Sony Future Filmmaker Awards reveals winners of first annual global competition

Sony Future Filmmaker Awards 2023 — © Jake Blucker

At a black-tie awards ceremony held this evening at the Cary Grant Theatre on the famed Sony Pictures Studios campus in Culver City, California, Creo presented the winners for the inaugural Sony Future Filmmaker Awards. The host for the evening was journalist Denny Directo. Thirty filmmakers were selected for six categories’ shortlists, and six winners were revealed. Each director receives a ticket to Los Angeles to attend the event and then participate in an exclusive, two-day industry immersion program run by Sony Pictures executives. Together with a variety of cash awards, winners also receive Sony digital imaging equipment.

The Filmmaker competition promotes innovative voices that provide narratives a new angle. Each of the three category winners will receive an FX9 Cinema Line Camera (with lens) and $5,000 in addition to their trip to Los Angeles and participation in the workshop program (USD).

Nicole Brown, President of TriStar Pictures, gave away the prize in the Fiction category as follows:

Dan Thorburn (UK), Salt Water Town – With the threat of closure looming over a failing caravan park, the owner and his son clash over their future, with tragic consequences.

Nekesa Moody, The Hollywood Reporter’s editorial director, gave the award for the Non-Fiction category:

Daniela Lucato (Italy), The Things You Don’t Know About Me, Mom – A survivor of the Pinochet regime in Chile imagines telling her mother all the things that she didn’t want to know.

The “Picture This” initiative of Sony Pictures Television, which supports imagination that expresses a bright future for the world, is affiliated with the “Environment” category. Andi Gitow, head of advocacy for the entertainment industry and civil society engagement at the United Nations (UN), gave the award:

Pedro Furtado (Brazil), The Good Dolphins – Fishermen in Brazil fight to save a pod of dolphins who have helped them catch fish across generations.

A group of top industry professionals selected the 30 shortlisted filmmakers and winners, while Justin Chadwick, a celebrated British theater, television, and film director, served as the panel’s chair (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, The Other Boleyn Girl, Tulip Fever).

Additionally, this first jury was made up of well-known and prominent members of the film industry, including Sir Roger A. Deakins, an Academy Award-winning cinematographer, and Nicole Brown, President of TriStar Pictures (The Woman King, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical) (Blade Runner 2049, Skyfall, 1917).