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.