Waco Independent Film Festival announces Award winners during emotional ceremony

The Waco Independent Film Festival 2025 (Waco Indie) announced the award winners for the 9th edition of the film festival which concluded its record breaking in-person presentations with a joyfully emotional Awards Brunch held at the historic Earle Harrison House & Pape Gardens (1901 N. 5th Street).

Chris Beier’s The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia won Best Narrative Feature and Patrick Creadon’s The Pantone Guy won Best Documentary Feature. Healing Hands’ director Jordan Ochel (Best Family Short and  Best Student Short), and Heavy is the Head’s director Chap Edmonson (Best Director – Short and Best Editing) were two-time award winners.

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Waco Independent Film Festival 2025 winners and highlights from this year’s emotional awards ceremony and record-breaking event

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Co-Founders and Co-Directors Louis Hunter and Samuel Thomas, said, “This year’s Waco Independent Film Festival continued our growth as a top entertainment and culture event for Waco, while being a perfect reminder of why we are also getting more-and-more national recognition for what we do. Our attending filmmakers once again found themselves embraced by the Waco film fans and community as well as each other, creating a supportive momentum that grew with each screening, panel, and party, leading up to the awards brunch and presentations. The appreciative reception they gave to their fellow filmmakers with each announcement of the next award exemplified that generous energy artist-to-artist. And that’s what Waco Indie is all about.”

For the second consecutive year, the Waco Independent Film Festival added screening and event locations to accommodate the festival’s growth. Audience Award winners were Twila LaBar’s inspirational documentary Where Horses Heal the Soul (Audience Award – Feature), and Aaron and Alex Craig’s George (Audience Award – Short).

Waco Independent Film Festival 2025 Special Programmers’ Awards

Films cited with Special Programmers’ Awards due to the impact they made on the film festival’s directors and top programmers included the first time a script in competition was cited: H. Cherdon Bedford’s “Ambient Light”. Bedford was a notable presence at Waco Indie as she wore a bonnet and 1800’s sack dress each day of the film festival to ring attention to her script and project. Additional recipients of Programmers’ Awards were Michael Charron’s The Time Capsule, Colette Robicheaux’s How To Be High All the Time, Lauren Santucci’s Teddy, and Eirene Houston’s Life Is Dance. Houston made the trip to Waco, Texas from Glasgow, Scotland to represent her documentary, which provided a lively look at the dance culture in Cuba.

Leading the award winners in the short film categories were Maia Jo Scalia’s His Mother, which took the prize for Best Short Film; Dallas-based filmmaker Ya’Ke Smith’s The Ohio, Texas Remix, which garnered the Best Texas Short Film award; Noah Bean’s What It’s Like To Be Okay, which won Best U.S. Short Film; and Sarah Segal-Lazar’s Elvira, which was named Best Foreign Short Film. While accepting her award, Segal-Lazar joked that when she submitted the film, she assured people there was “no way she was going to Waco,” but changed her mind and had an experience- capped by the award – that will have her singing the town’s and the film festival’s praises for any other fellow filmmaker who she encounters.

Waco Indie was riding high into this year’s edition of the film festival, having recently been selected by MovieMaker Magazine as one of its 2025 “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.” One of the reasons for that is the quality curation of the film festival’s themed shorts programs. Film awards by genre in the Short Film category went to; Sam Sulam’s German Ridge for Best Drama Short; Alex Kavutskiy and Jerzy Rose’s The Bride’s Curse, which took Best Comedy Short; and Stephen Michael Simon’s Far West, which was named Best Documentary Short. Stimson Snead’s Lab Rats was named Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short; Cameron Poletti‘s Banjo took the award for Best Horror/Thriller Short; and Rupert Höller won Best Music Video for “Lost in Space.”

Filmmaking craft awards were given to; Bethany Ann Linn for Best Performance – Short Film (Drama) for her role in His Mother; and Adrien Martinez for Best Performance – Short Film (Comedy) for George. Best Cinematography – Short Film went toJoe M. Han (People Walk Dogs Late At Night in the Suburbs), Best Screenplay – Short Film went to Jackie Oudney for What I Am, and Best Production Design went to Paul Kaiser for Casual Vignettes of Gilded Vulgarity.

Another reason the Waco Independent Film Festival has made a rapid ascent in to become an upper tier regional film festival is due to its Screenplay competition, which has produced a number of top shorts in the past few years. This is due to a combination of financial assistance and dedicated work Waco Indie does to assist the filmmakers to shoot in Waco by helping to make  locations in town available, connect with below the line production talent, services, and vendors, and being a real resource to fill in the blanks for any production needs. This year’s Waco Indie Screenplay Grant went to Keaton A Morris-Stan for her script “Gorgeous As You Are.” The Honorable Mention went to Chen Drachman for “Blood and Sex Over Ambition.”

Among the highlights during a fest that overflowed with them included Waco Indie’s now-signature Opening Night reception and Red Carpet celebration with more than 120 filmmakers taking their star turn among the film fans gearing up for a Christmas in July screening of Julia Barnett’s locally-filmed A Christmas in New Hope. Another Waco Indie crowd-pleasing staple took place the next day as the film festival teamed with Waco Surf by screening the beloved surf classic North Shore (1987). The special screening, included an appearance by the film’s stars Matt Adler and John Philbin, who participated in a post-screening Q&A, recounting the behind-the-scenes stories about them honing their surfing skills, and working with fellow cast mates Nia Peebles and Gregory Harrison.

To find more information on the Waco Independent Film Festival (Waco Indie), please go to: https://www.wacoindie.com/.

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2025 Waco Indie Film Festival Filmmaker Award Winners

Feature Film Awards

Best Feature Film (Narrative)

The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia

Director: Chris Beier

Best Feature Film (Documentary)

The Pantone Guy

Director: Patrick Creadon

Best Director – Feature Film

Josh Munds (Peeping Todd)

Best Performance – Feature Film

Logan Donovan (The Twin)

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Audience Awards

Feature Film

Where Horses Heal the Soul

Director: Twila LaBar

Short Film

George

Directors: Aaron Craig, Alex Craig

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Short Film Awards

Best Short Film

His Mother

Director: Maia Jo Scalia

Best Texas Short Film

The Ohio, Texas Remix

Director: Ya’Ke Smith

Best United States Short Film

What It’s Like To Be Okay

Director: Noah Bean

Best Foreign Short Film

Elvira

Director: Sarah Segal-Lazar

Best Student Short Film

Healing Hands

Director: Jordan Ochel

Short Film Awards by Genre

Best Drama Short

German Ridge

Director: Sam Sulam

Best Comedy Short

The Bride’s Curse

Directors: Alex Kavutskiy, Jerzy Rose

Best Documentary Short

Far West

Director: Stephen Michael Simon

Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short

Lab Rats

Director: Stimson Snead

Best Horror/Thriller Short

Banjo

Director: Cameron Poletti

Best Family Short

Healing Hands

Director: Jordan Ochel

Best Music Video

“Lost in Space”

Director: Rupert Höller

Short Film Craft Awards

Best Director – Short Film

Chap Edmonson (Heavy is the Head)

Best Performance – Short Film (Drama)

Bethany Ann Linn (His Mother)

Best Performance – Short Film (Comedy)

Adrien Martinez (George)

Best Cinematography – Short Film

Joe M. Han (People Walk Dogs Late at Night in the Suburbs)

Best Editing – Short Film

Chap Edmonson (Heavy is the Head)

Best Screenplay – Short Film

Jackie Oudney (What I Am)

Best Production Design – Short Film

Paul Kaiser (Casual Vignettes of Gilded Vulgarity)

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Programmers’ Choice Awards

“Ambient Light” (Writer: H.Cherdon Bedford)

The Time Capsule (Director: Michael Charron)

How To Be High All the Time (Director: Colette Robicheaux)

Teddy (Director: Lauren Santucci)

Life Is Dance (Director: Eirene Houston)

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Screenplay Competition

Best Unproduced Screenplay – First Place

“Gorgeous As You Are” (Writer: Keaton A Morris-Stan)

Best Unproduced Screenplay – Honorable Mention

“Blood and Sex Over Ambition” (Writer: Chen Drachman)

Waco Independent Film Festival 2025 winners and highlights from this year’s emotional awards ceremony and record-breaking event