San Luis Obispo 30th International Film Festival announces 2024 winners

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival (SLOIFF) announced its winners for the 30th edition.

Below the SLOIFF listed their winners for this year's event:

(San Luis Obispo, CA) – The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival (SLOIFF), which ran from April 25-30, has announced this year’s winners.  Celebrating its 30th Anniversary, SLOIFF had its biggest attendance ever with over 7,000 Attendees and showcased a record number of films from 25 countries.

With a slate of over 125 narrative features, short films, documentary features and shorts, music videos and festival favorites from the last 30 years, the festival offered a broad spectrum of fare for serious cinephiles, devoted film buffs and casual movie fans. 

Festival highlights included the popular local favorite, Surf Nite, as well as the Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase, Cal Poly Short Cuts, Music Video Showcase, Community of Skate, and a special 45th Anniversary presentation of the horror classic, Dawn of the Dead (1978) in association with local film festival MicroHorrors.

Actor Josh Brolin led the Narrative Feature jury alongside Christopher Tung (Netflix), and Wendy Guerrero (Bentonville Film Festival), as well as Narrative Shorts jurors Lissa Khoshbakhti (Disney) and Fanshen Cox (TruJuLo Productions), among others.

The main category winners in both the George Sidney Independent Film Competition, Central Coast Showcase, and the Audience Award Winners are as follows.  For full information about the winning films, please visit HERE.  

George Sidney Independent Film Competition:

Best Narrative Feature: TOKYO COWBOY  (Marc Mariott, director)

Best Documentary Feature:  SUGARCANE (Kellen Quinn, director)

Best Narrative Short: PLEASE HOLD THE LINE (Tan Ce Ding, Director)

Best Documentary Short:  SLUDGE: A PFAS UPRISING (Jeffrey Christian, Director)

Best Animation Short: THE HOUSE OF LOSS (Jeon Jinkyu, Director)

Best Music Video:  WATCHOUT (Gustavo Jauk Ku, Director)

Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase:

Best Central Coast Music Video:  NOT MY NIGHT (Ryan Porter, Director)

Best Central Coast Narrative Short:  SUPERSTAR (Talha Hussaini, Director)

Best Central Coast Documentary Short:  TASTING NOTES (Curren Taber, Director)

Best Central Coast Feature Length Film: WRESTLED AWAY: THE LEE KEMP STORY (Lee Kemp)

Audience Awards:

Best of Fest:  THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS (Fawzia Mirza, Director)

Favorite Narrative Feature:  MOUNTAIN BOY (Zainab Shaheen, Director)

Favorite Documentary Feature:  JAILHOUSE TO MILHOUSE (Buddy Farmer, Director)

Favorite Narrative Short:  PECCADILLO (Sofia Garza-Barba, Director)

Favorite Documentary Short:  THE ORCHESTRA CHUCK BUILT (Christopher Stoudt, Director)

Favorite Central Coast Film:  YOU WILL BE MY MUSIC (Bob Williams, Director/Writer/Producer)

Favorite Central Coast Narrative Short:  THE UNBROKEN SKY (Josh Peterson, Director/Writer)

Favorite Central Coast Documentary Short:  HARVEST CALLS (Kyle Plummer, Director)

ABOUT SAN LUIS OBISPO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2024, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival is a  6-day annual event, showcasing creative, diverse, and impactful works from around the world in a wide variety of venues, from the city’s classic art deco Fremont Theatre, to the vintage Palm Theatre. The 2024 festival will run from April 25-30, Encore, taking place in Paso Robles, is held from May 2-5. More information on the festival and its film lineup, visit here.

Located half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco, San Luis Obispo’s laid-back vibe and serene natural beauty is the perfect setting for this highly regarded annual film celebration. Filmmakers rave about the warmth and attentiveness that is so much a part of the SLO Film fest experience, as do the industry pros and film critics who are fast discovering the film festival’s thoughtful audiences and unique programming sensibility.

SLOIFF