CDFF 2021 Award Winners and Selected Films

Festival Host Diana Lu

  • A Special Dinner - Dir. Haley Pine, Brendan Egan (Best Young Filmmaker)

  • An Uninvited Guest - Dir. Richard B. Pierre (Best Experimental Film)

  • Bandwidth - Dir. Pat Battistini, Robert Francke (Best Comedy)

  • Boy and the Mountain, The - Dir. Santiago Aguilera, Gabriel Monreal (Best Animation)

  • Brown Sounds - Dir. Jeremy Adonis, Raehann Bryce-Davis (Best Producer)

  • Call of the Djembe - Dir. Catherine Veilleux (Best Soundtrack)

  • Co-Op - Dir. Nina Sanchez Miller (Best Music Video)

  • Crossroads in Jackson Heights - Dir. Valeria Angel (Best Editing)

  • Durga - Dir. Alok Saha (Ink Tip Prize)

  • Fly Myself Home - Dir, Jose Restrepo (Best New Voice)

  • Gaman - Dir. Ben Tomimatsu (Best Student Film)

  • Grandmother's Voice: Healing the Scars of Colonialism - Dir. Jarrod Stark (Best Historical Film)

  • I, Dido - Dir. Penelope Shales-Slyne (Best Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Actress - Chante Faucher)

  • IDMacG "Mouth Music" - Dir. Iain MacGillivray

  • In Between Lands - Dir. Laura Griffin (Best First Time Filmmaker)

  • It's Time - Dir. Chris Rouse (Ink Tip Prize)

  • Jordan Hart "Freedom" - Dir. Michael Joseph McDonald, Joe Bluhm (Best Original Song)

  • Misfit - Steve Segal (Best California Filmmaker, Best Original Score)

  • Mohenjo Daro - The Cradle of Civilization - Dir. Razaq Baloch, Adil Bizinjo

  • Olive Tree, The - Dir. Yuxin Zhao

  • Once a Hero - Dir. Andrew Kadikian (Best Sound Design)

  • Puntos de Vida: Threads of Life- Dir. James Hall (Ink Tip Prize)

  • Shojon "Theorem" - Dir. Craig Heathcote

  • The Skin You're In - Dir. Thomas LaVeist (Best Socially Conscious Film)

  • Songs of the Sea: Traditional Fisherfolk Songs of Hong Kong - Dir. Claudia Hinterseer (Best Short Documentary)

  • SPARK: A Systemic Racism Story - Dir. Stephanie Gegax

  • Strings of the Heart - Dir. Tergel Purevdorj (Audience Choice Award - Online)

  • Through Darkness I See You - Dir. Jesika Kula (Best Drama)

  • TRY - Dir. Megan Ebor (Best Ensemble)

  • Unconventional - Dir. Denise Khumalo (Best Inspirational Film)

  • Until Next Bite - Dir. Tehniyat Shaikh (Best Short Short)

  • We, The Voyagers: Our Moana - Dir. Mirianne George, Jacob Penchansky, Dixon Holland, H. M. Wyeth (Best Feature Documentary, Best Director)

  • Writing to Reach You - Dir. Neil P. George (Best International Film)

  • What? - Dir. Alex Lev (Best Feature Film, Best Actor - John Maucere, Audience Choice Award - Theater)

  • Who's Waldo? - Dir. Phillip Ty Moore (Best Original Screenplay)

Diana is a Los Angeles-based actor, writer and producer who is well known in Hollywood for her dedication and passion. She has appeared on television in Fox's 9-1-1, Hawaii Five-O, NCIS: Los Angeles, Brooklyn Nini-Nine, The Bold and the Beautiful, and in various independent films, including the HBO Outfest short Hero Mars and the Asian-American comedy film Ru. Diana will be hosting all filmmaker interviews and Q&A sessions at the festival, both online and at Raleigh Studios.