The annual DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS have returned for a fifth year to announce their winners for fan films released during calendar year 2025. 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.
This year, the competition had 40 fan film submissions from around the world, a slight drop from last year’s 55 entries. As usual, the judges for the Directors Choice Awards were the directors of the fan films that were entered. All judges were expected to watch each of the submitted fan films before voting, which—I can tell you from personal experience as a judge myself last year—can be a commitment of many, many hours of viewing!
Genres this year included the old familiar standards like Star Trek, Star Wars, superhero, horror, Indiana Jones, Alien, and the original Battlestar Galactica…plus some newcomers we haven’t seen before like Logan’s Run, Blade Runner, Transformers, Max Payne, Jaws, and The Hunger Games. 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 that was announced yesterday of all the winners and runners up in each of the categories, along with YouTube links to those specific fan films…
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner:
Farragut 2024
Joshua Irwin
Runner Up:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
Gary Scullion
BEST ACTOR
Winner:
Blind Faith
Tucker Vaughn as Matt Murdock
Runner Up:
Max Payne: Perdition
Daniel D. Lopez as Max Payne
BEST ACTRESS
Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission
Gabriela Fuentes
Runner Up:
Power Girl (a Fan Film)
Elissa Strange as Power Girl
BEST HAIR/ MAKE-UP
Winner:
Logan’s Legacy
Faith Lymburner
Runner Up:
What’s Next
Candace Lambert
BEST AUDIO MIXING
Winner:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”
Runners Up:
Task Force 78 – Phase II: Dr. Todd’s Decision
Steve “Hairy” Harris
Star Wars: The Battle of Takodana Revisited
Ty Baker
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner:
Blind Faith
Bryson Sams
Runner Up:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
Winner:
Blind Faith
Sam Cannon
Runner Up:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”
Michael Donner
BEST F/X MAKE-UP
Winner:
Batman Beyond
Runner Up:
Captain Simian’s First Command
Clay Sayre
BEST ORIGINAL COSTUMING
Winner:
The Stranded Warrior
Runner Up:
Farragut 2024
BEST ANIMATED
Winner:
Cybertron Falls: Till All Are One
Runner Up:
Mad Max Apocolypse
BEST SETS
Winner:
Farragut 2024
Runner Up:
Alien Lost Transmission
BEST CGI
Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
Runner Up:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”
BEST GREEN SCREEN
Winner:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”
Runner Up:
To Know Thine Enemy – A Star Trek Fan Production
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Runner Up:
The 51st Hunger Games
BEST LIGHTING
Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission
Runner Up:
Mindleech
Joshua Irwin
BEST COMEDY/PARODY
Winner:
Dirty Santa
Runner Up:
Batman & Robin: Day of Justice – A Batman Fan Film
BEST HORROR
Winner:
Halloween Descends
Runner Up:
El Coco de Haddonfield (Halloween Fan- Film) Short
BEST SCREENPLAY
Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
Runner Up:
Second Star to the LEFT
Ruth McCartney
MOST CANON
Winner:
Judged By
Runner Up:
Alien Lost Transmission
BEST ENSEMBLE
Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
Runner Up:
Dawn of the Clone Wars: A Star Wars Fan Film – Official Teaser
BEST EDITING
Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
Runner Up:
What’s Next
Dan R. Reynolds
BEST PORTRAYAL OF EXISTING CHARACTER
Winner:
Blind Faith
Tucker Vaughn as Matt Murdock
Runner Up:
Jaws (2025) Feature Fan Film
Tim Baker as Quint
BEST ON-LOCATION SCENE
Winner:
Batman: Masks
Garage Set – Brooklyn Optics in Brooklyn, NY
Runner Up:
Dawn of the Clone Wars: A Star Wars Fan Film – Official Teaser
Goblin Valley, UT
BEST PLOT TWIST
Winner:
Second Star to the LEFT
Runner Up:
Batman Beyond
BEST TRAILER
Winner:
Dawn of the Clone Wars: A Star Wars Fan Film – Official Teaser
Runner Up:
Do Androids Dream? A Blade Runner Fan Film
BEST POSTER
Winner:
El Coco de Haddonfield (Halloween Fan- Film) Short
Runner Up:
Batman & Robin: Day of Justice – A Batman Fan Film
BEST DOMESTIC FILM
Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
BEST ALIEN FAN FILM
Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission
BEST BAD SANTA FAN FILM
Winner:
Dirty Santa
BEST BATMAN FAN FILM
Winner:
Batman Beyond
BEST BATTLESTAR GALACTICA FAN FILM
Winner:
The Stranded Warrior
BEST BLADE RUNNER FAN FILM
Winner:
Do Androids Dream? A Blade Runner Fan Film
BEST DAREDEVIL FAN FILM
Winner:
Blind Faith
BEST HALLOWEEN FAN FILM
Winner:
Halloween Descends
BEST HUNGER GAMES FAN FILM
Winner:
The 51st Hunger Games
BEST INDIANA JONES FAN FILM
BEST JAWS FAN FILM
Winner:
Jaws (2025) Feature Fan Film
BEST JUDGE DREDD FAN FILM
Winner:
Judged By
BEST MAX PAYNE FAN FILM
Winner:
Max Payne: Perdition
BEST POWER GIRL FAN FILM
Winner:
Power Girl (a Fan Film)
BEST STAR TREK FAN FILM
Winner:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”
BEST STAR WARS FAN FILM
Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
BEST TRANSFORMERS FILM
Winner:
Cybertron Falls: Till All Are One
BEST IN FEST
Winner of a $250 prize:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film