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

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The Saint Andrew Award for Best Picture

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The The Zagreb School Award for Best Animation

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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..

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.