Award Winners 2022

Every year Cambridge Film Festival presents a range of audience awards based on the scores awarded to the films by you, our audience.

All UK premieres compete for the audience awards, with the winners decided by audience voting after the screenings at the Festival.

Alongside the audience awards sits the Youth Lab Jury Award.

The CFF Youth Lab launched in 2018 and has gone from strength to strength. It is run by and for young people (ages 16 - 24) passionate about all aspects of Film, Cinema, and Film Festivals. During the Festival, they meet to discuss a shortlist of films from the Festival and select their winning feature. (Learn more about the Youth Lab).

This year, the decision has been taken to rename the Silver Punt award to remove the distinction between Documentary and Feature filmmaking.

For the first time, Cambridge Film Festival is awarding Golden Punt Awards for Best Fiction Feature and Best Documentary Feature alongside the Crystal Punt Award for Best Short Film.

We are thrilled to announce that the Cambridge Film Festival award winners for 2022 are...

Golden Punt Best Fiction Feature - LITTLE NICHOLAS, HAPPY AS CAN BE

Dir. Amandine Fredon & Benjamin Massoubre

Immersing its audience in the playful delights of creativity, Little Nicholas brings to life one of the most iconic figures of French children's literature against a nostalgic backdrop of 1950s France. Winner of the Cristal Award for a Feature Film at the Annecy Festival, the film tells the story of the invention of cheeky schoolboy Nicholas and his classmates by writer René Goscinny and cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé. As their friendship and collaboration develop, the boundaries between their lives and their stories' imaginary world are blurred.

Golden Punt Best Documentary Feature - SEASIDE SPECIAL

Dir. Jens Meurer

Shot on crisp 16mm Kodak film, Seaside Special follows Norfolk's Cromer Pier Show over a year from the perspective of the performers and the seaside town's locals. Seaside Special is a genuine, funny and bittersweet documentary about the trials and tribulations of life on the stage and the divided political perspectives of their community. The director Jens Meurer, whose previous feature, An Impossible Project, was a highlight of the online Festival in 2020, seeks to show a 'microcosm of Brexit England' and reflects on the impact of the changing tourist landscape alongside the cultural importance of Cromer's show, as they prepare for their grande summer finale.

Crystal Punt Best Short Film - TILL THE MUSIC STOPS

Dir. Emilie De Monsabert

Pauline is desperate to enjoy her best friend's wedding and connect with a lost flame. Still, she struggles to take her eyes off her vulnerable daughter, which causes difficulties during the celebrations.

Youth Lab Jury Award - PUSHING BOUNDARIES

Dir. Lesia Kordonets

Amid war and conflict, where can one call home?

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Ukrainian Paralympic National Team not only lost access to their state-of-the-art training base but had to adapt to the new political and geographical boundaries that bound their country. Giving us a glimpse from the inside, filmmaker Lesia Kordonets followed the Paralympians as they prepared for the next Olympic Games while dealing with the division of family and friends and the worsening economic situation.