Ringo’s 1984 takes Best Overall Film while Terrifier 3 and Life After Fighting also win.
The Big Winner
At the fifth annual WorldFilmGeek Awards, three films stood out among the 160 films viewed for contention, and only one could become the big winner. The sci-fi adaptation of George Orwell’s novel 1984, from Finnish filmmaker Diana Ringo, narrowly bested Terrifier 3 and Life After Fighting to earn the top prize of Best Overall Film.
Diana Ringo and 1984
The film showed how a virtual crew of one can make a movie. Ringo served as director, producer, editor and visual effects artist, composed the score and even acted in the film. That range of work was rewarded again, because she also won the awards for Best Director and Best Editing.
The recap used a photo of nominee Aleksei Shamayev in 1984 as its thumbnail.
Terrifier 3
Terrifier 3 won the Best Horror Film award and also earned Best Special FX for its extreme kill scenes and makeup. The award went to Jason Baker and team. The effects involve the characters Art the Clown, played by David Howard Thornton, and Victoria Heyes, played by Samantha Scaffidi. Thornton was also nominated for Best Supporting Male Performance.
Life After Fighting
Life After Fighting was one of the biggest highlights of 2024 thanks to the choreography of Australian martial arts ace Bren Foster. He was nominated for Best New Director but lost narrowly to Brande Roderick for Wineville. The film still won Best Action Film, and Foster earned Best Action and Stunts for his fighting on screen.
The Other Film Awards
Yujiro Seki’s film about Japanese wood-carving, Carving the Divine, won Best Documentary. The Magician’s Raincoat, based on the children’s novel by Nick Pollack, won Best Family Film. Paul Dale won his second Best WTF Award, after Sewer Gators in 2022, with the comedy Murdaritaville.
Julia Marchese, a WFG Hall of Famer, won Best Short Film for her adaptation of the Stephen King story I Know What You Need. Place of Bones, starring Heather Graham and Corin Nemec, took Best Western, and the crime caper Murder & Cocktails won Best Comedy Film. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, another top contender for Best Action Film, won Best Foreign Language Film. Godzilla Minus One won Best Sci-Fi Film, and the Indian film A Place of Our Own, about two transgender women trying to find a new place to live, won Best LGBTQ+ Film.
Acting and Technical Awards
Oscar Partridge won Best Cinematography for Ganymede. Scott Chambers, who was also named the 2024 Breakout Star, won Best Lead Male Performance for playing Christopher Robin in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II. The iconic Lynn Lowry won Best Lead Female Performance as an insane housewife and mother in A Halloween Feast.
David Koechner won Best Supporting Male Performance for an against-type role as a pastor in Ganymede, and Jamie Bernadette won Best Supporting Female Performance by going against type as a deadly villain in Cold Blows the Wind.
Hall of Fame and Special Honors
Horror actress and producer Sarah French and martial arts actor and filmmaker Franklin Correa were chosen as the first two inductees of the 2025 WorldFilmGeek Hall of Fame. The late, legendary Tony Todd received the first Film Geekdom Award, which is the awards’ version of a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Winners at a Glance
- Best Overall Film: 1984
- Best Horror Film: Terrifier 3
- Best Action Film: Life After Fighting
- Best Comedy Film: Murder & Cocktails
- Best Drama Film: Miller’s Girl
- Best Western Film: Place of Bones
- Best Sci-Fi Film: Godzilla Minus One
- Best Documentary Film: Carving the Divine
- Best LGBTQ+ Film: A Place of Our Own
- Best Foreign Language Film: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
- Best WTF Film: Murdaritaville
- Best Family Film: The Magician’s Raincoat
- Best Short Film: I Know What You Need
- Best Lead Female Performance: Lynn Lowry, A Halloween Feast
- Best Lead Male Performance: Scott Chambers, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II
- Best Supporting Female Performance: Jamie Bernadette, Cold Blows the Wind
- Best Supporting Male Performance: David Koechner, Ganymede
- Best Cinematography: Oscar Partridge, Ganymede
- Best Editing: Diana Ringo, 1984
- Best Director: Diana Ringo, 1984
- Best New Director: Brande Roderick, Wineville
- Best Action and Stunts: Bren Foster, Life After Fighting
- Best Special FX: Jason Baker and Team, Terrifier 3
- Breakout Star of 2024: Scott Chambers
- The Film Geekdom Award: Tony Todd
- 2025 Hall of Fame Inductees: Sarah French and Franklin Correa
Looking Ahead
Congratulations go to all the winners and nominees of this year’s awards. The competition was fierce, and the hope is that next year’s will be just as strong. An end-of-year recap podcast episode was scheduled for 18 December on the WorldFilmGeek Spotify channel, followed by a break to celebrate the holidays and prepare for 2025.
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