Wisconsin Film Festival Awards

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

Audience Choice Award Winners are chosen each year by the Wisconsin Film Festival attendees. Audience members cast their ballots upon exiting screenings.

AND THE WISCONSIN FILM FESTIVAL AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD WINNERS ARE…

2023

Favorite Documentary Feature:

Judy Blume Forever

Favorite Narrative Feature:

My Sailor, My Love

Favorite Shorts Program:

Real People, Real Places

Favorite Restoration/Rediscovery:

The Cameraman

Audience Favorite Big Screens Little Folks Program:

How I Learned to Fly/Margot’s Sister

2022

Audience Favorite Narrative Feature:

Kimi

Audience Favorite Documentary Feature:

We Feed People

Audience Favorite Restoration/Rediscovery:

The Best Years of Our Lives

Audience Favorite Big Screens, Little Folks:

Mission Ulja Funk

Audience Favorite Wisconsin’s Own:

Stay Prayed Up

Audience Favorite Shorts Program:

Small But Mighty

2021

Audience Favorite Narrative Feature:

There Is No Evil

Audience Favorite Documentary Feature:

Writing with Fire

Audience Favorite Restoration/Rediscovery:

The End of the Track

Audience Favorite Big Screens, Little Folks:

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

Audience Favorite Wisconsin’s Own:

Becoming Geppetto

Audience Favorite Short Film:

The Fox and the Bird

2019

Audience Favorite Narrative Feature
Yomeddine | Abu Bakr Shawky

Audience Favorite Documentary Feature (tie)
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am | Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Knock Down the House | Rachel Lears

Audience Favorite Restoration/Rediscovery
Creature from the Black Lagoon | Jack Arnold

Audience Favorite Shorts Program
Stories We Tell: Wisconsin’s Own Shorts

Audience Favorite Big Screens, Little Folks Selection
Short and Sweet

2018

Audience Favorite Narrative Feature
Hearts Beat Loud | Brett Haley

Audience Favorite Documentary Feature
RBG | Betsy West & Julie Cohen

Audience Favorite Restoration/Rediscovery
Blue Collar | Paul Schrader

Audience Favorite Shorts Program
A World of Wisconsin’s Own

Audience Favorite Big Screens, Little Folks Selection
Short But Not So Sweet: Revolting Rhymes and Isis + Osiris

2017

Audience Favorite Narrative Feature
My Life as a Zucchini | Claude Barras

Audience Favorite Documentary Feature
STEP | Amanda Lipitz

Audience Favorite Restoration/Rediscovery
One Potato, Two Potato | Larry Peerce

Audience Favorite Shorts Program
Portraits and Pictures from Wisconsin’s Own

Audience Favorite Big Screens, Little Folks Selection
Heidi | Alain Gsponer

2016

Audience Favorite Narrative Feature
Hunt for the Wilderpeople | Taika Waititi

Audience Favorite Documentary Feature
Louder Than Words | Saj Adibs

Audience Favorite Restoration/Rediscovery
Death Wish Club | John Carr

Audience Favorite Shorts Program
Just Be Yourselves: Wisconsin’s Own Narrative Shorts

Audience Favorite Big Screens, Little Folks Selection
Birds of Passage | Olivier Ringer

2015

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

Marie’s Story (Marie Huertin) | Jean Pierre Améris

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

Capturing Grace | David Iverson

Best Restoration or Rediscovery Audience Award Winner

Five Corners | Tony Bill

2014

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

The Rocket | Kim Mordaunt

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs | Grace Lee

Best Restoration or Rediscovery Audience Award Winner

Vertigo | Alfred Hitchcock

2013

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

Coming of Age | Sabine Hiebler and Gerhard Ertl

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

Father’s Birth | Delphine Lanson

Best Restoration or Rediscovery Audience Award Winner

Manhattan | Woody Allen

2012

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

The Intouchables | Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

The Entertainers | Michael Zimmer and Nick Holle

2011

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

Anita | Marcos Carnevale

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

Louder than a Bomb | Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel

2010

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Man Som Hatar Kvinnor) | Niels Arden Oplev

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

Paddle to Seattle: Journey Through the Inside Passage | JJ Kelley and Josh Thomas

2009

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

Departures (Okuribito) | Yojiro Takita

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

Being Bucky | Scott Smith

2008

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

Time to Die (Pora Umierac) | Dorota Kedzierzawska

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

New Year Baby | Socheata Poeuv

2007

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

Wristcutters: A Love Story | Goran Dukic

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

War/Dance | Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

2006

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner (2)

Adam’s Apples | Anders Thomas Jensen

Sweet Land | Ali Selim

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

Isn’t This A Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal | Jim Brown

2005

Narrative Feature Audience Award Winner

Brothers | Susanne Bier

Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner

The Real Dirt on Farmer John | Taggart Siegel

WISCONSIN’S OWN GOLDEN BADGER AWARDS

Filmmakers from Wisconsin make their mark in Hollywood and around the globe. The Wisconsin Film festival is proud to showcase work from some of Wisconsin’s most accomplished filmmakers, University of Wisconsin Alumni and emerging Wisconsin filmmakers.

Wisconsin’s Own is a juried competition for the Golden Badger Awards. Wisconsin Film Festival is grateful for support from The Great Dane, proud sponsor of Wisconsin’s Own!

For filmmakers with “Wisconsin ties,” this is defined as either:

The film was shot primarily or significantly (at least one-third) on location in Wisconsin.
One or more of the film’s principle creative personnel – director, producer, screenwriter, cinematogrpher, lead actor, etc. – must be one of the following: a) Wisconsin native b) former Wisconsin resident for one or more years c) current Wisconsin resident or d) alumnus or currently enrolled in a Wisconsin college or university.