MEDIA ADVISORY: March On! Festival Launches 2025 Shortlist for Filmmaker Competitions Spotlighting Civil Rights, Global Storytelling, and Emerging Voices
This year’s competition features 12 finalists chosen from global submissions, from countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Poland, France, Japan, Madagascar, and others, inspired by the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.
WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, September 16, The March On! Festival, the nation’s longest-running Civil Rights film festival, kicks off its 2025 Filmmaker Competition. Twelve finalist films, chosen from submissions from across the globe–including countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Poland, France, Japan, Colombia, Turkey, Ukraine, Madagascar, the UK, and Iran – competed across four categories: Emerging Documentary, Emerging Narrative, Student Documentary, and Student Narrative Short Film.
The Shortlist for the Filmmaker Competitions is as follows:
Emerging Program:
- Clara’s Fruit, Morgan Mathews
- Desync, Minerva Marie Navasca
- Expanding Sanctuary, Kristal Sotomayor
- Jean & I, Mirta Desir
- Shot Clock, Ethan Avery
- Teaching America, Anurima Bhargava
Student Program:
- Anything Helps, Aya Bogod
- From Rodeo to Polo: The First HBCU Polo Team, Kendi King
- I Gaze at the Sky, Alexandra Strunin
- Jeffery, Come Home,
- Silence = Death, Trace Pope
- SK8 LITE, Nmesomachi Nwokolo
The MOFF Student and Emerging Filmmaker Competitions will award 8 Jury prizes from the Shortlist, as follows:
4 Jury Awards for Best Narrative and Documentary Short, Student and Emerging Artist Jury Award Prizes:
- $1,000 Cash Prize
- $ 500 gift card towards production services and equipment
- $ 500 towards travel to DC
4 Special Mentions for Narrative and Documentary Short, Student and Emerging Artist Special Mention Prizes:
- $ 500 Cash Prize
- $ 250 gift card towards production services and equipment
The 8 Prize winners will be jury-selected from the Shortlist. All Shortlisted films will have a public screening at the 2025 March On! Festival.
All shortlisted filmmakers will also receive:
- 2 All-Access passes to this year’s MOFF
*Awards subject to change.*
More information on the film competition can be found here and below.
RSVP: Media interested in covering the film competition or speaking with the filmmakers, Opal H. Bennett, the Emerging & Student Filmmaker Competitions Director, or the jurors for the competition, may contact nsibley@raben.co to request interviews and screeners.
WHAT: The Student and Emerging Filmmaker Competitions are a yearly competition held at the March On! Festival that highlights March On!’s mission to uplift global storytellers committed to pushing forward the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.
WHEN: Access to the virtual screenings begins September 12, 2025. Winners will be announced on September 20, 2025
WHERE: Virtually
WHO:
- Opal H. Bennett: Emmy-winning Producer; Emerging & Student Filmmaker Competitions Director
Student Jury
- Nicholas Ma: award-winning director & producer
- Jay Liu: award-winning director, producer * editor, and 2024 March On! Emerging Narrative Grand Prize winner
- Vanessa Cooksey: President & CEO of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis
Emerging Jury
- Christine Swanson: 2024 March On! Emerging Narrative Runner Up; multiple award-winning director
- A’Lelia Bundles: journalist, news producer, and author
- Noland Walker: filmmaker, producer, and content consultant
About March On!
Originally launched in 2013 in D.C. as the March on Washington Film Festival, March On! is a year-round platform using film, music, and the arts to uplift the untold stories of the Civil Rights Movement and connect them to today’s social justice struggles. We bring history, scholarship, and the performing and visual arts together to inspire civic engagement and cultural change.
