This past year our 14th annual Josiah Media Festival took place over the course of December and January. Due to COVID-19, the festival was moved completely online, and ran for a nearly 24 hours nonstop on the weekends. Though 2020 brought a lot of challenges, the hard work from these young artists is not diminished. The amount of talent, and impact found within these beautifully crafted films goes unmatched and Urban-15 could not be prouder of all its participants. We received 2,270 film submissions from 24 countries, and have narrowed it down to our 12 winners. This accomplishment is a milestone in their career, and we are happy to relish the future of International Cinema!

Please join us in giving these films the proper praise, and recognition they deserve. Because our global audience will be viewing across international time zones, we will have our awards schedule on repeat so no one misses all the excitement. Below is a detailed awards schedule for the entire weekend. This will consist of a final screening of all 12 films, counting down from 3rd place, to 1st, and categorizing each place by genre; Documentary, Animation, Experimental, and Narrative. Interviews with the filmmakers will follow after each film. Congratulations again to these extraordinary artists, we hope you can save the date and join us for an unforgettable night!

Josiah Media Festival Awards Schedule

3rd place:

27 Second Memory          Ivan Kachalin                         Russia                     19 Years Old
Good Boy                         Anastasia Rodionova              Russia                      18 Years Old
Lapse                                Piper Rose Morrison               USA                         19 Years Old
Broccoli                            Elliott Fettweis                        France                     21 Years Old

2nd place:

The Global Food Waste  Elise Dadouria                         USA                        21 Years Old

Crisis & the Danish Solution

Sexy Sushi                        Calleen Koh Yee Lin                Singapore               21 Years Old
Pressure                            Julian Pixel Schmiederer         Austria                   18 Years Old
Unlocked                           Polina Litvinova                      Germany                21 Years Old

1st place:

Left Behind                     Maggie Ding                            USA                         16 Years Old
A Cold Day                      Victor Percy                             Brazil                       21 Years Old
Ataraxia                           Lucia Dugatkin                       Chile                         16 Years Old
Escape                             Laura Hadsund Baarstrøm      Denmark                   19 Years Old

For a detailed list of the winners and their biographies, please visit: https://urban15.org/josiah-media-festival/2020-festival-schedule/

The 2020 Josiah Media Festival also includes six new online film workshops geared to middle and high school students, available here for 24/7 access: https://urban15.org/2020-student-workshops/

When Marcus and Nancy Neundorf met with URBAN-15 directors in 2007, no one could have envisioned that a memorial screening of films by their recently deceased son, Josiah Neundorf—a talented young media artist from San Antonio, Texas, USA who succumbed to bone cancer in 2006—would evolve into an internationally-recognized film festival. Since its founding, young filmmakers participating in the Josiah Media Festival have gone on to receive acclaim at other film festivals worldwide; garner attention from national and international media; excel at schools such as Tisch, USC, AFI, Chapman, Columbia and Ringling; and begin thriving professional careers.

All screenings and workshops are free. For more information, email josiahfestival@urban15.org, call (210) 736-1500, or visit urban15.org.