The 2025 Vashon Island Film Festival (VIFF) is rapidly gaining popularity as one of the most sought-after boutique film festivals on the circuit. Held at a single-theater venue, it features four days of screenings and events on scenic Vashon Island, just a short ferry ride from Seattle. It provides a relaxing retreat and cultural experience focused on independent films. Additionally, attendees have a unique opportunity to meet and connect with filmmakers, actors, and artists in a peaceful, beautiful setting on Vashon’s main street, where farm-to-table cuisine is easily accessible—making it unlike any other film festival.
Just steps away from the theater, you can enjoy delicious coffee, food, freshly made ice cream, and treats, along with a variety of excellent restaurants and bars. There are endless crafted cocktails, wines, and ciders, most made on the island. The ionic air and breeze of the Pacific Northwest are everywhere, and you can visit beaches and see Mount Rainier on one side and Mount Baker on the other. VIFF offers an atmosphere of creativity unlike most film festivals.
Thanks to Vashon Film Institute (VFI) President, CEO of motion picture distributor The Forge, and longtime island resident Mark Mathias Sayre’s dedication to independent film, this year’s festival was able to showcase the best of independent films with filmmakers and actors, while providing an incredible film-going experience for everyone who attended at every level of interest.
Ahmet finds escape through DJ music in DJ Ahmet.
“Festivals like this don’t happen in a vacuum.”
“Festivals like this don’t happen in a vacuum,” says Sayre. “The audience is the heartbeat of the festival, and the staff, volunteers, and crew are the engine that makes it run. Our sponsors, donors, and community partners have put their trust in a vision and helped bring it to life.” He adds, “Thank you to the press for telling these stories beyond these walls. And most of all, to our filmmakers, thank you for entrusting us with your work, your dreams, and your courage. Independent film is more than a category, it’s an act of faith. Faith that there is still an audience for stories that don’t fit a formula, faith that the human experience is richer than algorithms allow, faith that the right story, told honestly, can change the way we see each other.”
Sayre emphasizes that film festivals serve as a gathering place for that faith, where the audience is where art meets community, strangers become co-conspirators in the same story, and a roomful of people can experience the same emotion at the same time, feeling they’re not alone. Celebrating this year’s winners, Sayre says, “We celebrate the bigger win, that we came together on Vashon Island, to keep the art form alive, to keep it independent, and to keep it ours.”
Vashon Film Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting independent filmmaking in the Pacific Northwest, presented its Red Bicycle Awards at the fourth annual Vashon Island Film Festival held at the historic Vashon Theatre, a family-run cultural landmark on the island.
With a film slate curated by the VFI programming team, led by Lead Programmer Stacey Oristano (actress, Friday Night Lights, Bunheads, Shameless). VIFF alumni selected jury award winners through an anonymous voting process, which included Jury President Jewerl Keats Ross (Sujo, VIFF24), Olivia Blue (Juniper, VIFF22), Jonathan Hsu (Starring Jerry as Himself, VIFF23), and Nick Richey (1-800-HOT-NITE, VIFF22).
Sanda Codreanu, Souheila Yacoub, and Noémie Merlant star in The Balconettes, the horror comedy featured as the Opening Night Film of the 2025 Vashon Island Film Festival.
“Independent film is more than a category, it’s an act of faith.”
The Quartermaster Award for Excellence in Feature Filmmaking was awarded to Georgi M. Unkovski’s DJ Ahmet, which follows a 15-year-old Yuruk boy from a remote North Macedonian village as he escapes into music amidst parental expectations, societal conservatism, and forbidden love for a promised girl. The film also won Best Director for Georgi M. Unkovski.
The Audience Award for Best Feature went to Phil Moniz and Kevin Claydon’s Racewalkers, which tells the story of a struggling racewalking coach who teams up with a former baseball player showing natural walking talent. The film also won awards for Best Screenplay (Evan M. Landry, Kevin Claydon, and Phil Moniz) and Best Actor (Phil Moniz).
The Burton Award for Excellence in Short Filmmaking went to Alex Thompson’s Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting, an allegorical coming-of-age fable about mothers, daughters, and the beasts they hunt, set in the 1930s.
The Audience Award for Best Short went to Aisling Byrne’s Turnaround, which chronicles a West Cork cleaner as she must decide if she will uphold a tightly hidden secret whilst navigating the fast-paced pressures of a tourist property turnaround after a sudden, tragic bereavement.
A majestic view of Mount Rainier bathed in sunset light, as seen from Vashon Island
“Our fourth year continued the steady growth and sustained excellence of cinematic selections.”
Best Supporting Actor went to Alex Lawther for A Second Life, which takes place during the Olympic Games as an unexpected bond forms between a hearing-impaired American and a free-spirited wanderer in the vibrant streets of Paris.
Best Cinematography went to Brittany Shyne’s Seeds, a look into the lives of Black generational farmers that unveils the challenges of maintaining a legacy and the value of land ownership.
Best Editing went to Ernesto Martinez Bucio, Karen Plata, and Odei Zabaleta for The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box), which sees five siblings, abandoned by their parents, as they mimic the fears of their schizophrenic grandmother, dissolving the barriers between what is real and imaginary as they try to stay together.
Mickey’s Chair Award for Best shortCUTZ (in partnership with C’Mon Barber) went to resident Levi Cobb’s Pizza Purge. The short film was shot entirely on Vashon Island and follows John Dough as he enters a new school, finding himself amid a dangerous war for pizza, where he must choose between his friends and a girl. The prize package includes a year of free haircuts and twelve film passes to the Vashon Theatre.
“We offer congratulations to all of our winners and nominees. Our fourth year continued the steady growth and sustained excellence of cinematic selections,” says Sayre. “VIFF raises the bar for award-winning, specialty cinema in the Pacific Northwest, and we couldn’t have done it without our board, staff, and extensive team, including more than sixty volunteers. We’re already looking ahead to our fifth year coming in 2026!”
