NEW YORK—The 12th Edition of the Socially Relevant Film Festival in-person section closed on March 16 at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York. The Festival opened at the National Arts Club on March 11 and ran at Columbia University’s Forum, MRHS, and Cinema Village.
The festival covers social issues, totaling 45 films this year. The official selection is available on the website. The main themes are Black History, BIPOC films, Aging and Disability, Women, LGBTQI+, and more. The online section can be accessed here.
The festival’s Honor Awardee is Karren Karagulian of “Anora,” who received the Cinematic Achievement Honor Award of SRFF 2025. Karagulian thanked the festival, spoke of the importance of this type of film festival, and encouraged independent filmmakers in their efforts to tell socially relevant stories.
The film “Calmer Waters,” directed by Annie Leclair, garnered The Vanya Exerjian Empowering Women Award, which is an award given by Founder Nora Armani in memory of her cousin who was the victim of a hate crime against a woman. The Best Narrative Feature Award went to “In the Name of Fire,” directed by Abhilash Sharma, and Sonalli Sharmisstha won Best Actress for the same film. The Best Actor winner for the feature category is Patrick Séminor in “A Bout de Flouse” by Hassan Hamza. “A Bout de Flouse” won The Best Original Script Award. The Jury Special Prize for the Narrative feature category went to “Afloat,” directed by Aslihan Unaldi. The Documentary Feature Award went to “RARE” directed by Lainey Moseley.
The Best Narrative Short went to “Where Are You Really From?” By Keshav Shree. There were also Best Actor and Best Actress awards for the narrative short, and these went to Paata Inauri and Marisha Urushadze from the Georgian short Jesus Bird directed by Mikhail Kvirikadze. The Documentary Short winner was “A Matter of Time” by Brendan Brandt. The IndiePix Unlimited Vision Awards went to “We Never Left” by Loulwa Khoury and “I Am Gitxsan” by Hossein Fazeli. The Best Screenplay Award went to “Rahma” by Faysal Sosyal, “Amelia Earhart” by Michael J Dunker, second place; and “A Caterpillar’s Tale” by Carlos Perez, Third Place.
The complete list of awards and details may be found here.
“We’re proud of the opportunity to present 795 socially relevant films from 40 countries over the past 12 years. This year’s selection comprised 45 amazing social issue-oriented films from all over the world,” said Festival Founding Artistic Director Nora Armani.
“We also had the honor of presenting a Cinematic Achievement Award to Karren Karagulian, whose authentic and powerful performance as Toros in Sean Baker’s five Academy Award-winning film Anora deserves recognition. Congratulations to the winners, a hearty applause to all participants, and deep gratitude to our sponsors and partners,” she added.
SRFF was founded by Actress/ Filmmaker Nora Armani in 2013, following a family tragedy that killed two of her dearest: cousin Vania and her uncle Jack Exerjian. Armani founded the festival to commemorate them in a meaningful way. SRFF believes in the power of the film medium to raise awareness of social issues and promote positive social change. This new edition deals with Climate Change, LGBTQ Rights, Aging and Disability, Incarceration and Freedom, New York City, and BIPOC cultures.
The Mission of the SR Film Festival is to shine the spotlight on filmmakers who tell compelling, socially relevant, human-interest stories across a broad range of social issues without resorting to gratuitous violence and violent forms of storytelling.
