29th Nantucket Film Festival Announces 2024 Winners

Today, the Nantucket Film Festival, which featured conversations with Ken Burns and many others, announced winners for this year’s 29th edition of the fest. In addition to Audience Award winners, they have also released winners for Best of Fest, the Tony Cox Screenplay Competition, the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Award, and many others.

“It is a privilege to honor this cohort of both established and emerging screenwriters and storytellers, who represent the heart of our industry, at the 2024 edition of the festival,” said Mystelle Brabbée, Executive Director of the Nantucket Film Festival, and Anita Raswant, Lead Programmer of the Nantucket Film Festival. “Thank you to all of our attending filmmakers and writers for sharing their powerful stories with us and our passionate audiences who continue to turn out to the theaters and support our mission. We would like to take a moment to recognize our jurors, sponsors, staff, and volunteers, all of whom worked to make another incredibly successful festival possible.”

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See all of the 2024 Nantucket Film Festival winners below.

Audience Awards

Narrative Feature: “Los Frikis,” written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz

Documentary Feature: “Porcelain War,” directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev

Narrative Short: “Puppy Love,” written by Rashid and Elizabeth Valenti and directed by Daniel Rashid

Documentary Short: “Jumpman,” directed by Tom Dey

Best of Fest

Features: “Widow Cliquot,” written by Erin Dignam and directed by Thomas Napper and “Maya and the Wave,” directed by Stephanie Johnes

Short: “Lost In the Nevers Land,” directed by Penny Dey

Tony Cox Screenplay Competition

Feature Screenplay: “I Don’t Dream In Spanish Anymore” by Missy Hernandez

Episodic 60-Minute Screenplay: “The Soloist” by Daniel Hernandez-Zapata

Episodic 30-Minute Screenplay: “Illicit Bids for Dying Kids” by Phillip Roquemore

Short Screenplay: “Who Raised You?” by Daniel Gonzalez

Jury for the Film Screenplay Competition was composed of New York Magazine’s Rebecca Alter, filmmaker and actor Katie Aselton Duplass, and filmmaker and playwright Derek Nguyen.

Jury for the Episodic Screenplay Competition was composed of film and music video director Katherine Dieckmann, writer and director of “Winner” Susanna Fogel, and UTA motion picture business affairs executive Sarah Vacchiano. 

Adrienne Shelly Foundation Excellence in Filmmaking Award

“Every Little Thing,” directed by Sally Aitken

Presented in honor of the late actor and director, this award recognizes the achievement of a female filmmaker and includes a $5,000 grant.

Maria Mitchell Visionary Award

Sally Aitken

Named for the first female to be inducted into the Academy of Arts and Sciences and Nantucket native Maria Mitchell, this award is presented to a female filmmaker who demonstrates vision and innovation. Sponsored by the Maria Mitchell Association, Aitken receives a $5,000 grant with this award as well.

Children’s Resilience in Screenwriting Award presented by Shine Global

“Los Frikis,” written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz

This new award honors exceptional films that center around the resilience of children and further the organization’s mission of improving children’s lives by harnessing the power of storytelling and comes with a prize of $2,500 and an invitation to participate in Shine Global’s upcoming 2024 Resilience Awards events.

Teen View Jury Award

“Terminally Ill,” written and directed by Chris Cole

Special Mention: “The Ugandan Quidditch Movement,” directed by Ben Garfield

Career Achievement in Filmmaking Award

Roger Ross Williams (“Music By Prudence,” “God Loves Uganda,” “The Apollo,” “Cassandro”)

Williams was presented the award by author and anti-racism activist Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. While at the festival, Williams screened his film “Stamped from the Beginning,” based on the best-selling book of the same name by Dr. Kendi, and participated in an extended Deep Dive screening talkback alongside Dr. Kendi, moderated by Sunny Hostin from “The View.”

Excellence in Television Writing Award

Kerry Ehrin (“The Morning Show,” “Bates Motel,” “Parenthood,” “Friday Night Lights”)

Ehrin was presented the award by “Morning Show” actor June Diane Raphael.

New Voices in Television Writing Award

Meredith Scardino (“Girls5eva,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “The Colbert Report”)

Scardino was presented the award by “Girls5eva” cast members Paula Pell and Renée Elise Goldsberry. At the festival, Scardino and fellow honoree Kerry Ehrin were joined by Pell and Goldsberry for a special Garden Conversation program, moderated by Ophira Eisenberg, that gave a behind the scenes look at producing their television works from script to screen.

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