The New York Sci-fi Film Festival Announces 5th Annual Award Winners

The Distant Jump Wins Best Sci-Fi Feature

Rufus Takes Home Best Supernatural Feature

The New York Science Fiction Film Festival has announced the award winners for its fifth annual event, which presented a lineup of films, discussions, virtual reality, and screenplay and graphic novel competitions. Screenings were held on September 19-20 in Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information, visit https://www.newyorksci-fifest.com.

Congratulations to the award winners of The 2025 The New York Science Fiction Film Festival:

Best Sci-Fi Feature
The Distant Jump — East Coast Premiere
Director Vinnie Hogan
USA, 54 min
A criminal organization abducts Jennifer’s daughter in order to harness her supernatural gifts and jump to a distant, alternate reality.

Best Supernatural Feature
Rufus — East Coast Premiere
Director: Mars Roberge
Canada, 90 min
A man in the hood, Rufus, tells five disturbing dark stories to his family and friends against his wife’s will that includes a mortician working on the wrong night, a singer who learns about entertainment corruption, the future of adoption, medical malpractice and the cost of war.

Best Feature Documentary
Loch Ness: They Created A Monster — East Coast Premiere
Director John MacLaverty, 2023
UK, 90 min
There’s another story about the Loch Ness Monster-one that you don’t know. It’s a tale of monstrous egos, of rivalry, flipper fraud, petrol bomb attacks and sex in caravans.
All is revealed in the hilarious and wild – Loch Ness They Created a Monster, which takes a deep dive into the golden era of Nessie hunting, and uncovers the real monsters.

Best Supernatural Short
Monitus
Director Diego Carli
Italy, 10 min
Four girls are walking in a mountain wood. They have a lively discussion about ethics, particularly concerning a forest fire that they caused a year earlier. During this trip, Rebecca, the main character, will have the opportunity to discover how much nature can be vengeful.

Best Sci-Fi Short
Like Tears in the Rain
Director Chris Delaporte
France, 9 min
An androgyne android is living her last moments on earth, alone. She is desperately chasing random souvenirs lost in her AI hallucinations, as her body is slowly heading to an inevitable decay.

Best Fantasy Short
Treasure imagination
Director Scott Rice
USA, 5 min
A city boy is distraught when his beloved tablet is taken away by his mom. But when he finds a mysterious fedora left on a park bench, his temptation to place it on his head leads to adventure.

Best Culture in Sci-Fi
Selvedge
Director Aleksandra Czenczek
UK, 14 min
In a future world where human and AI people have blended families, one that has been divided against their will tries to reunite at a secret location.

Best Animation
Hept
Director Jorge Baldeon
Ecuador/USA, 5 min
In a post-apocalyptic world, a famished man encounters an abandoned house containing a bountiful feast. Despite mounting suspicion and unease, he continues to consume the enigmatic food. His fears are confirmed when he hears a noise and investigates, leading to a fateful encounter in the depths of the house.

Best AI Short
Fork Man, The Origin Story
Director Raymond Seabert
USA, 13 min
A young boy is tormented by those around him never letting him use a fork to eat his food. He ends up at a Fork Factory where life continues to get complicated and then an evil plan is set in motion that will change the young boy’s life forever.

Best Short Documentary
The Box, The Con, and the Handsomest Man in Fandom
Director Ian Paul Johnston
Canada
Filmmaker Ian Paul Johnston explores the contents of a bookstore box covering more than 60 years of science fiction, horror and fantasy. A personal and lighthearted look at the unique geeks, writers, pranksters, misogynists and loyal fans who made up the early days of fandom.

Best Music Video
Dreams
Director Valentyn Korolkov
Ukraine, 5 min
A spine-chilling dark music video that pulls you into a haunting tale of exorcism, deception, and the terrifying power of the unseen.

Best Trailer
Salem Aftermath Sizzle
Director Tom Phillips
USA
The dialogue in this film clip is derived from the latest research and historical analysis of Ann Putnam. By incorporating newly discovered documents, human behavioral science, and AI, we have reconstructed what Ann likely would have said if given the chance.

Best Web Series
Cromascope
Director Alvaro Beltran Janes
Spain, 20 min
A comedy series made up of 8 episodes. Each one is inspired by different B-series science fiction films from the 1950s,

In addition, awards were given to Halloween Girl: Book 2 (Best Graphic Novel), The Boy Who Found Infinity (Best Feature Sci-Fi Screenplay), Sacred Sun (Best Feature Supernatural Screenplay), Moonshot (Best Short Screenplay), and Haven (Best World Building Screenplay).

About The New York Science Fiction Film Festival:
Founded in 2017, The New York Science Fiction Film Festival celebrates freedom of expression and the unique approaches of independent filmmakers as a merit to the science fiction, horror, supernatural, and fantasy genres. By honoring a groundbreaking past and looking ahead to an unprecedented future, the festival is committed to encompassing the brilliance of film.

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