NewFilmmakers Los Angeles has unveiled the nominees and jury for the 14th annual best of NFMLA awards.

Among the 16 categories, including best documentary feature film and best performance drama, 84 projects are recognized. The projects are selected from films shown during NFMLA’s 2025 programming season, in addition to those developed during the InFocus initiative.

“This has been an extraordinary year for emerging storytellers and for the talented filmmakers we are proud to call NFMLA alumni,” NFMLA co-founder and executive director Larry Laboe said in a statement. “The success of our alumni at Sundance, the Academy Awards, and beyond reinforces what we’ve long believed and been a champion of: audiences are eager for original voices, fresh perspectives, and bold storytelling. We’re honored to celebrate these artists and support them as they continue building their careers.”

NFMLA is a non-profit arts and culture organization focused on uplifting independent filmmakers and content creators. The jury is comprised of industry leaders from Neon, Netflix, The New York Times, Starz and Black Bear Pictures, among others. Check out the full list of nominees and jury members below.

“Maqluba” – Mike Elsherif, JohnBen Lacy & Shepherd Ahlers

“My Brother & Me” – Ryan DeForeest, Shandrea Evans & Lexx Truss

“Nuclear” – Sebastian Ibarra del Castillo, Kavin Kapoor & Riley Buchanan

“Say As I Say” – Daniel SolĂ©, Marlena Skrobe, Michael Polk & Adam Chitayat

“When Everything Was Blue” – Christina Chironna, Juan Sebastián Jaimes & Bayan Joonam

“Witness” – Radha Mehta, Saif Jaan, Omar Al-Dakheel & Sheheryar Ahsan

“And Now I Lay Me Down” – Rani DeMuth & Roger M. Mayer

“God & Buddha Are Friends” – Anthony Ma, Jaclyn Amor & Jonathan Chung-Young

“Happy Thanksgiving” – Ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby, Jess X Snow, Eris Qian & Raleigh Chadderdon

“King Ed” – Nick Fascitelli, Brad Bradley & Marilyn Majich

“Kiss My Ass” – Arielle Goldman, Ian Adelson & RJ Brown

“Mean Goals” – Ahuatl Amaro, Fanfan Zhou & Barbara Lettieri

“The Legend of Fry-Roti” – Sabrina Saleha, Alex Nystrom, Alifya Ali, & Brooke Swaney

“The Other Partners” – Destinee Stewart & Sylvia Ray

“Beyond” – Bettina López Mendoza & Marilyne LaMontagne

“Dawn Every Day” – Amir Youssef & Norah Elkhateeb

“Hatch” – Alireza Kazemipour, Panta Mosleh & Sina Nazarian

“Holy Curse” – Snigdha Kapoor, Neeraj Churi, Noopur Sinha & Shweta Bolakani

“January” – Xin Ocean, Sally Long & Angela Lopez

“Nightfaces” – Martin Winter, Stefan Langthaler, Alfie Ángel & Victoria Herbig

“Punta Salinas” – Maria del Mar Rosario & Kritzia Belen Monserrate

“The River Between Us” – Sophia Lafaurie-Munoz & Myra Soto

“Don’t Drink The Punchline” – Ed Oxenbould & Will Gibb

“Passarinho” – Natalia García Agraza & Daniela Mosca

“She And Her Good Vibrations” – Olivia Griselda, Sarah Cheok & Jerrold Chong

“Something’s Phishy” – Chase Lo & Alice Wang

“The Pleasure Is All Mine” – Vanessa Sandre & Adriano Rocha

“Three Women Named Svetlana” – Natalia Boorsma & Tara Miloơević

“Unqualified” – Sherry Rashidan, Ilhan Abdullahi & Janice Mingas

“Chasers” – Erin Brown Thomas, Elle Shaw, Olivia Haller, Beth Napoli & Hayden Greiwe

“Only Twin – Give You Up” – Josh Martin, Ryan McNeeley & Christopher Heinrich

“Open to It” – Season 2 (Episode 10: “Open to New Queer’s Eve”) – Frank Arthur Smith, Benjamin-Shalom Rodriguez, Sarah Whitaker, Josslyn Glenn & Bryan Schaub

“She Sings” – Ahmed Ragheb, Lily Ekimian Ragheb, Salman Al-Rashid, Lara T. Ragheb & Aya Gaafar

“The Fish Tank” – Victoria Garza & Cecilia Chávez Hita

“The Ladies” – Juliana Piscina, Cailin Lobb-Rabe & Gillian Mahar

“To End All Spells” – Nana Kwabena, Zak Cedarholm, Jatali Bellanton & George Hughes

“Death Comes to My Side Music Video” – Oliver Anderson & Lena Hall

“Flocky” – Esther Casas Roura & Juan Carlos Concha

“Ibuka, Justice” – Justice Rutikara & Yzanakio Doc Inc

“Marvelous Gift” – Danna Galeano, German Acuña, Monique Henry-Hudson, Sebastian Ruz, Azul Jordan & Valentina Valenzuela

“On the 8th Day” – Agathe SĂ©nĂ©chal, Alicia Massez, Elise Debruyne, Flavie Carin & ThĂ©o Duhautois

“She and Her Good Vibrations” – Olivia Griselda, Sarah Cheok & Jerrold Chong

“Super High: A Period Piece” – Bianca Lambert & Kiah Clingman

“Entre le Feu et le Clair de Lune” – Dominic Yarabe & Carlo Nasisse

“If the Dead Come Home” – Aaron Joshua Weintraub

“Like a Spiral” – Lamia Chraibi, Patricia Bergeron & Ghassan Fayad

“Love Birds” – Elliott Kennerson, Angel Morris, Molly O’Brien, Nell (Augustin) Lawrenz-Wareham, Andy Berg & Liz Cole

“Old Lesbians” – Meghan McDonough, Rengim Mutevellioglu & Stevie Borrello

“Simple Machine” – Sara Hendren & Brian Funck

“The Changebaker” – Courtney Dixon, Jonathan Lacocque, Clara Lehman, Denis Deck & Javier Gonzalez

“Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania” – Hansen Bursic, Samantha K. Tan, Nic Cory & Daniel Brooks

“Encuerados” – Orlando Bedolla, Yuliana Franco, David Mosqueda, Yair Lopez & Leornardo Iriarte

“Janis Ian: Breaking Silence” – Varda Bar-Kar, Alessandra Pasquino, Pierre Norman Hauser & Michael Kantor

“Moses” – Fran Guijarro, Diya Guh & Juli López-Fraile

“Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon” – Ernie Bustamante, Maor Azran & Steven Canals

“We Never Left” – Loulwa Khoury, Mark Becker & Yara El Murr

“An Arrangement” – Noree Victoria, Bel Deliá Helen Shang, Annalea Fiachi & Matt Luber

“Don’t Kill My Vibe” – Stephen Takashima & Cody Lewis

“Shakti” – Nani Sahra Walker, Candi Guterres, Ida Sonni & Jered Everson

“Surrender” – Jess Dang, Jessica Olthof & Darren Haruo Rae

“Where in the Hell” – Laramie Dennis, Ricky de Laveaga & Hector Ceballos

“Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon” – Sean Puglisi

“We Never Left” – Loulwa Khoury & Marie-Louise Elia

“Entre le Feu et le Clair de Lune” – Dominic Yarabe & Shirley Yumeng He

“Ibuka, Justice” – Marie-Pierre Grenier & Sandy Pinteus

“Death Comes to My Side Music Video” – Lena Hall

“Janis Ian: Breaking Silence” – David Melchor

This year’s jury includes: Alexandra Korba (Moxie Films), Alyssa Yoffie (Starz), Andrea Alarcon (Sundance Institute), Andrew McCann Smith (Play Management Inc.), Angela Nikas (Buchwald), Anthony Thompson (Hartbeat), April Yuan (Verve), Arun Gulati (Jigsaw Productions), Bárbara Cerro (Bitbang International Animation Festival), Emmanuel Grinda (Lionsgate), Giselle Johnson-Morris (Blackmaled Productions), Isabel Inadomi (Black Bear Pictures), Josh Bergman (Neon), Julianna Imel (Annapurna Animation), Katherine Weinstein (FilmRise), Kaylen Ng (Ilene Feldman Management), Kevin Hefferman (Range Media Partners), Lisa Alford (Evoke Entertainment), Mar De Melo (Netflix), Marley Hansen (RSA Films), Merari Chavarria (Culture Machine), Nicolas Keller Sarmiento (Vision Entertainment), Rodrigo Crespo (Sonoro Global Media Corp.), Saelyx Finna (Context Moves), Scott Sakamoto (Netflix), Selin Sevinc (BendFilm Festival), Tamer Ahsan (Zero Gravity Management), Tyra Johnson (Hoorae Media) and Yvonne Ashley (The New York Times).