Thank you to all the filmmakers who participated in the 2025 New York Lift-Off Film Festival!
The festival platformed hundreds of films, each project worthy of recognition and celebration. We want to extend a giant thank you to everyone who took part and a special congratulations to all the incredible talent that went into making these projects.
The judges' scores have been combined with the audience's choices, and after careful scrutiny, it's our pleasure to announce the New York Lift-Off Film Festival winners!
Winners: New York Network Round Shorts
The Hollowing
Director/Writer/Producer: Steven Weinzierl
Producers: Mark Aji,Theresa Loguercio
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Short Narrative
Synopsis: A couple reeling from tragedy join a drug trial in a desperate effort to get a handle on their lives, but violence ensues after the treatment produces unforeseen, psychopathic side effects and pulls the duo into the darkest of places.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Short Narrative
Tragedy Without A Hero
Director/Writer/Producer: Revaz Nasidze
Writer: Mariam Khutsishvili
Producer: Giorgi Kurtiashvili
Country of Origin: Georgia
Genre: Short
Synopsis: "Tragedy Without a Hero" is a short feature film based on the novel by Niko Lortkipanidze. Set in the early twentieth century in a remote village in western Georgia, the story follows an impoverished family—a widowed father, Iese, and his two orphaned sons, Joni and Dato. The father's desperate actions, driven by extreme hunger, leads Joni to make a heart-wrenching choice...
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best First-Time Filmmaker
How I Roll
Directors/Producers: Brianne Berkson,Miguel Gluckstern
Producer: Robin Cohen
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Short Documentary Film
Synopsis: Facing unthinkable hardships - murder, loss, battling MS for 24 years - Robin Cohen impressively defies the odds, finding light despite the darkness.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Short Documentary
Dating
Director/Producer: Ammad Shaikh
Writer/Producer: Jot Singh
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Short Narrative Film
Synopsis: Meet OMAR. He’s 18, at a party, and on top of the world after his FIRST kiss! But when his date’s unstable ex, who was just discharged from the Marines, storms in hoping to “talk,” Omar must decide if he’ll come to the rescue, or simply cower off. The real question is - will either choice win him the girl?.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Director, Best Art Direction
Midnight Ink
Director/Writer/Producer: John Chiodi
Writer: Larkin Flanagan
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Short Narrative Film
Synopsis: A brash young boy and his shy friend embark on a moonlit journey to get a tattoo.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Acting Ensemble, Best Cinematography
The GOAT
Director/Writer/Producer: Dean Eliades Kobs
Producer: Max Goodman
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Animation
Synopsis: In a race towards a shared deadline, two aging animation directors, once friends with a shared past, embark on creating their final films. As "The GOAT" succumbs to an obsessive pursuit of greatness, his unraveling sanity manifests in a surreal--though apt--transformation, resulting in a spiral of one-sided rivalry, anger, and destruction.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Animation
Bootlicker
Director/Writer/Producer: Jesse James Crook
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Short Narrative Film
Synopsis: "Bootlicker," a 27-minute long narrative comedy about a narcissistic party-loving college student working on a project for a film production class while trying to articulate his artistic philosophy to anyone who will listen (including some who would rather not). The student, performed by Jesse himself, gets inspired by a TikTok video critiquing the environmental impact of farms, which leads the character to create a naive avant-garde doc-essay exposé of a local flower farm. In spite of the character's outsized confidence in his own brilliance, his film gets harshly critiqued by his classmates, who see through its flimsy premise and pretentious tone.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Actor (Jesse James Crook), Best Post-Production
Topanga Canyon
Director/Writer/Producer: Nikki Lorenzo
Director: Lauren Withrow
Producer: Kelly Silva
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Music Video
Synopsis: An echo of desire in Topanga Canyon gives way to a Baroque-inspired dreamscape.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Music Video
Winners: New York Network Round Features
HASIK
Directors/Producers: Mandy Qua, Marissa Mejia
Country of Origin: Unites States, Philippines
Genre: Feature Documentary
Synopsis: This documentary film shares the stories of seed savers from across the three regions of the Philippines—Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Despite encountering various systemic barriers, these farmers persist in their seed-saving efforts in the hopes of preserving indigenous culture, native biodiversity, and agricultural heritage.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Feature Documentary
Lena and Vladimir
Director: Igor Aleksov
Writer: Aleksandar Rusjakov
Producers: Ilija Ciriviri,Dejan Iliev
Country of Origin: North Macedonia
Genre: Feature narrative
Synopsis: When a mysterious man with a tragic secret shelters a young runaway girl with an abusive past, their unlikely bond challenges them to overcome their haunting past and to find hope in an unexpected place.
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best Feature Narrative
16th Annual Lift-Off Season Awards
The Lift-Off Season Awards is an annual event that celebrates the very best of indie film. Following each Lift-Off film festival, films that have excelled in their respective category are short listed for a Season Awards Nomination. At the end of the year, once all the 12 city-based festival have taken place, the shortlisted nominated films are reviewed again by the jury and Official Nominations are designated. Click here for more information about the Lift-Off Season Awards.