Our Own (Les nôtres) directed by Jeanne Leblanc is the winner of the award for Best Narrative Feature at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival’s 12th edition, and MLK/FBI directed by Sam Pollard won for Best Documentary Feature. The award for Best New Mexico Feature went to Truth or Consequences directed by Hannah Jayanti.

Our Own is a social suspense about Magalie, a teenager who after an assault will have no choice but to take back the reins of her own life. Against all odds.

In the documentary MLK/FBI, veteran editor and director Sam Pollard (Two Trains Runnin’) lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover.

In the shadow of the world’s first commercial spaceport, in the small desert town of Truth or Consequences, NM, this experimental documentary follows five residents, set in a near future when space travel has begun. Combining documentary cinema, archival footage, experimental virtual reality worlds and an improvised score by Bill Frisell, the film meditates on progress, history, and how we navigate a sense of loss within ourselves and a changing world.

Jury Award Winners of 12th Santa Fe Independent Film Festival

Best Narrative Feature
Our Own directed by Jeanne Leblanc

Best Documentary Feature
MLK/FBI directed by Sam Pollard

Best New Mexico Feature
Truth or Consequences directed by Hannah Jayanti

Best U.S. Short
Lost Kings directed by Brian Lawes

Best International Short
The Present directed by Farah Nabulsi

Best Documentary Short
My Brother’s Keeper directed by Laurence Topham

Best Animated Short
Grand Adventure Railroad directed by Hsiao-Shan Huang

Best Experimental Short (TIE)
Flora My Dear directed by Dan Janos and Pile directed by Toby Auberg

Best Overall New Mexico Short, Best NM Documentary Short
Mermaids Against Plastic: Tamara directed by Sylvia Johnson

Best New Mexico Narrative Short
Away, Together directed by Sana Malik