CEFF 2025 Awards: Full Winners and Highlights from a Bold Festival
Why the CEFF 2025 Awards Matter
The CEFF 2025 awards celebrated the boldest voices in indie cinema this year, from queer road movies to poetic animation and feminist shorts.
The 14th edition of the Champs‑Élysées Film Festival (June 17–23, 2025) celebrated bold, independent cinema in all its forms—shorts, mid-lengths, and features, from both France and the U.S. Screenings took place at iconic venues such as Publicis, Le Balzac, and Le Mac Mahon, showcasing unique visual and narrative worlds.
This year’s closing ceremony took place in a charged atmosphere: the official feature and short film juries resigned just two days after the festival had begun. Their departure followed the controversial dismissal of Jean-Marc Zekri, director of the Reflet Médicis cinema in Paris, and investigative reports on Maison Dulac’s management practices by Le Mondeand Libération.
The press jury—Brigitte Baronnet (AlloCiné), Frédéric Mercier (Positif, Transfuge), and Raphaëlle Pireyre (AOC)—chose to stay. At the closing ceremony, they delivered a powerful plea for a more compassionate cinematic world, something desperately needed today.
As a result, this year’s spotlight turned to the Audience Award, a new Distributors’ Prize, and the Press Jury distinctions.
Outstanding Discoveries
As a long-time attendee, I was once again captivated by this festival. I discovered queer and feminist gems—both recent and classic—watched dazzling shorts, attended a compelling masterclass with Céline Song, and caught the French premiere of her upcoming film Materialist (out July 2), at the closing night.
And of course, the rooftop with its breathtaking views, lively music, and energetic vibes delivered once again. A beautiful edition. Let’s hope this vital space for underrepresented voices can continue next year.
CEFF 2025 Audience Awards: What the Public Chose
French Feature – ARCO (Ugo Bienvenu)
A poetic and futuristic animated film.
Arco, a boy from planet 2932, falls into the past (2075) through a rainbow. A hopeful odyssey, co-produced by Natalie Portman.
American Feature – Familiar Touch (Sarah Friedland)
An intimate portrait exploring memory, relationships, and emotion, selected in the U.S. competition.
Mid-Length – Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child (Ne réveillez pas l’enfant qui dort, Kevin Aubert)
A poignant drama about 15-year-old Diamant, a teen resisting conformity, navigating between introspection and family tension.
French Short – Malina (Ana Blagojević)
A lyrical and existential dive into the self—my personal favorite.
American Short – Metal (Samuel McIntosh)
A visceral sensory journey through contemporary emotions, praised for its sensitivity and formal innovation.
CEFF 2025 Discovery Jury Awards
Mid-Length (tie): Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child and Au bain des dames (Margaux Fournier)
French Short: Grands Garçons (Chriss Itoua)
American Short: Trapped (Sam & David Cutler-Kreutz)
A bold, formally ambitious selection revealing promising new talents.
CEFF 2025 Press Jury Awards
French Feature – L’Engloutie (Louise Hémon)
A poetic Alpine tale set in 1899. In a snowbound, remote village, a republican schoolteacher upends the status quo.
American Feature – Dreams in Nightmares (Shatara Michelle Ford)
A queer psychological road movie following three Black women searching for a missing friend—praised for its originality and intensity.
France Télévisions Special Mention
Special mention: Au bain des dames by Margaux Fournier, also honored by the Discovery Jury.
CEFF 2025 Awards: Focus on Major Works
ARCO
Winner of the prestigious Cristal for Best Feature at Annecy 2025. This poetic animated film, produced by Natalie Portman, meditates on time and humanity through a tender, time-traveling journey.
Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child
This Senegalese-Cameroonian short (in Wolof and French) follows teen Diamant as she pushes against social expectations. Winner of Berlinale 14plus, it explores the dream of self-liberation.
L’Engloutie
Louise Hémon’s debut fiction, featured at Cannes 2025 Directors’ Fortnight, is a visually and emotionally rich story wrapped in snow and silence.
Dreams in Nightmares
Critically acclaimed, this film powerfully embodies queer, intergenerational cinema driven by Black bodies, negative space, and poignant silences.
CEFF 2025 Awards: What This Festival Reveals
This year’s Champs-Élysées Film Festival honored a vibrant mosaic of voices—from animation to personal documentaries, from sensory shorts to major narrative features. Women filmmakers, independent creators, queer identities, and diasporic perspectives underscored the vitality and depth of both European and American independent cinema.
Call to the Community
Which films did you watch? Which ones moved you, surprised you, stayed with you?
Let us know in the comments, share with fellow cinephiles, and keep the conversation alive.
