The Dallas-based USA Film Festival wrapped the 56th edition of the film festival focused on having fun at the movies. Screenings and events filled the Angelika Film Center with sharks and an appearance by a rock legend (KISS’ Gene Simmons, there with his survival adventure Deep Water), a Superman (Brandon Routh, there with his screwball comedy Out of Order), Black Canary (Arrow’s Katie Cassidy, there with her thriller Speed Demon), a ventriloquist (The Dummy Detective’s Jonathan Geffner) and an Academy Award nominee (Lesley Ann Warren, honored by USAFF, and there with her short film Olive).
Filmmaker awards were announced for Tom Koch’s Olive (Best Narrative Short), Lynnette Luis, Christopher Leete, and Ottilie Maters’ Every Line Becomes A Circle (Best Nonfiction Short). Special jury prizes in the Narrative category went to Hae-Oh Park’s Broken Dawn, Ugnė Skonsmanaitė’s Jasmine. Home. Mother, and Ali Cook’s The Pearl Comb. A special jury prize in the Nonfiction category went to Mei-Juin Chen’s Lisa Lu Plays Herself.
Honorable mentions went to Jonathan Hammond’s Fireflies in the Dusk, Slava Denisov’s The Ride in the Narrative category, and Charles Evans, Jr.’s Reverence, and Cece King’s Si La Isla Quiere (Island Willing), in the Nonfiction category.
Additional awards went to Vita Stoikova’s Vita 2.0 (Student Nonfiction), Catriona Baker’s Ball Lightning (Animation), Yuxin Yang’s 91 Times Smash (Student Animation), Farzaneh Forouzesh’s We Didn’t Say It, You Picture It! (Experimental), Can Karayalçın’s Ankara 1979 (Student Award), and Rodrigo Moreno-Fernandez’ El Lloron (Texas Award).
Additional special jury prizes went to Hannes Rall’s Dobrina (Animation), Emy Mirel Ivasca’s On Saint Nicholas’ Eve(Student Animation), Weipeng Huang, and Yajing Wang’s Allegory of the Cave (Experimental), Gery Riba’s Old Man’s Child (Student), and Ulises Córdova’s Tito Ritmo (Texas). Honorable mentions went to Gordon LePage’s Something Greater Than You (Animation), and Lucía G. Romero’s Casi Septiembre (Student).
Known for its celebration of new and classic films from the U.S. and abroad, as well as free-to-the-public screenings, USAFF opened with a salute to celebrated fashion photographer Arthur Elgort (in attendance) featuring Warren Elgort’s new documentary Arthur Elgort: Models & Muses. The Centerpiece screening of Renny Harlin’s new disaster thriller Deep Water brought several inflated sharks “swimming” throughout the Angelika’s lobby and walkways, as well as Harlin and Gene Simmons wearing safety vests as they did photos and interviews on the USA Film Festival’s red carpet. The next day’s red carpet was a comic book lover’s dream as Routh joined his Out of Order director Guy Jacobson, Cassidy joined her Speed Demon director Jon Keeyes, and Lesley Ann Warren (who once played Lois Lane) all appeared on the same red carpet. If you were a Dallas-based film journalist, that red carpet was the place to be.
Additional highlights included a special 75th Anniversary screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951) with author and film historian Stephen Rebello in attendance with his new book about the film “Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train.” The screening was hosted on-stage by fellow author and film historian Foster Hirsch. USAFF once again placed emphasis on celebrating local filmmakers, highlighted by Oklahoma native Reed Arnold’s award-winning feature debut Do Us Part, and Adam Meeks’ debut feature Union County, starring Will Poulter and Noah Centineo. The festival’s Closing Night line-up featured a screening of Matthew Thayer’s inspirational No Limbs No Limits starring Nick Vujicic, with Vujicic in attendance.
The Festival’s 2026 Short Film Jury included actor Jim Beaver, actress Dale Dickey, actress/producer/documentarian/ educator Diane Baker, animator/director Bill Haller, film historian/author/professor Foster Hirsch, manager/writer/producer/ director Chris Roe, and artist/director/writer Rosson Crow. Award winners are selected from hundreds of submissions in a variety of categories including Fiction, Nonfiction, Animated and Experimental with additional awards for Student and Texas films also awarded.
For more information on the USA Film Festival, please visit https://www.usafilmfestival.com/
The 2026 USA Film Festival Filmmaker Award Winners
FIRST PLACE / NARRATIVE
Olive
Director: Tom Koch
FIRST PLACE / NONFICTION
Every Line Becomes A Circle
Directors: Lynnette Luis, Christopher Leete, Ottilie Maters
FIRST PLACE / STUDENT NONFICTION
Vita 2.0
Director: Vita Stoikova
FIRST PLACE / ANIMATION
Ball Lightning
Director: Catriona Baker
FIRST PLACE / STUDENT ANIMATION
91 Times Smash
Director: Yuxin Yang
FIRST PLACE / EXPERIMENTAL
We Didn’t Say It, You Picture It!
Director: Farzaneh Forouzesh
STUDENT AWARD
Ankara 1979
Director: Can Karayalçın
TEXAS AWARD
El Lloron
Director: Rodrigo Moreno-Fernandez
PERFORMANCE AWARD
Lesley Ann Warren
Special Jury Prizes
Jury Prize, Narrative – Broken Dawn, Hae-Oh Park, director
Jury Prize, Narrative – Jasmine. Home. Mother., Ugnė Skonsmanaitė, director
Jury Prize, Narrative – The Pearl Comb, Ali Cook, director
Jury Prize, Nonfiction – Lisa Lu Plays Herself, Mei-Juin Chen, director
Jury Prize, Animation – Dobrina, Hannes Rall, director
Jury Prize, Student Animation – On Saint Nicholas’ Eve, Emy Mirel Ivasca, director
Jury Prize, Experimental – Allegory of the Cave, Weipeng Huang & Yajing Wang, co-directors
Jury Prize, Student – Old Man’s Child, Gery Riba, director
Jury Prize, Texas – Tito Ritmo, Ulises Córdova, director
Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mention, Narrative – Fireflies in the Dusk, Jonathan Hammond, director
Honorable Mention, Narrative – The Ride, Slava Denisov, director
Honorable Mention, Nonfiction – Reverence, Charles Evans, Jr, director
Honorable Mention, Nonfiction – Si La Isla Quiere (Island Willing), Cece King, director
Honorable Mention, Animation – Something Greater Than You, Gordon LePage, director
Honorable Mention, Student – Casi Septiembre, Lucía G. Romero, director