Frameline presents multiple awards during the annual San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Most awards are handed out onstage on the final in-person day of the Festival. The 2025 award winners, which were honored at Frameline49, are listed below.

Since 1984, our audience has been responsible for selecting the Audience Awards for Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature — as well as audience prizes for short films and episodics at different points in the Festival history. The 2025 winners, which were announced at Frameline49, are as follows:

• Frameline49 Audience Award for Narrative Feature: (tie) Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day (Lijepa večer, lijep dan), directed by Ivona Juka, and Castration Movie: Pt. I, directed by Louise Weard
• Frameline49 Audience Award for Documentary Feature: WICKET, directed by Lily Plotkin

Please Note: All past Frameline Audience Award winners are archived on our website.

For over 20 years, Frameline has presented the annual juried Outstanding First Narrative Feature Award to a notable narrative feature from an emerging voice in LGBTQ+ cinema. Since 2020, Frameline is proud to partner with the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle to jury this award.

• The Nature of Invisible Things (A Natureza das Coisas Invisíveis), directed by Rafaela Camelo

“Beautiful, deep, funny — Brazilian director Rafaela Camelo has composed an intimate tour de force that begins with two little girls, the daughters of nurse and patient, desperate to be noticed.Their summer of finding who they are, the end of invisibility, will evoke longing and a sense of loss they won’t soon forget — nor will we. The Nature of Invisible Things is among the best of international cinema this year and we may expect to see their nomination at the Academy Awards.” — Jury Statement, San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Lucky, Apartment (럭키, 아파트), directed by Kangyu Garam
• Plainclothes, directed by Carmen Emmi

Each year, juries convene during the Festival to recognize standout films in the Outstanding Documentary Feature, Outstanding Narrative Short, and Outstanding Documentary Short categories. Below are the 2025 winners, which were honored at Frameline49.

• I’m Your Venus, directed by Kimberly Reed

“On behalf of our team, we are deeply honored. This film is a call to action and a testament to the brilliance, resilience, and love within Black and Latinx queer and trans communities. It sets a precedent for honoring our lives and legacies—showing that when someone claims their truth, it deserves celebration, not violence. That is exactly what Venus embodied, and what this film so powerfully affirms.” —Jonovia Chase and the I’m Your Venus film team

HONORABLE MENTION

• The Librarians, directed by Kim A. Snyder

• The Eating of an Orange, directed by May Kindred-Boothby

HONORABLE MENTION

• An Odd Turn (Un movimiento extraño), directed by Francisco Lezama

• Tessitura, directed by Lydia Cornett & Brit Fryer

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• AutoErotica: We Buy Gay Stuff, directed by Jeremy von Stilb
• Thanks, Babs!, directed by Jen Rainin & Rivkah Beth Medow

Please Note: All the past Frameline Juried Award Winners are archived on our website.

The Out in the Silence Award is an annual honor conferred to an outstanding film project that highlights brave acts of visibility, especially in places where such acts are rare and unexpected because of the dominant systems that make it difficult for LGBTQ+ people to live authentic lives. The Out in the Silence Award is generously underwritten by longtime film community members Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson.

• 2025 Out in the Silence Award: The Secret of Me, directed by Grace Hughes-Hallett

Since 2023, Frameline has worked in collaboration with the Colin Higgins Foundation (CHF) to present Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Grants to emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers. In addition to receiving up to $15,000 in cash prizes, the grantees are given the opportunity to attend the 11-day San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

The Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Grants program is open to LGBTQ+ filmmakers under the age of 25 who currently reside in the United States. To apply, submit your film to Frameline50, the 50th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, when the application window opens in late 2025.

• AJ Dubler & Carmela Murphy for A Bird Hit My Window and Now I’m a Lesbian
• Remi Gabriel for Barbie Boy

Frameline is one of the partner festivals for the Iris Prize in the United Kingdom. Each year, Frameline nominates one short film for the annual Iris Prize, one of the top LGBTQ+ film honors in the world. The Iris Prize for short film comes with a £40,000 cash prize — the largest cash prize for shorts in the world. Dee Rees’ Pariah, a Frameline Completion Fund recipient, was the inaugural Iris Prize winner for shorts in 2007.