St Andrews Film Festival

Festival Awards

Our invited juries recognise achievement in short and feature filmmaking. Each winner receives a engraved crystal trophy. Prizes can include film distribution and passes to partner festivals.

Short Film Awards

Icon of Saint Andrew

Best Picture

The Saint Andrew Award

Honours the patron saint of St Andrews and Scotland.

Black-and-white portrait of a man in a suit and tie, with dark hair, looking at the camera.

Best Director

The Alexander Mackendrick Award

Honours the Scottish director whose work helped define Ealing Studios and brought a slow-burning intensity to American cinema.

A middle-aged man with glasses and a beard stands outdoors in front of a building with a metal chimney pipe and windows. He wears a dark button-up cardigan over a red checkered shirt.

Best Dramaturgy

The Jorge Sanjinés Award

Honours the Bolivian filmmaker and founder of the Ukamau group, whose films developed a new language for revolutionary cinema.

An older man with white hair and a mustache, dressed in a black tuxedo and white shirt, smiling and holding a piece of paper.

Best Actor

The Sean Connery Award

Honours the Scottish actor and patron of St Andrews whose performances, including his portrayal of James Bond, left a lasting mark on cinema.

A black and white photo of a woman with short hair, wearing a dark scarf wrapped around her head and neck, outdoors.

Best Actress

The Nevena Kokanova Award

Honours a leading figure of Bulgarian cinema, remembered for the emotional depth of her performances.

Close-up of a middle-aged man wearing a black cap with a kangaroo logo and the word 'KANSOL,' a black jacket, and a black turtleneck, outdoors with a blurred background.

Best Cinematography

The Mahmoud Kalari Award

Honours the Iranian cinematographer whose work brings a poetic eye to some of Iranian cinema’s most distinctive films.

A young woman with short, wavy hair, wearing a striped shirt, is sitting at a desk and working on a computer or writing.

Best Editing

The Lyudmila Feyginova Award

Honours the Russian editor whose approach to montage helped shape the distinctive rhythm of Andrei Tarkovsky’s cinema.

A man in black clothing and a waist sash is crouching in tall grass, holding a sword raised above his head, outdoors with a cloudy sky in the background, captured in black and white.

Best Sound

The Hideo Nishizaki Award

Honours a pioneer of Japanese film sound whose work with Masaki Kobayashi, Nagisa Ōshima and Masahiro Shinoda ranged from social uproar to intimate silence.

Best Animation

The Zagreb School Award

Honours the Zagreb School and its contribution to European animation.

A woman with a short Afro hairstyle looking through a vintage movie camera outdoors.

Best Documentary

The Sara Gómez Award

Honours the Cuban filmmaker who expanded the possibilities of short documentary and used cinema to amplify marginalised voices.

Black and white photo of a man with a serious expression, resting his chin on his hand, looking at the camera.

Best Debut

The Jan Němec Award

Honours the Czechoslovak director whose debut, Diamonds of the Night, brought a striking new voice to cinema about the Holocaust.

Feature Film Awards

A close-up portrait of an elderly man with white hair and a mustache, resting his head on his hand, wearing a light-colored shirt and a wristwatch.

Best Director

The Živojin Pavlović Award

Honours the Serbian and Yugoslav director whose work helped define the Yugoslav Black Wave.

An elderly woman with white hair, wearing a black turtleneck sweater, seated against a red background, smiling slightly, holding eyeglasses in her left hand.

Best Dramaturgy

The Suso Cecchi d’Amico Award

Honours the Italian screenwriter who helped shape neorealism and found drama in the details of everyday life.

Black and white portrait of a man with slicked-back hair and a mustache, wearing a suit jacket and bow tie.

Best Actor

The Ralph Richardson Award

Honours the British stage and screen actor who brought wit and eccentricity to classical performance.

Black and white photograph of a woman with a serious expression, outdoors with a blurred landscape in the background.

Best Actress

The Rosaura Revueltas Award

Honours the Mexican actor whose work connects the Golden Age of Mexican cinema with independent American filmmaking.

Black and white photo of an elderly man with glasses, wearing a dark blazer and turtleneck, looking off to the side with a thoughtful expression.

Best Cinematography

The Witold Sobociński Award

Honours the Polish cinematographer whose sensitivity to movement and composition gave his films a distinctive visual language.

Black and white photo of an older man with light-colored hair, wearing a light shirt and a vest, with a serious facial expression.

Best Editing

The Antonio Ripoll Award

Honours the Argentine editor whose work ranged from noir to political cinema, including The Hour of the Furnaces.

Black and white photo of a man wearing sunglasses, a collared shirt, and a dark sweater or jacket.

Best Sound

The Winston Ryder Award

Honours the British sound pioneer who worked with Stanley Kubrick and David Lean and received the first BAFTA Award for Best Sound for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Festival Awards

Every award comes with a crystal trophy awarded by the judges that are invited each year. The trophy is engraved with the name of the person who has won the award, the name of the film, the name of the award and also has a prize attached. The prizes include a cash prize, film distribution and festival passes to our partnering festival.

Short Film Awards

Orthodox Christian icon of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd holding a cross, standing on a hill with mountains and water in the background, with Russian text on either side of the figure.

The Saint Andrew Award for Best Picture

In honour of the Patron Saint of the Town of St Andrews and of Scotland.

Black-and-white portrait of a man in a suit and tie, with dark hair, looking at the camera.
A middle-aged man with glasses and a beard stands outdoors in front of a building with a metal chimney pipe and windows. He wears a dark button-up cardigan over a red checkered shirt.

The Alexander MacKendrick Award for Best Director

In honour of the Scottish director who heralded the golden age of Ealing Studios and the slow burning political thriller in American cinema.

The Jorge Sanjinés for Best Dramaturgy

In honour of the great Bolivian filmmaker who articulated the principles of revolutionary cinema, founded the Ukamau group, and developed new means of expression through films like Ukamau and Blood of the Condor.

An older man with white hair and a mustache, dressed in a black tuxedo and white shirt, smiling and holding a piece of paper.

The Sean Connery Award for Best Actor

In honour of the beloved Scottish actor, a patron of St Andrews, and the 007 who left his penchant on Scotland and film history.

A black and white photo of a woman with short hair, wearing a dark scarf wrapped around her head and neck, outdoors.

The Nevena Kokanova Award for Best Actress

In honour of the first lady of Bulgarian cinema and an artist whose emotional depth shines through her every word and gesture.

Close-up of a middle-aged man wearing a black cap with a kangaroo logo and the word 'KANSOL,' a black jacket, and a black turtleneck, outdoors with a blurred background.
A young woman with short, wavy hair, wearing a striped shirt, is sitting at a desk and working on a computer or writing.

The Mahmoud Kalari Award for Best Cinematography

In honour of the Iranian cinematographer whose heartfelt artistry has given life to the very best of Iranian cinema and changed the way we see film as poetry.

The Lyudmila Feyginova Award for Best Editing

In honour of the great Russian editor and the woman who 'sculpted time', championing the inward approach to montage that distinguishes the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky.

A man in black clothing and a waist sash is crouching in tall grass, holding a sword raised above his head, outdoors with a cloudy sky in the background, captured in black and white.

The Hideo Nishizaki Award for Best Sound

In honour of the Japanese sound pioneer whose aural creativity was boundless and truly cinematic. Portraying the cacophony of society and the silence of the soul Nishizaki was the ears of the Japanese New Wave and the man behind the works of Masaki Kobayashi, Nagisa Ōshima and Masahiro Shinoda.

A blue logo of a horse with flowing mane and tail above the text 'Zagreb Film'.

The The Zagreb School Award for Best Animation

In honour of Europe's most important school of animation.

A woman with a short Afro hairstyle looking through a vintage movie camera outdoors.

The Sara Gomez Award for Best Documentary

In honour of Cuba's preeminent documentary filmmaker who reinvented the potential of the short form documentary and employed her art sincerely to give a voice to the poor and dispossessed.

Black and white photo of a man with a serious expression, resting his chin on his hand, looking at the camera.

The Jan Němec Award for Best Debut

In honour of Czechoslovak cinema's free voice and the director who made Diamonds of the Night at age 28, one of the most important films about the Holocaust and a film which has a good claim to being the best debut ever made.

Feature Film Awards

A close-up portrait of an elderly man with white hair and a mustache, resting his head on his hand, wearing a light-colored shirt and a wristwatch.

The Živojin Pavlović Award for Best Director

In honour of one of the all-time great directors, a doyen of Serbian and Yugoslav cinema and the director after whose critical aesthetics the famed Yugoslav Black Wave derives its name.

An elderly woman with white hair, wearing a black turtleneck sweater, seated against a red background, smiling slightly, holding eyeglasses in her left hand.

The Suso Cecchi d'Amico Award for Best Dramaturgy

In honour of the Italian screenwriter who singlehandedly wrote neorealism and her lyrical dramaturgy which conveys the poetry of everyday life..

Black and white portrait of a man with slicked-back hair and a mustache, wearing a suit jacket and bow tie.

The Ralph Richardson Award for Best Actor

In honour of the English actor and emblem of British stage and screen who combined the very best of classical performance with genuine eccentricity and good humour.

Black and white photograph of a woman with a serious expression, outdoors with a blurred landscape in the background.

The Rosaura Revueltas Award for Best Actress

In honour of the Mexican actress, an enduring symbol of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema and subversive American cinema.

Black and white photo of an elderly man with glasses, wearing a dark blazer and turtleneck, looking off to the side with a thoughtful expression.

The Witold Sobociński Award for Best Cinematography

In honour of the Polish visionary whose eye for the camera, sensitivity for movement, and grasp of film language remains unique in world cinema.

Black and white photo of an older man with light-colored hair, wearing a light shirt and a vest, with a serious facial expression.

The Antonio Ripoll Award for Best Editing

In honour of the Argentine master editor whose work traverses classical noir to political cinema and who created a new film language through the montage of the 4-hour documentary film The Hour of the Furnaces (Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, 1968).

Black and white photo of a man wearing sunglasses, a collared shirt, and a dark sweater or jacket.

The Winston Ryder Award for Best Sound

In honour of the British sound pioneer responsible for the unforgettable soundscapes of Stanley Kubrick and David Lean and the recipient of the first BAFTA Award for Best Sound for his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey.