous-made media art, including film, video, audio, and digital media.

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