The 48th Denver Film Festival 2025 ended with an awards show full of stars that honored some of the best independent and international films of the year. The Spanish drama Sirāt, directed by Olivier Laxe, won the Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Best Feature Film, which is a big deal. The haunting, spiritually charged story follows a father looking for his missing daughter in southern Morocco. It has already received praise from critics and is Spain’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film award at the Oscars.
The Narrative Feature Audience Award went to Calle Malaga, directed by Maryam Touzani, in the categories where the audience voted. The Moroccan movie, which is about love and strength in old age, has also been chosen to be Morocco’s entry for the international feature Oscar. Comparsa, a lively co-production between Guatemala and the United States that looks at Carnival traditions and cultural activism, won the Documentary Feature Audience Award.
Cover-Up, a Netflix acquisition directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, won the Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary. The movie shows investigative journalism and the bravery to speak truth to power in a very different way.
Other notable winners were: The Singers (Sam Davis) for the Grand Jury Award and the Short Film Audience Award.
- “Mad Bills Pay” (Joel Also V) won the American Independent Award.
- Seeds (Brittany Shyne) and Nervous Energy (Eve Liu) both got special mentions.
The festival also gave special awards to famous people in the industry, such as Lucy Liu (John Cassavetes Award), Delroy Lindo (Next50 Career Achievement Award), Gus Van Sant (Excellence in Directing Award), and Ben Foster (Outlaw Award). The Denver Film Festival 2025 is still a major place for global cinema and new voices, with a wide range of award-winning films and well-known actors.
