NewFilmmakers Los Angeles has announced the nominees for the 10th annual Best of NFMLA Awards.

NFMLA is a nonprofit organization that supports emerging filmmakers and artists through a monthly series of screenings and events in Los Angeles. The nominees for its Best of NFMLA slate are comprised of films that have screened as part of the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival selection in 2021. This year, the awards honor 125 nominees across 16 categories, including achievements in features, documentaries, shorts, experimental media and a best new filmmaker award.

“We are so proud to be able to highlight the incredible talent of all of our nominees, who have each created such inspiring work,” NFMLA programming director Bojana Sandic said in a statement.

$15,000 will be provided to select Best of NFMLA winners, a practice that began last year to celebrate the career of recently passed producer Anthony Rhulen, who launched the indie producing company FilmEngine.

“We were able to make these funds available for the first time beginning in 2021 thanks to the Walter and Judy Rhulen Family Foundation, to continue celebrating what was very dear to Anthony, championing new storytellers and independent cinema,” NFMLA executive director and co-founder Larry Laboe said in a statement. “During last year’s awards, these funds were allocated to support filmmakers such as Alberto Belli and Rami Kodeih. We’re excited to make another investment on behalf of Anthony and the Rhulen family in 2022 to continue supporting diverse voices.”

View the full list of nominees at the Best of NFMLA awards below.

Feature
“Alberto and the Concrete Jungle”
“Beans”
“Fall Back Down”
“Igilbert”
“Pacarrete”
“White Elephant”

Documentary Feature
“A La Calle”
“Another Day in Paradise”
“From Here”
“One Pint at a Time”
“Playland USA”

Documentary Short
“A Syrian Woman”
“Journey to Justice”
“Kite”
“Lockdown Lunch Club”
“Miss Curvy”
“Neurodivergent”
“They Keep Quiet So We Make Noise”
“This is the Way We Rise”
“Why Didn’t You Stay for Me?”
“Women of the Earth”

New Media and Experimental
“A Machine for Boredom”
“Femme Queen Chronicles – Episode One: The Clock”
“Hijos Del Sol”
“Last Black Man”
“Livin’ in the Light”
“Sarah Mary Chadwick ‘Full Mood’”
“The Grief Cube”
“The Lights Are On, No One’s Home”
“The Ugliest”
“Zeta Project”

Animated Short
“After a Storm”
“Camouflage”
“Creatures in my House”
“Kapaemahu”
“Little Miss Fate”
“Misery Loves Company”
“On Wenlock Edge”
“Souvenir Souvenir”
“The Fire Next Time”
“Umbilical”

International Comedy
“At the Back”
“Becca”
“Down”
“Egg Rebelled”
“Extra Safe”
“First”
“Friends Online”
“Mustachio”
“The Birth of Valerie Venus”
“Trashed”

International Drama
“An Uninvited Guest”
“Basurero”
“In Orbit”
“In This Land We’re Briefly Ghosts”
“Marlon Brando”
“Nervosa”
“The Departure”
“The Fans”
“The Tongues (Njoukcamat)”
“Under the Heavens (Seiva Bruta)”

Drama Short
“Adrift in Sunset”
“At Last”
“Augustus”
“Aziz”
“Huella”
“In France Michelle is a Man’s Name”
“Mino: A Diasporic Myth”
“Sweet Potatoes”
“Twobears”
“Yellow Girl and Me”

Comedy Short
“Date Night”
“Designated Rider”
“Friends Like That”
“I Make Good Sounds at Parties”
“Litany for Mr. President”
“Must Love Pie”
“My First Native American Boyfriend”
“The Occult Son”
“They Fly By Night”
“Two Weeks Notice”

Screenplay
Alex Greenlee: “Intrepidus”
Arnold Mwanjila: “Taliya”
Ashunda Norris: “Mino: A Diasporic Myth”
Em Weinstein: “In France Michelle is a Man’s Name”
Eric Brewster and JJ Shpall: “Date Nite”
Federico Torrado Toban: “Yoruga”
Richard Gretsky: “A Blossom In the Night”
Roberto Saieh: “La Ruta”
Rommel Villa Barriga: “Sweet Potatoes”
Thessa Meijer: “Nervosa”

Performance, Drama
Ari Damasco: “In France Michelle is a Man’s Name”
Ayinde Howell: “Augustus”
Dior Wilson: “Yellow Girl and Me”
Jericho Rosales: “Basurero”
Kazem Hashem Zadeh: “Elders”
Marcelia Cartaxo: “Pacarrete”
Nora El Koussour: “Nervosa”
Reise Alexander: “Juliet”
Richard Walters: “An Uninvited Guest”
Shakira Barrera: “Huella”

Performance, Comedy
Ahya Simone: “Femme Queen Chronicles – Episode One: The Clock”
Alejandro Santoni: “Alberto and the Concrete Jungle”
Alex Urbom: “They Fly By Night”
Amanda McQueen: “Becca”
Bill Tangradi: “They Fly By Night”
Dominic Best: “Litany for Mr. President”
Jaime Lyn Beatty: “Designated Rider”
Jane Guernier: “The Birth of Valerie Venus”
Josh Brener: “Date Nite”
Russell Goldman: “I Make Good Sounds At Parties”

Cinematography
Benjamin Schindler
Bruno Gaeta
Dewun Owusu
Luke Sargent
Matt Edwards

Film Editing
Adithya Sambamurthy and Nathan Caswell
Christina Antonakos-Wallace and Aletta Von Vietinghoff
Isao Furugori
Ramiel Petros
Richelle Van Loon

Sound Design
Dan Golden
Jose Pablo Ramirez
Marc Cartwright
Sam Fan
Vasily Lebedev

Score
Daniel Norman, Sholto Kynoch and Brodsky Quartet (Gina McCormack, Ian Belton, Paul Cassidy and Jacqueline Thomas)
Fred Silveira
Kevin Sargent
Ola Kostet
Onry

In addition to announcing the nominees, NFMLA also announced the jury members who will vote to determine the winners of this year’s awards. The jury will include: Alex Villalta of TriStar Television, writer and producer Anthony Sparks, Antonio D’Intino of Circle of Confusion, Bettina Fisher of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Bronwen Carter of HBO, Caellum Allan of TriStar Pictures, Caleb Ward of Highland Film Group, Cameron Cubbison of Zero Gravity Management, Casey Meurer of HBO Max, Charlotte Lichtman of ICM Partners, Charnay Mather of Anonymous Content, Chris Gray of Freestyle Digital Media, Christine Davila of Ojala Productions (UCP), Daniela Gonzalez of Good Fear Content, writer and director Dinh Thai, Elyse Findley of Disney Television Animation, documentary filmmaker Emily Cohen Ibañez, Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs of Sundance Institute, filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, HFPA President Helen Hoehne, Ivonne Cotorruelo of the Cleveland International Film Festival, Janne Barklis, Mark Hartogsohn and Sean Barclay of the Gersh Agency, Jazz Tangcay of Variety, Jessica Zou of Verve, Kim Williams and Kristi Shuton of Walt Disney Television, Mike Wheet of Samsung TV, Mona Xia of Netflix, Nic Cha Kim of PBS SoCal and KCET, Ozi Menakaya of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Rachel Jones of Starz, Ryan Bernstein of Endeavor Content, Sandino Moya-Smith of MetroGoldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Tamika Lamison of the DGA/AICP’s Commercial Directors Diversity Program.