Error, 'Zoe' Among Leading Winners at the 20th Poppy Jasper International Film Festival

      Mistake, a drama centered on an intersex birth, and Zoe, a romantic comedy about a woman who receives a magical opportunity to experience three different lives, were among the top awardees at the 20th Poppy Jasper International Film Festival.

      Written and directed by Honey Lauren, Mistake secured the award for best drama feature. Zoe, crafted by Emanuela Galliussi and directed by both Galliussi and Dean Matthew Ronalds, was honored as the best comedy feature. The best documentary feature award went to Bird of Four Hundred Voices, directed by James Hall.

      During her introductory remarks for the festival, Poppy Jasper festival director Mattie Scariot reflected on her hometown of Gilroy, which co-hosts the festival and was once a quiet agricultural community with a population of under 10,000.

      Currently, the area — located between Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay — is rapidly expanding, and the festival is evolving alongside it. Since Scariot assumed leadership in 2018, the festival has broadened its reach from its initial venue in Morgan Hill to include nearby locations such as Hollister, San Martin, San Juan Bautista, and Gilroy, showcasing 300 films from across the globe.

      MovieMaker was excited to be present and to witness award-winning films like “Clean Girl” and American Comic, along with many other impressive selections.

      You can find our interview with Lauren about Mistake here, and explore our other coverage of the film festival here.

      Below is the complete list of winners, as provided by the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival:

      Best College Film

      We Know It Was You

      Local Short:

      So Cal Drama – Headbang

      Nor Cal – Life Support

      Local Horror:

      Nor Cal – Clean Girl

      So Cal – Don’t Watch This

      Local Comedy:

      NorCal – Bike Short

      SoCal – Giving Mom the Talk

      Local Feature:

      NorCal – The Mother, the Menacer and Me

      SoCal – American Comic

      Local Documentary:

      NorCal – Ben Between Africa9

      SoCal – Monster Slayer

      Women Directed

      Comedy – Egg Timer

      Drama – I Want to go to Moscow

      Doc Short – Lesson’s Learned from Cotulla

      Doc Feature – Window on Death Row

      Feature – Honeyjoon

      Animation:

      Local – Hamsters

      Short – Intergalactic Expansion

      Comedy

      Feature – Zoe

      Short – Check Please

      Documentary

      Feature – Bird of 400 Voices

      Short – Swim Sistas

      Drama

      Short – The Dog That Couldn’t Bark

      Feature – Mistake

      Horror

      Short – Pearls

      Comedy – Don’t Look Out

      Sci-Fi:

      Short: Cosmic Crusaders

      Thriller:

      Short – Scratch

      LGBTQ

      Drama – Clutter

      Comedy – I Hate Helen

      Feature – T

      Documentary – Old Girl In A Tutu

      Horror – Sleepeater

      Local – So Cal – All You Need

      Local – Nor Cal – Last Bite

      Mexico y Tú

      Nor Cal – Motos

      So Cal – Unveiled

      Feature – Censurada

      Feature Documentary – From Here From There

      Short Documentary – Lessons Learned from Cotulla

      Drama – A Matter of Time

      Comedy – Vampire

      Horror – Magical Meats

      VR –

      Dolphins of the Reef

      3D – The Crown with a Shadow & the Search for Self!

      Filmmaking For Change – Remaining Native

      Director’s Circle:

      Dating Mark Silcox

      Hot Mess

      The Sentry

      Dale

      Mantel

      Topspin

      Man and The Mattress

      The Callback

      Needle and Thread

      Legend of Fry Roti

      Mano of the House

      Cherry B

      Our screeners, who reviewed over 100 films, selected their top 10.

      Andrea Ureno’s Top 10 List:

      Hot Mess

      She Chose War

      The Last Gunfight

      Mistake

      Horndribbles

      Remaining Native

      Eternal Mother

      The Window on Death Row

      Flowers from Beyond the Dark

      Lay Lefty Down

      Guillermo’s Top 10

      Fireflies in the Dusk

      It Happened: The Judy Tenuta Story

      Dobrina

      Fountain (Chawk)

      Topspin

      All You Need

      Arman

      T

      Decode Me

      Minus 18 Degrees Celsius

      Eros Molina:

      Two Sisters

      Check Please

      Are you a friend of Dorothy?

      Earboy

      Saverio

      Commonality of Tyranny

      The Clock

      Off-License

      Farewell Paris

      DALE

      Kare

      Love Eternal

      Cast Out

      Birthday

      Palindrome (Canada)

      Over

      The Confection

      A Mary Can Dream

      Muses

      The Little Ancestor

      I Want To Go To Moscow

      Robyn Carillo:

      The Third Child

      Cast Out

      Horndribbles

      Till Death Do Us Part

      Over

      Remaining Native

      The Little Ancestor

      Patience (Sabali)

      What the Heaven

      Check Please