Oceanside International Film Festival


The Oceanside International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Oceanside, California. It was founded in 2009 by the Oceanside Cultural Foundation.
WWW osidefilm.org

History

The 11th annual festival was the first in person event since 2019. It ran from February 22-27, 2022. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was held annually in August each year. It was virtual in August 2020, followed up by a virtual "best of" festival in February 2021. This transition was to permanently move the annual festival to February.
Executive director Lou Niles curates the festival along with his wife, director Carly Starr Brullo-Niles. Dmitriv Demidov is the co-chair, Michael E. Vasquez is a committee chair member, and Sterling Anno is the co-programmer.

Notable appearances

Notable attendees include Sally Kirkland, Jon St. John, Amir George, Lee Meriwether, TJ Storm, Shawn Hatosy, Carolina Guerra, Ben Robson, Kate Bosworth, Sanoe Lake, John Stockwell, Taylor Steele, Tony Alva, Joanna Cassidy, Taryn Manning and The Silent Comedy.

Achievement in Film Award

  • 2018: Jarod Bainbridge and Allyssa Bainbridge

Artist Spotlight Award

  • 2025: Surfer on the Jetty by Tom Smith

Emerging Filmmaker Award

  • 2019: Eleri Edwards for The Goat
  • 2020: Yutao Chen for Dirty Business and Cameron Penn for The Roommates
  • 2025: James Valdez for ''Canta Santiago''

Emerging Student Scholarship Award

  • 2019: Laura Nguyen for Hazel

Inspiring Student Scholarship Award

  • 2019: David Pradel for ''The City's Champions''

Lifetime Achievement Award

Oceanside Awareness Award

  • 2015: Stacy Goldberg

Oceanside Impact Award

Oceanside On Screen Award

Oceanside Spotlight Contest

  • 2013: KMR Video Services Oceanside CA Promo by Sam Mattson
  • 2016: Waves N' Craves: Baked Eggs & Spiralized Sweet Potato by Missy Powers
  • 2017: Waves N Craves: The Yummus Episode by Missy Powers

Best Picture

Best Actor in a Lead Role

  • 2009: Mark Nilsson for Ballbusters
  • 2019: Josh Bywater for Part 5B
  • 2020: Numan Cakir for Toprak
  • 2022: Juan Pablo Zamora for Mar & Cielo
  • 2023: Matthew Kim for The Manliest Man
  • 2024: Kyle Minshew for Accidental Stars
  • 2025: Tom Holland for ''Last Call''

Best Actress in a Lead Role

Best Animation (Short or Feature)

  • 2009: Perchance to Dream by Lauren Kimball
  • 2012: Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon by Bradley Schaffer
  • 2015: Tick Tock by Zeynep Kocak
  • * Telling a You by M.Y.R.A. Entertainment
  • 2016: Sea of Ink by Chenxin Yang
  • 2017: Calley MacDonald for A Boy & His Beast ''''
  • 2018: One Small Step
  • 2019: Arna Selznick for The Most Magnificent Thing
  • 2020: Acaiaca
  • 2022: Crusoe
  • 2023: Yellowstone 88 for Song of Fire
  • 2024: Speedman
  • 2025: ''Mutual Tides''

Best Art Direction (Short or Feature)

  • 2019: Rocket Boy
  • 2020: Elsa Mickelson for Leave 'Em Laughing
  • 2022: Katelyn Moger for Never Felt Better
  • 2023: Filter
  • 2024: The Countryman
  • 2025: Keep

Best Cinematography in a Feature

Best Cinematography in a Short

  • 2019: Andrew Daughters for Shaped
  • 2020: Jeff Taylor for Unnur
  • 2022: Johnny Agnew for Young and the Reckless
  • 2023: Robert L. Hunter for Reclaim Your Water: Natasha Smith
  • 2024: Jannis Schelenz for The Countryman
  • 2025: Nate Allen Laverty for ''Creatures of Habit''

Best Direction in a Feature

  • 2009: Joey Lanai for Callous
  • 2019: Benjamin Kasulke for Banana Split
  • 2020: Stephen Keep Mills for Love is Not Love
  • 2022: Jeremy Pion-Berlin for Failure to Protect
  • 2023: Danijela Steinfeld for Hold Me Right
  • 2024: Zeshaan Younus for The Buildout
  • 2025: Ben Judkins for ''The Cigarette Surfboard''

Best Direction in a Short

  • 2019: Erin Martinez for Alone Together
  • 2020: Rami Kodeih for Alina
  • 2022: Melissa Kirkendall for You are Me & I am You
  • 2023: Vivian Ip for An Island Drifts
  • 2024: Emily Bennett for Accidental Stars
  • 2025: Harry Holland for ''Last Call''

Best Editing in a Feature

  • 2019: Chris Gentile for Self-Discovery for Social Survival
  • 2020: Vladislav Grishin for Sockeye Salmon. Red Fish
  • 2022: Jay Keuper and Sean Duggan for Keep It a Secret
  • 2023: Peter Hamblin for Sweet Adventure
  • 2024: Matt Latham for The Buildout
  • 2025: Ben Judkins for ''The Cigarette Surfboard''

Best Editing in a Short

  • 2019: Erin Martinez for Alone Together
  • 2020: Rami Kodeih for Alina
  • 2022: Alvin Reyes for Bundini
  • 2023: David Abades Barclay for Salt Lines
  • 2024: Allison Waid for Please Ask for It
  • 2025: Carl Bengtsson for ''An Exam's Journey''

Best Feature Documentary

  • 2012: Working Class by Jeff Durkin
  • 2013: Patrol Base Jaker by David Scantling
  • * Finnigan's War by Conor Timmis
  • 2014: Art As a Weapon by Jeff Durkin
  • * Out In the Line-Up by Ian W. Thomson
  • 2015: Omo Child: The River and the Bush by John Rowe
  • * Breaking Point by Bill Wisneski
  • 2016: The Weekend Sailor by Bernardo Arsuaga
  • * It Ain't Pretty by Dayla Soul
  • 2017: No Roads In by Josh Wong
  • 2018: Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer and Quinn Costello for Rodents of Unusual Size
  • * Bill Wisneski for Shadow of Drought: California’s Looming Water Crisis
  • 2019: Bill Wisneski for Shattered Dreams: Sex Trafficking in America
  • 2020: Sockeye Salmon. Red Fish
  • 2022: Failure to Protect
  • 2023: Jack Has ''a Plan
  • 2025: Call Me Mule''

Best Local Student Film

  • 2018: Alana Nichols' Story by Eli Bensen

Best Narrative Feature

  • 2012: Boy ''with Blue by David Liddell Thorpe
  • 2013: The Racket Boys by Brandon Willer
  • 2015: Wildlike by Frank Hall Green
  • * Keep in Touch by Sam Kretchmar
  • 2016: Remittance by Patrick Daly and Joel Fendelman
  • * ADDicted by Dan Jenski
  • 2017: American Satan by Ash Avildsen
  • 2019: Banana Split by Benjamin Kasulke
  • 2020: Toprak by Sevgi Hirschhäuser
  • 2022: The Ugly Truth by Krishna Ashu Bhati
  • 2024: The Buildout'' by Zeshaan Younus

Best Narrative Short

  • 2012: Curvas by David Galan Galindo
  • * The Lucky One by Bala Balakrishnan
  • 2013: Turns by Jake Barsha
  • * Instant Justice by Steven Turk and Angie Baggett
  • 2014: Bis Gleich by Benjamin Wolff
  • * West by Jesse Weseloh
  • 2015: Keeper of the Past by Marco J. Riedl
  • * The Knockout Game by Benjamin Goalabré
  • 2016: 3000 by Tia Tsonis
  • * Poor George by Jim Harris
  • 2017: Songs of Wild Animals by Mara Weber
  • * Iron by L. Gabriel Gonda
  • 2018: Ward Crockett for There Is No Door
  • * Juan Escobedo for Marisol
  • 2019: Erin Martinez for Alone Together
  • 2020: Alina
  • 2022: Mar & Cielo
  • 2023: Black Creek Trail
  • 2024: Patrimony
  • 2025: ''Last Call''

Best Original Score (Short or Feature)

  • 2019: Rick Charnoski and Coan Nichols for The Tony Alva Story
  • 2020: Marco D'Ambrosio for Eat the Rainbow
  • 2022: Seana Thompson for Rogue: The Western
  • 2023: I Am Alright
  • 2024: Brittany Dunton and Jake Monaco for Manō
  • 2025: Linus Kallberg for ''An Exam's Journey''

Best Producer

  • 2009: CHSTV for We Must Remember

Best Screenplay (Short or Feature)

  • 2019: Benjamin Kasulke for Banana Split
  • 2020: Nora Marianna for Alina
  • 2022: Krisha Ashu Bhati and Eva Habermann for The Ugly Truth
  • 2023: Jim Kempton for ''Big Wave Guardians''

Best Screenplay (Feature)

Best Screenplay (Short)

  • 2024: Noah Freeman Hecht for Forget Me Again
  • 2025: Lewis Rose for Keep''''

Best Short Documentary

  • 2009: Save the World by Michael T. Wood
  • 2012: Angel's Reach by Al Germani
  • * The American Dream of Owning a Mobile Home by Promise Yee
  • 2013: Threatened: The Controversial Struggle of the Southern Sea Otter by Bill Wisneski
  • * Impact by Michael Franzese
  • 2014: Baykeepers by Michael J. Lutman
  • * LA Miner by Thomas Wood
  • 2015: Over the Coals: Santa Maria the BBQ Capitol of the World by Noah Rosenstein
  • * King Corduroy by Paul Von Petrzelka
  • 2016: Dead Harvest by Ray McNally
  • * Aloha for Indo by Elliot Lucas
  • 2017: Washed Away by Dana Nachman
  • 2018: David Fokos and Barbarella Fokos for From Haarlem to Harlem
  • * Alena Ehrenbold for Tan
  • 2019: Andrew Daughters for Shaped
  • 2020: Unnur
  • 2022: You are Me & I am You
  • 2023: One Lost Many Found
  • 2024: Fifth Tide
  • 2025: ''A Letter from Antarctica''

Best Soundtrack (Short or Feature)

  • 2025: Amazigh''''

Best Student Film (Short or Feature)

  • 2009: Kevin's Kritters: Dolphin Experience by Kevin Anderson
  • 2012:
  • * Water on Mars by Chase Smith
  • ** Expiration Date by Ryan Lagerstrom
  • 2013:
  • * 420 Remix by Boys & Girls Club of Oceanside at MLK Jr Middle School by David Garcia
  • ** Rainbow Show by Pavel Demidov
  • * Shoot the Moon by Alexander Gaeta
  • ** Light Me Up by Ryan Walton and Derek Dolechek
  • 2014:
  • * Mr. McBob by Pierre Schantz
  • ** Enigma: Blackouts by Jarrod Bainbridge
  • * Water by Kendall Goldberg
  • * Into the Silent Sea by Andrej Landin
  • ** Flux: Redefining Women's Surfing by Chad King and Mia Montanile
  • 2015:
  • * Save the Date by Jarrod Bainbridge
  • ** The Sad Snowman by Pierre Schantz
  • * Two and a Quarter Minutes by Joshua Ovalle
  • ** A Stacked Deck by Cameron Penn
  • * Somos Amigos by Carlos Solano Perez
  • ** Inner Peace by Ryan LaPine
  • 2016:
  • * Cricket by Alyssa Bainbridge
  • * Jewish Blind Date by Anaëlle Morf
  • * Seventy-Two by Cameron Penn
  • 2017:
  • * Temple of the Ghost Owl by Justin Myhre
  • * Pearl by Assia Qianhang Shao
  • * That Your Body is for Receiving Happiness and Good Stuff by Anna Blum
  • 2018:
  • * Stuart Heinlen for White Lines
  • ** Erin Martinez for Surface
  • 2019: Erin Martinez for Alone Together
  • 2020: Dirty Business
  • 2022: Vlada Goes to London
  • 2023: An Island Drifts
  • 2024: El Halcón
  • 2025: ''Canta Santiago''

Best Supporting Actor

  • 2019: Luke Spencer Roberts for Banana Split
  • 2020: Martin Kove for The Roommates
  • 2022: Anthony Candell for Human Resources
  • 2023: James Shanklin for Publish or Perish
  • 2024: Jack Forcinito for The Countryman
  • 2025: Robert John Burke for ''The Last Take''

Best Supporting Actress