Festival Archive
Mendocino Film Festival Audience Choice & Jury Award Winners
Audience Choice Award – Each year our discerning audience determines the Audience Choice Award recipient. The award is given to the highest-rated feature-length documentary or narrative film.
Jury Awards – A jury of film industry professionals chose award winners in three major categories: Narrative Features, Documentary Features, and Short Films.
Click on the program books to see inside (not available for all).
2019
Audience Choice Award: Three-Way Tie
Gay Chorus Deep South
Maiden
Pavarotti
Jury Awards
Best Short Film – Age of Sail
Short Film Jury Award for Directing – Justin O’Neal Miller, Peggy
Best Narrative Feature – The Farewell
Narrative Jury Award for Acting – Regina Williams, Life & Nothing More
Best Documentary Feature – Midnight Traveler
Documentary Jury Award for Cinematography – David Hambridge, Kifaru
2018
Audience Choice Award: Two-Way Tie
Jury Awards
Best Short Film – Welcome to Country
Short Film Jury Award for Directing – Dave Mullins, Lou
Best Narrative Feature – Night Comes On
Narrative Jury Award for Best Directorial Debut – Summer 1993
Best Documentary Feature – Dark Money
Documentary Jury Award for Films for Our Future – Rodents of Unusual Size
2017
Audience Choice Award – Big Sonia
Jury Awards
Best Short Film – Piper
Best Narrative Feature – Menashe
Narrative Feature Special Jury Award – Clash
Narrative Jury Award for Acting – Alex Shaffer, Delinquent
Best Documentary Feature – Dolores
Documentary Feature Special Jury Award – House on Coco Road
Documentary Feature Special Jury Award – Latest News from the Cosmos
2016
Audience Choice Award – Landfill Harmonic
2015
Audience Choice Award – Alive Inside
Honorable Mentions – Harry and the Snowman & Keep On Keeping On
2014
Audience Choice Award – Toxic Hot Seat
2012
Audience Choice Award – Brothers on the Line
2013
Audience Choice Award – The Intouchables
2011
Audience Choice Award – Happy
Jury Awards
Best Narrative Short – Touch
Best Documentary Short – Crooked Beauty
Best Narrative Feature – The Athlete
Best Documentary Feature – Pianomania
Documentary Jury Award for Films for Our Future – Happy
Documentary Jury Award for Film on the Arts – Marwencol
Documentary Feature Special Jury Award – Guilty Pleasures
Documentary Feature Special Jury Award – Desert of Forbidden Art
Global Issues Award – My Perestroika
Best Emerging Filmmaker – Fu-de
2010
Audience Choice Award – Three-Way Tie
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Between the Folds
65 Red Roses
2009
Audience Choice Award – Taking Root
2008
Audience Choice Award – Cats of Mirikitani
2007
Audience Choice Award – Last Best Hope
Jury Awards
Best Narrative Feature – Stalking Santa
Best Documentary Feature –Last Best Hope
Best Mid-Length Documentary – Today’s Man
Best Short Documentary – The Days and the Hours
Best Film on Art – Outsider: The Life and Art of Judith Scott
Documentary Short Film Special Jury Award: Ripe for Change
Documentary Short Special Jury Award – Granny D Goes to Washington
Narrative Short Film Special Jury Award – I Hate Musicals
Documentary Feature Special Jury Award – Letter From the Other Side
Film on Art Special Jury Award – Richard Serra- Thinking on Your Feet
Film on Art Special Jury Award – Who the @#!! Is Jackson Pollock
2023
Audience Choice Award:
Wild Life
Audience Choice Runner-Up:
Town Destroyer
Jury Awards
Best Narrative: Hold Me Tight
Best Documentary: A Bunch of Amateurs
Best Short Film: Photo Op
Special Jury Award for Direction: Close
Special Jury Award for Social Impact: Town Destroyer
2022
Audience Choice Award:
The Automat
Jury Awards
Best Narrative Feature: The Last Film Show
Narrative Special Jury Award for Acting: Andrea Reisborough, To Leslie
Fandor Independent Vision Award: Crabs!
Best Documentary Feature: Blind Ambition
Best Short Film: Plant Heist
2006
Jury Awards
Best Narrative Short: Rumble
Best Documentary Short: Recycled Life
Best Narrative Feature: The Gold Bracelet
Best Documentary Feature: Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Documentary Award for Film on the Arts: Purvis of Overtown
Documentary Special Jury Award: The Real Dirt on Farmer John
The Rogue Wave Award
The Rogue Wave Award was established to honor those individuals in the film industry who have used their talents, celebrity, and resources in service to society and the world at large.
2018 Rogue Wave Award for Social Justice Activism – Jimmy Smits & Esai Morales, both were in attendance to accept the award and for a special screening of Mi Familia
2017 Rogue Wave Award for Environmental Activism – Pierce & Keely Shay Brosnan accepted the award and engaged in a Q&A following the screening of Poisoning Paradise
2009 Innagural Rogue Wave Award for Social Activism – Danny Glover
The Albert Maysles Award
The Albert Maysles Award for Documentary Excellence was established in 2007. Widely revered as the “Dean of Documentary Filmmaking,” Albert Maysles joined as a Mendocino Film Festival special guest and advisor from 2007 to 2015.
2012 – Ralph Arlyck accepted the award and participated in a special conversation and screening of his classic film Following Sean.
2011 – Les Blank accepted the award and screened his classic film The Blues Accordin’ to Lightin’ Hopkins
2010 – Haskell Wexler accepted the award and participated in an engaging interview and Q&A during the festival
2009 – Robert Elfstrom accepted the award and screened his classic film Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music
2008 – Jasmine Dellal was the inaugural recipient of the Albert Maysles Award for her film Gypsy Caravan