Florida Film Festival 2026 Announces Filmmaker Awards with JUNKIE and THE LAST DAYS OF BYRON BRAY doubling up on the hardware
The 2026 Florida Film Festival announced the filmmaker award winners during a ceremony at the Enzian Theater and following a 35th Anniversary edition of the popular film festival which combined salutes to beloved stars, screenings of highly anticipated films, and a concentration of films produced in Florida by local filmmakers, all taking place in the warm (literal and figurative) setting of Central Florida. William Means’ Junkie took both the Grand Jury prize and the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film. Sharon Leise’s Seized won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Film, and Patrick Bresnan’s First They Came For My College won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film. Michael Borrelli’s The Last Day of Byron Bray also was a two-time winner, taking both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best Short Film.
Additional Jury Awards went to Brian Gersten’s Hollywood’s Mermaid: The Esther Williams Story (Best Documentary Short), and Andy London, and Carolyn London’s 1981 (Best Animated Short). Films receiving Special Jury Awards included Tatti Ribeiro’s Valentina (Narrative Feature) for “resolute feature filmmaking”, Blake Winston Rice’s Disc (Narrative Short) for “surprising intimacy”, and Madeline Engle and Joe Purtell’s Trapped (Documentary Short) for “innovation in Non-Fiction storytelling”.
Other films receiving Audience Awards included Costa Karalis’ Frogtown (Best Florida Feature), Daniel Roher’s Tuner (Best International Feature), Justin Whittingham’s Welcome (Best Florida Short), Eric Jackowitz’The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much (Best Midnight Short), and Alexandra Strunin’s I Gaze at the Sky (Best International Short).
Florida Film Festival Executive Director Wade Neal, said, “This Florida Film Festival was my first as the new Executive Director, and it exceeded what was already very high expectations on my part for an exciting, well-curated, and outrageously fun film event. These award winners are wonderful representatives of the amazing films we screened and filmmakers we hosted throughout the fest.”
FFF Programming Director, Matthew Curtis, added, “There is always an additional expectation and anticipation during a film festival’s big anniversary year. This one fulfilled that for our film fans, our staff, and a wonderful group of filmmakers. The fact that two of those films doubled up on awards – a first for us – seems very appropriate to cap the uniqueness of our 35th edition.”
The Florida Film Festival’s jurors for this edition included:
The Narrative Features Competition Jury
Brian Andreotti (Co-Founder and Director of Acquisitions for Music Box Films)
Aaron Koontz (FFF Alumni and Independent Spirit Award nominated filmmaker)
Violet Lucca (Film Critic and Author)
The Documentary Competition Jury
Brian Bolster (5-Time FFF Alumni Director and Grand Jury Award Winner)
Grace Cheung (Director of Strategic Initiatives at Magnolia Pictures)
Clint Worthington (Assistant Editor at RogerEbert.com)
Shorts Competition Jury
Dwight Brown (Former Chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle)
Radha Mehta (Slamdance Award Winning director and FFF Alumni)
Guillermo Restrepo (Director of Publicity IFC Entertainment Group)
The 35th Anniversary edition kicked off with an Opening Night presentation of Adam Carter Rehmeier’s renegade road trip movie Caroline, Caroline, and featured a gala Centerpiece presentation of Jorma Taccone’s Over Your Dead Body, with both filmmakers in attendance. The festival closed with a nod to the classics via a 75th Anniversary screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Florida Film Festival’s celebrated “An Evening With.. events were huge hits with the packed audiences, as well as fans outside the Enzian Theater, with Academy Award®-nominee Paul Giamatti and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Beverly Hills Cop’s Judge Reinhold delighting everyone with stories from their films and careers, and having fun posing for selfies and talking to people outside prior to the events in the theater. Also making special appearances were Fallout’s Johnny Pemberton, with his film Mermaid, Justice Smith, with his film Grampa, and Orlando’s first African American Poet Laureate, Shawn Welcome, with Welcome, a documentary short film about his life.
World premieres included Ahmed Bouchalga’s The Call, Costa Karalis’ Frogtown, Woodruff Laputka and Tehben Dean’s The Man Whom the Trees Loved, Randy Moore’s Return From Tomorrow, Alejandro Ruax and Saskia d’Altena’s If You Really Love Me, Outlive Me, Paul Oh’s Correspondence, Justin Whittingham’s Welcome, Ellie Foumbi’s Afufu, Faryl Amadeus’ Man in Motel, Jessica Li’s Peace Corps, Michael Borrelli’s The Last Day of Byron Bray, Timothy Jacob Elledge’s Neuman, Brooke Trantor’s Nut Milk in May, Sterling Hampton IV’s Study Hall, Isabel Pask’s Scout’s Honor, Grant Swanson’s Iron Lake, Syra McCarthy and Kyle CaseyChu’s Betty St. Clair, Austin Cauldwel’s Idyll, Kyle Spleiss’s House Cat, Justice Smith’s Grampa, Stacey Torkelson’s In Lieu of Flowers, Mary Pilon’s Screw Lucy, Modar Kajo’s In God’s Hands, andNoah Engel’s Everything that Fell from the Mourning Dove’s Nest as She Built It ).
Highly anticipated titles from filmmakers like Steven Soderberg (The Christophers), Kirk Jones (I Swear), Gregg Araki (I Want Your Sex), Ben Wheatley (Normal), Curry Barker (Obsession), Maude Apatow (Poetic License), Daniel Roher (Tuner), and Jeremy Workman (School For Defectors) were all screened for Central Florida film fans to see for the first time. Meanwhile, the film festival saw several screenings sell out, with record breaking audience numbers overall. Filmmakers participated in dedicated red carpets and press junkets throughout the festival’s run, as well as numerous networking events which have become a hallmark of the film festival.
To find more information on the Florida Film Festival, please go to: https://floridafilmfestival.com/.
The 2026 Florida Film Festival Award Winners:
Grand Jury Awards
Best Narrative Feature
Junkie
Director: William Means
Special Jury Award – Narrative Feature
Valentina
Director: Tatti Ribeiro
Best Documentary Feature
Seized
Director: Sharon Liese
Best Narrative Short
The Last Day of Byron Bray
Director: Michael Borrelli
Special Jury Award – Narrative Short
Disc
Director: Blake Winston Rice
Best Documentary Short
Hollywood’s Mermaid: The Esther Williams Story
Director: Brian Gersten
Special Jury Award – Documentary Short
Trapped
Directors: Madeline Engle, Joe Purtell
Best Animated Short
1981
Directors: Andy London, Carolyn London
Audience Awards
Best Narrative Feature
Junkie
Director: William Means
Best Documentary Feature
First They Came for My College
Director: Patrick Bresnan
Best Florida Feature
Frogtown
Director: Costa Karalis
Best International Feature
Tuner
Director: Daniel Roher
Best Short Film
The Last Day of Byron Bray
Director: Michael Borrelli
Best Florida Short
Welcome
Director: Justin Whittingham
Best Midnight Short
The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much
Director: Eric Jackowitz
Best International Short
I Gaze at the Sky
Director: Alexandra Strunin