imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Announces 2025 Festival Award Winners
We Were Dangerous wins Best Dramatic Feature, and Singing Back the Buffalo wins Best Documentary Feature; Quannah Chasinghorse and Kaniehtiio Horn win new Outstanding Performance Awards
Toronto, June 8, 2025 – The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival’s Moon, Sun, Water and Land juries have selected winners across film, video, audio and digital media works in 17 different categories for the 2025 Awards Presentation. Hosted at the TIFF Lightbox, a total of $68,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to artists and filmmakers in recognition of their outstanding work, innovation and excellence.
This year’s imagineNATIVE Awards Presentation was hosted by Janelle Niles, stand-up comedian, emcee, content creator, TV personality and producer of Got Land? Indigenous comedy show. The show featured performances by Indigenous soul singer/songwriter Lacey Hill with Juno-award-winning singer Derek Miller, as well as Americana artist Adrian Sutherland.
In addition to the existing categories, imagineNATIVE honoured iconic actor Graham Greene with the August Schellenberg Award of Excellence (Augie) at the ceremony. Debuting on screen in the 1983 Running Brave and earning stardom in his Academy Award-nominated role in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves, Greene continues to be a gifted Indigenous actor whose career has shown longevity and impact. The Augie Award is presented in partnership with Joan Karasevich Schellenberg to honour her late husband, the legendary actor August Schellenberg and is supported by ACTRA National and individual donations.
While the Awards Presentation marks the last day of the 2025 in-person festival, imagineNATIVE continues online from June 9 to 15 to allow audiences from around the world to stream many of the films from the 2025 official selection, including some of the award-winning works.
The 2025 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival winners are:
Moon Jury Prize
Anywhere (Nooj Goji)
Evelyn Pakinewatik
Indigenous Language Production Award
The Legends of Eternal Snow (Khaar Kuyaar Nomokhtoro)
Aleksei Romanov
After Dark Award in honour of Jeff Barnaby
Seeds
Kaniehtiio Horn
Live Action Short Award
Rapido
Richard J Curtis
Dramatic Feature Award
We Were Dangerous
Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Outstanding Performance in a Feature
Seeds
Kaniehtiio Horn
Outstanding Performance in a Short
Thin Places
Quannah Chasinghorse
Sun Jury Award
Inkwo for When the Starving Return
Amanda Strong
New Voice in Storytelling Award
ÁHKUIN
Sunná Nousuniemi, Tuomas Kumpulainen
Documentary Short Award
In my hand
Marja Helander, Liselotte Wajstedt
Documentary Feature Award
Singing Back the Buffalo
Tasha Hubbard
Innovation in Storytelling Award
Confluence
Charlene Moore, ODMK
Animated Short Award
Inkwo for When the Starving Return
Amanda Strong
New Artist in Digital + Interactive Award
orange pekoe
Vanessa Racine
Digital + Interactive Award
Wilfred Buck’s Star Stories
Lisa Jackson, The Macronauts
Experimental Audio Award
ᎭᏫᎾᏗᏢ ᎤᏪᏴᎢ (beneath the stream)
Robbie Wing
Narrative Audio Award
Sous les barrages (Under the Dams): Tshishe Manikuan
Jean Luc Kanapé
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous cinema, running from June 3 to 8, 2025 and will continue online from June 9 to 15, 2025. For more information about the festival, please visit the imagineNATIVE website.
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About imagineNATIVE:
imagineNATIVE is the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content. The organization is recognized locally, nationally, and internationally for excellence and innovation in programming and as the global centre for Indigenous media arts. imagineNATIVE (legal entity: The Centre for Aboriginal Media) is a registered charity committed to creating a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through the presentation of contemporary Indigenous-made media art including film, video, audio and digital media.
For additional information,
Ally LaMere-Shedden
Route 504 PR
ally@route504pr.com
Alya Stationwala
Route 504 PR
alya@route504pr.com
