Festival Awards
Film Category Awards
- BEST MUSIC VIDEO AWARD ($250)
- BEST SHORT ANIMATED FILM AWARD ($300)
- BEST SHORT NARRATIVE FILM AWARD ($350)
- BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARD ($350)
- BEST FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARD ($500)
- BEST FEATURE SCREENPLAY AWARD ($500)
- BEST FEATURE DIRECTOR AWARD ($500)
- BEST FEATURE FILM AWARD ($600)
Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award
This special award was created by AFFMA following a proposal by Armin T. Wegner Society of USA.
The award is presented each year to a filmmaker whose film deals with subjugated peoples, ethnic cleansing, forced deportation, massacres and genocides. The motion picture must contribute to the fight for social conscience and human rights, a struggle to which Armin T. Wegner devoted his entire life.
Festival Jury
Festival Jury 2020
Born in Uruguay and raised in New Jersey, Gabe Saporta is a musician and entrepreneur. For nearly ten years, he enjoyed multi-platinum success as the singer and creative force behind the band Cobra Starship. In 2016, Saporta and wife Erin Fetherston welcomed their first child. Wanting to spend more time with his family and less time in the spotlight, Saporta transitioned behind the scenes the following year and founded The Artist Group (T∆G), a music management company. In 2018 he launched T∆G MUSIC to provide full label and recording services for his clients. In 2019 T∆G achieved more than 100 million streams with its first independent release, Tessa Violet’s LP “Bad Ideas.” In 2020 Saporta signed a global distribution deal with The Orchard to expand T∆G Music’s radio presence and international reach. Saporta continues to grow T∆G into a full service music company providing a wide range of management and label services for its clients, and, more importantly, guidance and stewardship in-line with the company ethos: “We believe creative expression is the cornerstone of self-realization and we feel privileged to be on that journey with our artists.”
“For the past 23 years as the jury liaison of Arpa International Film Festival I have had the distinct pleasure in gathering esteemed industry professionals that includes directors, producers, screenwriters, actors, professors, novelists,and musicians who bring their expertise and talent in recognizing excellence in the craft of filmmaking and music. Our diverse group of jurors in our first ever virtual awards ceremony are committed to see all the films in competition and make their final decision in the categories of feature films, shorts, documentaries, animations, and music. Our awards ceremony will be different this year but for any of our filmmakers a virtual reality experience will reach worldwide film loving audiences ready to experience fresh new voices in the cinematic arena. The Annual Arpa International Film Festival continues to keep its doors open for our independent storytellers and values the generosity of our jury members whose creative input will make sure that these films are seen, studied, and acknowledged.” – Sonia Keshishian, Jury Liaison