This year’s Grand Jury Prize selected two films for their innovative storytelling and artistic excellence. The prize was shared by Phantoms of July by Julian Radlmaier, and A Dance in Vain, the latest work by Lee Hong-Chi.
The festival recognized emerging international talents with its Best Director award, presented to Joel Alfonso Vargas for Mad Bills to Pay (Destiny, dile que no soy malo). This film’s three performers — Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, and Nathaly Navarro — jointly received Best Actress. Théodore Pellerin earned Best Actor for his performance in Pauline Loquès’ film Nino.
Best Scriptwriter awards went to Sophy Romvari for Blue Heron, as well as Miguel de Zuviría and Tomás Guiñazú for Brought with the Storm. Best Visual Effect went to Ben Rivers’ Mare’s Nest, noted for its striking visual language. Among Chinese productions, Ye Zhenpeng’s Eternal Summer received the honor for Best Chinese Contribution of the Year.
Besides Feature Film Competition, there are Feature Documentary Competition and Short Film Competition selecting the outstanding works in respective fields. Best Documentary Film was presented to Hair, Paper, Water…, directed by Nicolas Graux and Trương Minh Quý, while Special Mention awarded to Wang Yu’s I Sing, I Love, I Exist. The short film jury awarded Best Short Film to L’mina (The Mine) by Randa Maroufi, and Special Mention to ā yí (Ayi) by Li Jiayi.
About Hainan Island International Film Festival
The Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF) is a distinguished annual international film event held in Sanya, Hainan Province, China, initiated in 2018. At the important juncture marking the 130th anniversary of the birth of world cinema and the 120th of Chinese cinema, and during the critical period when Hainan Free Trade Port is about to launch the island-wide independent customs operation, the 7th Hainan Island International Film Festival was held in Sanya from December 3rd to 9th, 2025.
This year the Festival with the theme of “From Oceans, To The Infinite”, aims to achieve “internationalization, marketization, and development of Hainan Free Trade Port”. Upholding the festival-running concept of “year-round screening, island-wide showing, mass film-watching, and full-industry-chain involvement”, it builds a platform for international film-culture exchange and mutual appreciation of civilizations. The main activities include film screenings, the Golden Coconut Award competition, the Golden Coconut Forum, the “HIIFF Fresh Coconut Lab” venture capital investment, the Golden Coconut Master Class, and the Golden Coconut Award Ceremony.
For further information about Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF), please visit the official website: https://www.hiiff.net/enhiiff/main.shtml
Hashtag: #HainanIslandInternationalFilmFestival
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