Groundbreaking French Film Godcasting Wins Grand Prize, as New Media Film Festival Announces Award Winners

The New Media Film Festival® has once again set the stage for the future of storytelling, spotlighting a stellar collection of forward-thinking creators who are reshaping the media landscape. With its signature blend of innovation, inclusivity, and imagination, the festival awarded groundbreaking talent across genres—from AI-driven animation to interactive documentaries—demonstrating the limitless potential of modern media. Each selected work serves not just as entertainment, but as a beacon of how technology and creativity can converge to craft experiences that are as meaningful as they are immersive. https://www.newmediafilmfestival.com

Featuring 80 trailblazing New Media projects from 14 countries, this year’s program reflected a global chorus of bold new voices and cultural perspectives. Attendees experienced a wide spectrum of formats, including VR, AR, digital comics, and mobile-first narratives, each offering a unique lens into the evolving art of communication. By championing diversity both in storytelling and in its storytellers, the New Media Film Festival® continues to redefine the boundaries of what a festival can be—where visionary art meets cutting-edge tech to inspire, provoke, and connect.

“I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful this Festival was! Everyone was so supportive & enthusiastic and I was proud to have my work featured alongside some incredible films!” – Emmy® Winner Richard Wilson

Secrets of future cinema

Announcing the 16th New Media Film Festival® Award Winners 2025:

GRAND PRIZE –

Godcasting

Director Florent Agostini from France- Premiere U.S. – Florent was granted a first-film fund from the Corsican regional authorities, this enabled him to direct his first futuristic film, Godcastin, produced by One Shot Film.

Discover the unseen potential

A revolutionary AI-driven cinematic experience integrating social media with interactive storytelling. To integrate new participants into the program it created, an artificial intelligence is developing a new cinematic concept based on an interactive short film and social media.

BEST ANIMATION

Meevil the Weevil: Breakfast of Champions

Director Kyle Arneson from USA – Premiere L.A.

A little bug with big dreams of being a stuntman. “Breakfast of Champions” mixes stop motion animation with live action footage where we follow Meevil’s thrilling ride across a 1970s breakfast table on rocket roller skates.

BEST AI –

Nezhaverse – Birth of a Legend

Director Taige Shi from Asia

Dragon King sends its evil powers all over the world.

BEST AR

Penguin Court

Director True Interactive from USA – Premiere World

A digital archive and reconstruction of the Scaife Mansion, a historic building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This project focuses on digitizing and making accessible extensive records and materials from the city archives, including materials related to the Scaife Mansion itself.

BEST ART / Photo

The Rose Garden

Director Christopher Ruane from USA – Premiere World

An art and augmented reality interactive experience. Space and Earth.

BEST CHILDREN

Mint Condition

Director So Man Tsoi from Hong Kong – Premiere L.A.

Lok Chen, a primary school student, was sent by her father to a school that champion perfection. Anything that is less is intolerable. With a grading scheme of either a full 100 or 0, those who fail to perform to perfection will be modified for improvements. Soon, Lok Chen discovers that the system itself is flawed with dystopic intent. Will she survive the system now becomes the question.

BEST DIGITAL COMIC

HALLOWEEN GIRL Book One: Promises to Keep

Writer Emmy Winner Richard T. Wilson from USA

Angsty, teen ghost, Charlotte (aka ‘Halloween Girl’) and supernatural gal pal, Poe battle diabolic, secret society, The Hollow for the soul of Crystal Springs – and their own salvation.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Seizure

Director Matt Durrant from Australia – Premiere L.A.

The film follows a real-time case involving one of the world’s most trafficked commodities, pangolin scales. “Seizure” is a gripping tale of courage, sacrifice and the fierce determination to preserve life in all its forms.

Discover true connection

BEST FAITH and FAMILY

Ever So Faintly I See

Director D. Jason Knowles from USA – Premiere World

In finding a harmony of spirit through creativity in fishing and painting, an artist reminisces about an old friend and realizes that solitude is is not loneliness.

BEST FEATURE

Revival

Director Wendy Fleetwood from USA – Premiere L.A.

Despite Nick’s reluctance to commit to a long-term lease, Emma is desperate to pay her rent, so she agrees to let him move in. Emma slowly starts to fall for Nick, only to find out that he has a shocking and mysterious past.

BEST GAME

Sky of Tides

Director Judith Cheung from Canada

Explore numen9, where the oceans float in the sky. In this rich narrative adventure, Rin D’Lorah sets off to find her missing father with a runaway rebel and a robot with humor settings on max.

BEST METAVERSE

VirtualWorlds Museum

Director Julian Reyes from USA – Premiere World

Venture into unknown

Researcher In Kenzo &AI archivist SEHU teleport to virtual realms, speak to world builders, and catalog virtual world platforms for posterity.

BEST MR

undefined

Beyond the System

Director Fergus Mulligan from Ireland – Premiere L.A.

A worker in a future dystopian world begins to question his place in the production line and takes steps to break free from it.

undefined

BEST MOBILE

Cobbled Strings

Directors Milena Stoykova and Paulina Gegova from Bulgaria – Premiere USA

undefined

Timeless city secrets

The poetry video explains love for the town of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with poems and shots. Plovdiv was founded in 4000 BC and it’s one of the oldest cities in the world and the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe. Today the slogan of the town is “Ancient and eternal”. Shot on iPhone 13 Pro Max.

undefined

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

McKenna Michels Monster

Director Nicholas Nephi Peterson from USA – Premiere L.A. Cast and CrewA female warrior battles her inner demons, embodied in a dark witch, to save the world and free her friends from mental illness.

BEST NEW MEDIA

If  War Comes To You

Director Mathias de Melo Lundegaard from Denmark – Premiere World

An interactive film launched in 10 different language and country versions, set in a fictional war scenario, created to shed light on how the laws of war can reduce suffering in wars and conflicts.

BEST NFT

CharityNFT by Newton Lee – Premiere World for a global community

Through this initiative, festival entrants can see their posters transformed into unique NFTs, enabling them to compete in audience awards while simultaneously contributing to charitable causes.

BEST PILOT

Wizdom

Director Layne Marie Williams from USA – Premiere World

In a world where daylight is scarce, humans live with bionic implants in a colony called Wizdom. Eos, a professional thief, is saved by a strange character, Carbon, who has a higher purpose for Eos and their younger sibling Vayle.

BEST PODCAST

Covering Their Tracks

Director Matthew Slutsky from USA

Uncover hidden truths

Premiere USA

The extraordinary story of a young man’s escape from a moving train bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust, and his fight to hold the French national rail company, the SNCF, accountable for their actions as they later bid for lucrative high-speed rail contracts in the United States.

BEST SCRIPT

The Scorpion Dance

Writer Jon Haller from USA – Premiere World

When a witness coach meets with her new client, the CEO of an entertainment company, she must decide how much she’s willing to help the man who ruined her previous career.

Unleash storytelling potential

Top 3 Scripts – Ace’s Wild III, A Boy Called Freddie & Last Stand at Butte City

BEST SHORT

May Contain: Danger

Director Jennifer Greenstreet from USA, World Premiere

Taste the truth

This film exposes the life-or-death need to normalize food allergies and the difficult choice between staying alive and fitting in. This captivating story reveals how people escape the hijacking of their lives, offering a blueprint for everyone to embrace, understand, and live life fully amidst this growing public health crisis.

BEST SR

Interwoven

Director, Dawn Carpenter from USA U.S. Premiere

In the wake of the textile industry’s decline, a community in North Carolina fights to reclaim its economic future through innovative worker-owned cooperatives and sustainable practices, transforming the remnants of their industrial past into a beacon of hope and resilience for future generations.

BEST STEAM

AI in the Street: Drone Observatory

Directors, Phan and Jeni Lee from Australia L.A. Premiere

Logan is one of the world’s largest drone delivery trial sites. What do locals feel about the presence of commercial and autonomous drone delivery systems in their neighborhood?

BEST STUDENT

Solitude

Writer, Ryan Moore from USA Los Angeles Premiere

The journey of a young man solo traveling through Iceland to understand what it means to be alone.

BEST TRAILER

Atlas Shrugged: A Book Trailer for Ayn Rand’s Masterpiece

Director V Hill from USA

From the perspective of Dagny Taggart, female railroad executive and the main protagonist of the novel, we see a world crumbling around her as she embarks on a mission to find the man behind the destruction… and stop him.

BEST TV

The Crest

Director Aditya Patwardhans from USA

Secrets lie beneath

All too real nightmares of a terrifying mythical creature prompts a teen from the wealthy and powerful Mercer Island to investigate the people closest to her only to unveil layers of deep and dark secrets within and around the island.

BEST VR-360

Back To The Past

Directors Dario Melo Maciel from Brazil, Premiere World

Discover history now

Rui Barbosa is a historic person in Brazil that lived in the later 19th to the 20th century. Famous for being an abolitionist, jurist and politican from the late Empire and the new Republic. He is waiting for his wife to get dressed. They have a party to go soon. While he waits, help him fix a historic scanned car and find out more about his house (that would become a museum later on). This experience uses only hands as controllers to give the viewers an incredible immersive experience using Meta Quest 3. Put your seat belt and come back to the past!

WEB SERIES

Sky of Tides: Alta Ep1

Directors Jason Loftus & Masha Loftus from Canada – Premiere World

In the fractured world of numen9, the oceans float above the sky, and two powerful factions are on the brink of war.

Media Futurist Susan Johnston Hosts New Media Film Festival®, Celebrating Innovation in Storytelling

The New Media Film Festival®, an internationally acclaimed platform for storytelling and technology, proudly announces its latest edition hosted by pioneering media futurist Susan Johnston. As the festival’s Founder and Director, Johnston has been instrumental in shaping the future of media through her visionary approach, bridging the gap between creativity and emerging technologies. Recognized for her contributions to the film industry, Johnston was knighted in 2017 for her outstanding work in arts and humanity. A respected columnist for Rolling Stone and Authority Magazine, she has spent over two decades championing innovative narratives across multiple platforms, reinforcing her role as a leading voice in storytelling evolution. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426856/

About the New Media Film Festival®

Create future visions now

Founded with a mission to merge technology and artistry, the New Media Film Festival® continues to push creative boundaries, offering a global stage for visionary creators. Each year, the festival curates groundbreaking content across emerging mediums, celebrating pioneers in digital storytelling, immersive experiences, and tech-driven narratives. Dedicated to inclusivity and forward-thinking excellence, the festival elevates fresh voices and fosters conversations shaping the future of entertainment. https://www.newmediafilmfestiva.com