GFF 2025 Award Description

Award Categories:

1.     Ginkgo Award

The Ginkgo Award celebrates teams of young filmmakers who achieve outstanding performance across all creative aspects, including creativity, innovation, and storytelling. The Ginkgo Award is considered the most prestigious award of the festival and will be handed to the film crew of the team who has achieved the highest total marks in the Short Film Rubric out of 35, in the distinctions: ES, MS, and HS, with subcategories of Documentary, Narrative, and Animation for each age group.

2.     Best Performance

The Best Performance Award is presented to young actors who deliver an excellent portrayal of character, highlighting emotional depth, authenticity, and dynamic relationships. Five students will be nominated by the judges to be graded individually for their performance. This award recognizes the individual actor who achieves the highest total marks in the Best Performance rubric, which will encompass participants of all ages and performances from the genres, narrative and animation.

3.     Best Editing

The Best Editing Award recognizes the editors of a film who demonstrate outstanding skills in pacing, continuity, and seamless integration of scenes, shaping the film’s thematic message and emotional impact. This award will be presented to the editing team of the film which achieves the highest total mark in the Editing criteria of the Short Film Rubric out of 5, with special consideration the Originality & Creativity and Audience Suitability criteria, along with memorable and unique attributes.

4.     Best Screenplay

The Best Screenplay Award is presented to writer(s) whose script stands out for its outstanding pacing, compelling and consistent storyline, and effective structure and dialogue. This award will be presented to the writing team of the film which achieves the highest total mark in the Screenplay criteria of the Short Film Rubric out of 5, with special consideration the Originality & Creativity and Audience Suitability criteria, along with memorable and unique attributes.

5.     Best Cinematography

The Best Cinematography Award is presented to the cinematographers, directors, and camera operators whose film demonstrates technical mastery in lighting, camera movement, composition, and color, using unique and effective visual storytelling to enhance the film’s emotional and thematic impact. The award will be presented to the camera and lighting department of the film which achieves the highest total mark in the Cinematography criteria of the Short Film Rubric out of 5, with special consideration of the Originality & Creativity and Audience Suitability criteria, along with memorable and unique attributes.

6.     Cinematic Reflection Award

The Cinematic Reflection Award celebrates the film which most impactfully reflects the theme of this year’s Ginkgo Film Festival. The award will be presented to the film crew of the project which achieves the highest total mark in the Relevance to Festival Theme criteria of the Short Film Rubric out of 5, with special consideration the Originality & Creativity and Audience Suitability criteria, along with memorable and unique attributes.

7.     Viewer’s Choice Award

The Viewers’ Choice Award recognizes the film that had the most substantial overall impact to the live audience. This award is the only audience-judged award, and its result is determined by live audience voting and recognizes the film most popular amongst fellow filmmakers and the local community. The award allows the viewers to engage directly in the festival and celebrate their favorite films.

SHORT FILM RUBRIC

BEST PERFORMANCE RUBRIC