The 2025 winners of the third annual Sony Future Filmmaker Awards were revealed on Thursday night at a special black-tie ceremony in Los Angeles hosted by Emmy-winning “Entertainment Tonight” correspondent Denny Directo.
Created by Creo and sponsored by Sony, the global awards program is designed to spotlight short films made by up-and-coming artists from around the world and help push them forward on their respective filmmaking paths. In 2025, over 11,750 films were submitted to the program from over 7,500 filmmakers originating from 158 different countries and international territories.
This year’s awards jury included filmmakers Minhal Baig (“We Grown Now”) and Jason Reitman (“Saturday Night”), president of 3000 Pictures Elizabeth Gabler and director Justin Chadwick (“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”), the latter of whom served as Jury Chair. The group of industry figures came together to choose winners from a wider shortlist for the program’s four award categories this year — Fiction, Non-Fiction, Animation and Student.
During the ceremony, which was held Thursday at Sony Pictures Studios’ iconic Scenic Arts Building in Culver City, Reitman, Gabler, Baig and Sony Corporation executive Tatsuhito Tabuchi presented the night’s awards to their quartet of winners.
“It is truly exciting to look toward the future of filmmaking through the eyes of this incredible group of winners. As new custodians of the craft, each of them brings a particular vision that challenges the status quo as well as breathing new life into the stories we tell,” the awards jury said in a statement. “The Sony Future Filmmaker Awards are not only about recognizing this talent — they’re about supporting and empowering those who will shape the industry for years to come, and we are eager to see how they continue to redefine the cinematic landscape.”
In addition to being honored at the program’s awards ceremony, this year’s winners and other shortlisted participants took part in a four-day industry program from June 2-5. The Fiction, Non-Fiction and Animation winners received $5,000 cash prizes, while all four got high-quality Sony Digital Imaging equipment.
You can find the full list of this year’s winners, below:
FICTION
Rossana Montoya (Colombia) – “My Demon”
NON-FICTION
Juliet Klottrup (U.K.) – “Travelling Home”
ANIMATION
Santiago O’Ryan and José Navarro (Chile) – “Hermanos Casablanca”
STUDENT
Hayder Hoozeer (U.K.) and Franz Böhm (Germany), The National Film & Television School – “Rock Paper Scissors”
The Sony Future Filmmaker Awards will return for a fourth edition in the spring of 2026. Submissions for next year’s competition will open in July.
