Honors & Awards

Each year, the Gold Coast International Film Festival is proud to recognize the achievements of talented filmmakers who provide entertainment, illumination, and a great movie-going experience.

2016 Audience Award winners and Short Film Award winners will receive prizes from Deluxe &  LVR!


Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Burn Your Maps

Audience Award for Best Documentary
Sidemen: Long Road To Glory

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Jewish Blind Date
The Bench

Jury Award for Best Short Film
The Gunfighter
Runner Up: Above All Else 
Runner Up: We Live This
Honorable Mention: Taking Flight

Director’s Choice Award
Joe’s Violin

Artist of Distinction
Morgan Spurlock, Writer, Director & Producer (Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock Inside Man)
Navid Negahban, Actor (Homeland, Baba Joon)

Woman of Influence
Patricia Riggen, Director (The 33)

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Mustang

Audience Award for Best Documentary
Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw
We Are Twisted F*cking Sister

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Grounded

Jury Award for Best Short Film
Subway Love
Tender Stories No. 1

Jury Award for Best Student Short Film
The Present

Artist of Distinction
Catherine Martin, Academy Award-Winning Production & Costume Designer (Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby)

Screenwriting Award
Talya Lavie, Writer & Director, Zero Motivation

Heroes Award
The Leary Firefighters Foundation
Lee Ielpi, President of the Board of Directors for the September 11th Families’ Association and co-founder of the 9/11 Tribute Center

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Paulette

Audience Award for Best Documentary
August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Welcome to China
Runner Up: How I Didn’t Become a Piano Player

Jury Award for Best Short Film
Why Do I Study Physics?
Runner Up: A Silent Waltz

Prizes sponsored by LVR.

Artist of Distinction
Susie Essman, Comedian & Actress

Lifetime Achievement Award
Paul Sorvino, Actor

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Nebraska
Foreign Letters

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
Comedy Warriors
The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Plurality

Jury Award for Best Short Film
Noah

Feature prizes sponsored by Deluxe. Short film prizes sponsored by LVR.

Artist of Distinction
Edward Burns, Filmmaker & Actor

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Silver Linings Playbook

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Pigeon Impossible

Jury Award for Best Short Film
Luminaris

Jury Award for Best Student Short Film
Sight

Prizes sponsored by LVR

Lifetime Achievement Award
Bruce Dern, Actor

Best Narrative Feature sponsored by Panavision
My Afternoons with Marguerite

Best Documentary Feature sponsored by Deluxe
Bob and the Monster

Trailer Award Competition sponsored by the New York Post
Bob and the Monster

Best Narrative Short Film
Noreen

Best Documentary Short Film
In the Spirit of Laxmi

Jurors

Some of our distinguished jurors have included:

Joe Bakhash (Award-winning filmmaker)

James Belfer (Producer: Vamps and Nuts!)

Don Fizzinoglia (Documentary filmmaker, professor of cinema studies and television and film production at New York Institute of Technology)

Gibson Frazier (Co-writer, producer, and star of Man of the Century, winner of Audience Award at the Slamdance Film Festival)

Luke Geissbuhler (Director of Photography: Helvetica, Objectified, Borat)

Dr. Sam Grogg (Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Adelphi University; producer: Kiss of The Spider Woman, The Trip To Bountiful, Da, Patti Rocks, and Spike of Bensonhurst)

Carolyn Hepburn (Producer: Weiner and Life Animated)

Jennifer Lane (Production Mgr.: The Reader, The Good Shepherd, adjustment Bureau, Greenberg)

Diane Masciale (General Manager, WLIW21)

Jeremiah Newton (Producer: Beautiful Darling)

Norman Reedus (Actor: The Walking Dead, Boondock Saints)

Mark Romeo (Producer: Blue Gold)

Ryan Silbert (Oscar-winning producer: God Of Love, Assoc. Producer: Holy Rollers)

Rick Schwartz (Producer: The Departed, Exec. Producer: Black Swan)

Craig Teper (Director: Vidal Sassoon: The Movie)