Announcing the WINNERS of the 4th annual DIRECTORS CHOICE fan film awards for 2024!

They’re baaaaa-aaaaack! The annual DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS have returned for a fourth year to announce their winners for fan films released during calendar year 2024. If you’re a fan filmmaker and want your production judged by a jury of your peers, there are currently two options. One is the Directors Choice Awards, and the other show, the SHOWRUNNER AWARDS, is limited exclusively to Star Trek fan films.

However, the Directors Choice Awards, hosted and organized by GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS, co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas, are open to fan films from all genres of sci-fi, fantasy, superhero, and horror. And that makes for a pretty extensive list of entries.

Glen shared this with me…

I am happy to say that this year’s Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards have been a success. How do I gauge success? I gauge success in a few ways: growth, diversity, and continuity. This year we had a record number of different film franchises represented (27 different film/television franchises from around the world). This fact satisfies both our growth and diversity expectations.

I am continually amazed at the number of franchises inspiring fan films, some notable newcomers this year where films from The Last of Us, Highlander, Power Rangers and Gravity Falls. We also had a record number of returning franchises and directors. These returning “veterans” fulfill our continuity goals. Having returning directors and franchises lets us know that our format is well received.

I do like having this many judges because, even as the completed ballots come in, I never really know where it’s going to end up. Most of the categories were decided on the last day or two of voting.

We added two new categories this year—Best Poster and Best Trailer—both attracted several entries, thus also seen as a success. We will continue to add categories in an effort to give our behind-the-scenes creators an opportunity for recognition. I thank all of this year’s participants and look forward to next year.

This year, I am not only blogging about the awards show, I was also a judge…and a contestant! My animated movie-era Star Trek fan film, AN ABSENT FRIEND, came out in 2024 and was entered (you can see if it won anything in the list of winners and runners up below). The judges are each the director of the fan film that they enter (hence, the name of the contest). All judges were expected to watch each of the 55 entries before voting, and while I can’t vouch for all 55 judges, I will say that I myself did watch every minute of each film—despite some entries being over an hour long (and one was two full hours)! It was quite a time commitment, and I will admit to occasionally accelerating playback speed (slightly) on some of the longer films…shhhh, don’t tell anyone.

I will say that I was very pleasantly surprised with a large number of the fan films that I watched, including most of the ones that earned awards. In addition to the major franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars, this year’s entries included both Marvel and DC superheroes, Alien, Battlestar Galactica, James Bond, Chucky, Ghostbusters, Gravity Falls, Harry Potter, Highlander, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, The Last of Us, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Power Rangers, Spawn, and Wolfenstein. Betcha didn’t even know there were that many genres of fan films being made, did ya?

For a list of all the fan films that were entered, all of the nominees in each category, and all the winners, you can watch their presentation video. Below is a list of the winners and runners up in all the categories, along with YouTube links to those specific fan films.

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner:
The Last of Us: Immunity
Liam Buckley and Kaleb Cook

Runner Up:
Farragut Forward: A Star Trek Fan Production
Johnny K.

BEST ACTOR

Winner:
Spider-Man: Hunted – Ultimatum
Hunter McCoy as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Runner Up:
Spawn
Michael Olvera Roderiguez as Clown

BEST ACTRESS

Winner:
Dream Girl
Casie Maghran as Amy Shaye

Runner Up:
Slipstream: A Star Trek Film
Christina Riley as Cadet Tabor

BEST HAIR/ MAKE-UP

Winner:
Sweet Oblivion: A Star Trek Fan Production

Runner Up:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “Prelude to Part III – Kobayashi Maru”