13/06/2025 - European productions have also triumphed across the different sidebars, spanning shorts, documentaries and gaming

l-r: Urska Djukic's Little Trouble Girls, Nayra Ilic García's Cuerpo Celeste, and Tanaz Eshaghian and Farzad Jafari's An Eye for an Eye

The 2025 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival (4-15 June) is about to conclude, and there’s been a strong showing for European and international talents across its major competition strands.

Among the biggest winners were Happy Birthday by Egypt’s Sarah Goher, which scooped Best International Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature and the Nora Ephron Award, and the coming-of-age drama Cuerpo Celeste [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Nayra Ilic García (Chile/Italy), which snagged the Special Jury Mention for International Narrative Feature. Sold by Intramovies and set in 1990s Chile, it centres on Celeste, a carefree 15-year-old girl whose life changes drastically and unexpectedly. In an uncertain nation going through a transition of its own, Celeste is thrust into an adult world where she must grow up faster than she could have ever imagined.

Meanwhile, Urska Djukic’s Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a co-production between Slovenia, Italy, Croatia and Serbia, won Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature for the work of Lev Predan Kowarski. Premiered at this year’s Berlinale, the pic follows 16-year-old Lucia, a reserved student at a Catholic school, who joins an all-girl choir and strikes up a close friendship with the magnetic Ana-Maria. During a retreat at a rural convent, Lucia develops an attraction to a restoration worker, unsettling the dynamic with Ana-Maria and the rest of the choir. As she explores her emerging sexuality, Lucia begins to question her faith, sparking tension and inner conflict.

Several European countries had a noticeable presence across the documentary and shorts competitions as well. Denmark’s An Eye for an Eye, co-directed by Tanaz Eshaghian and Farzad Jafari, received a Special Jury Mention for Documentary Feature, along with the gong for Best Editing in a Documentary Feature. In animation, the Best Animated Short Award was bestowed upon Playing God, a co-production between Italy and France, while Italy was also behind Mark Franchetti and Andrew Meier’s Natasha, which received a Special Jury Mention for Documentary Short and was co-produced with Russia. Moreover, Beyond Silence by Marnie Blok (Netherlands) was crowned as Best Narrative Short.

Next up, the Viewpoints Award was granted to A Bright Future, a Uruguayan-Argentinian-German co-production helmed by Lucia Garibaldi. Meanwhile, the Tribeca Games Award went to the French title Cairn, and Best Short in the Tribeca X Award section was picked up by First Speech, directed by Italy’s Giordano Maestrelli for Reporters Without Borders.

Tribeca Festival director and SVP of programming Cara Cusumano remarked: “Every year at Tribeca, we set out to spotlight the most exciting new voices from around the world. We are thrilled that our jury honoured this mission with winners that brilliantly represent the vibrancy and diversity of global independent storytelling today.”

The winners of the Audience Awards will be announced at a later stage.

Here is the list of this year’s award winners:

International Narrative Competition

Best International Narrative Feature
Happy Birthday – Sarah Goher (Egypt)
Special Jury Mention
Cuerpo Celeste [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Nayra Ilic García (Chile/Italy)

Best Performance
Andrea Riseborough, Brenda Blethyn - Dragonfly [+see also:
film review
film profile] (UK)

Best Screenplay
Mohamed Diab, Sarah Goher – Happy Birthday

Best Cinematography
Lev Predan Kowarski – Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Slovenia/Italy/Croatia/Serbia)

Documentary Competition

Best Documentary Feature
Natchez - Suzannah Herbert (USA)
Special Jury Mention
An Eye for an Eye – Tanaz Eshaghian, Farzad Jafari (Denmark/Iran/USA)

Best Editing
Soren B Ebbe, Hayedeh Safiyari – An Eye for an Eye
Special Jury Mention
Pablo Proenza – Natchez

Best Cinematography
Chance Falkner, Johnny Friday - The Last Dive (USA)
Special Jury Mention
Noah Collier – Natchez

Shorts Competition

Best Narrative Short
Beyond Silence - Marnie Blok (Netherlands)
Special Jury Mention
Chasing the Party - Jessie Komitor (USA)

Best Animated Short
Playing God – Matteo Burani (Italy/France)
Special Jury Mention
Petra and the Sun - Malu Furche, Stefania Malacchini (Chile)

Best Documentary Short
I hope this email finds you well – Asia Zughaiar (Palestine)
Special Jury Mention
Natasha – Mark Franchetti, Andrew Meier (Italy/Russia)

Viewpoints

Viewpoints Award
A Bright Future – Lucia Garibaldi (Uruguay/Argentina/Germany)
Special Jury Mention
Kites - Walter Thompson-Hernandez (Brazil)

Other awards

Best New Narrative Director Award
Lorraine Jones Molina, Cristian Carretero – This Island (Puerto Rico)

Tribeca Games Award
Cairn (France)

Nora Ephron Award
Happy Birthday – Sarah Goher

Tribeca X Award – Best Short
First Speech – Giordano Maestrelli (Italy)

Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director
Augusto Zegarra - Runa Simi (Peru)
Special Jury Mention
Rowan Haber – We Are Pat (USA)