Vashon Island Film Festival wraps 4th edition

Vashon Film Institute unspooled the fourth edition of its annual Vashon Island Film Festival last weekend, bringing a slate of celebrated new independent films and their makers to the island.

Adventurous island cinephiles filled the seats of the historic Vashon Theatre to see 10 features and fifteen shorts, all culled from the national and international film festival circuit.

The festival also welcomed visiting filmmakers from the Pacific Northwest and beyond for Q&As and meet-and-greets.

A special feature of this year’s festival was the enthusiastic participation of youth filmmakers from Vashon, whose films were included in a short film program, “ShortCutz,” shown on the opening day of the festival. These included a group of third-grade students from Chautauqua Elementary School, who brought their film, “Save our Southern Residents” to the big screen, and the world premiere of “Pizza Purge,” a film made over the summer by recent McMurray School graduate Levi Cobb, overseen with support from the Vashon Film Institute.

The festival culminated in an awards ceremony, with winners selected by the festival’s jury and audience votes, as well as a special prize, the Mickey’s Chair Award for the best film in the Shortcutz program, awarded by festival sponsor Tara Morgan, the owner of the popular island mobile salon, C’mon Barber. The winner of this award was Cobb, celebrating both the film he created with friends and the wider community that helped support his vision.

The festival’s film slate was curated by a programming team headed by actress Stacey Oristano. Jury awards were conferred by film artists whose works have appeared in previous edition of Vashon Island Film Festival: Jury President Jewerl Keats Ross, Olivia Blue, Jonathan Hsu and Nick Richey.

Other awards were:

• The Quartermaster Award for Excellence in Feature Filmmaking went to Georgi M. Unkovski’s “DJ Ahmet,” which follows the life of a 15-year-old boy from a remote Macedonian village. The film also received the prize for best director.

• The Audience Award for Best Feature went to Phil Moniz and Kevin Claydon’s “Racewalkers,” which tells the story of a failing racewalking coach who joins forces with a former baseball pro who shows natural walking talent. The film also took home Best Screenplay for Evan M. Landry, Kevin Claydon, and Phil Moniz and Best Actor for Phil Moniz.

• The Burton Award for Excellence in Short Filmmaking went to Alex Thompson’s “Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting,” an allegorical coming-of-age fable about mothers, daughters and mythological beasts.

• The Audience Award for Best Short went to Aisling Byrne’s “Turnaround,” which chronicles a West Cork cleaner as she decides if she will uphold a tightly hidden secret.

• Best Supporting Actor went to Alex Lawther for “A Second Life,” which takes place in Paris during the Olympic Games as an unexpected bond forms between a hearing-impaired American and a free-spirited wanderer.

• Best Cinematography went to Brittany Shyne’s “Seeds,” a documentary exploring the lives of Black generational farmers.

• Best Editing went to Ernesto Martinez Bucio, Karen Plata, and Odei Zabaleta for “The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box),” a film that tells the story of five siblings who are abandoned by their parents.

Reflecting on this year’s festival, its founder, Vashon Film Institute president and longtime island resident Mark Mathias Sayre, congratulated all the winners and nominees, and thanked islanders for showing up in droves to support independent filmmaking.

“Our fourth year continued the steady growth and sustained excellence of cinematic selections,” Sayre said. “VIFF raises the bar for award-winning, specialty cinema in the Pacific Northwest and we couldn’t have done it without our board, staff, and extensive team, including more than 60 volunteers. We’re already looking ahead to our fifth year coming in 2026.”

To find out more about the year-round programs of the Vashon Film Institue, visit vashonfilminstitute.com.

Youth filmmakers from Chautauqua Elementary School take the stage after a screening of their film, “Save our Southern Residents.” (Phil Clapham photo)