Tourmaline Prizes

The Tourmaline Prizes, named for Maine’s state gem, are juried awards recognizing the best Maine-made films of the festival. At the closing night of MIFF, a $5,000 prize is awarded to the best feature film, and a $2,500 prize is awarded to the best short film.

2024
Feature: The Ruse by Stevan Mena
Short: An Extraordinary Place by Tom Bell

2023
Feature: We Are the Warriors by David Camlin and Megan Grumbling
Short: See You in April by Alex Helm

2022
Feature: Sunner by Henry Spritz
Short: The Intersection by Daniel Quintanilla and Jessamine Irwin

Achievement Award Honorees

2024: Mary Harron, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Daliland, Charlie Says, The Moth Diaries, American Psycho

Jos Stelling, Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, De Dans van Natasja (Natasja’s Dance)

2023: Ildikó Enyedi, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, My Twentieth Century, On Body and Soul (Teströl és télekröl), Simon the Magician, The Story of My Wife

2022: Debra Winger, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, A Dangerous Woman, Mike’s Murder, The Lovers, The Sheltering Sky

2019: Hilary Brougher, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, South Mountain, Stephanie Daley, The Sticky Fingers of Time

2018: Dominique Sanda, Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, 1900 (Novecento), Going Away (Un Beau Dimanche), The Conformist, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The Inheritance, The Mackintosh Man, Steppenwolf, Une Femme Douce

2017: Lauren Hutton, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, American Gigolo, A Wedding, The Gambler, Welcome to L.A.

Roger Deakins, Karl Struss Legacy Award Honoree, No Country for Old Men, Prisoners, The Shawshank Redemption, Skyfall 

2016: Robert Benton, Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, Bonnie and Clyde, Kramer vs. Kramer, Nobody’s Fool, The Late Show

Gabriel Byrne, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Jindabyne, Louder than Bombs, Miller’s Crossing, The Usual Suspects

2015: Michael Murphy, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Away from Her, Fall, The Front, Manhattan

2014: Glenn Close, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Albert Nobbs, Cookie’s Fortune, Dangerous Liasons, Low Down

2013: Keith Carradine, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Choose Me, Nashville, The Moderns, Thieves Like Us

2012: Thelma Schoonmaker, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Goodfellas, Kundun, The Edge of the World, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

2011: Malcolm McDowell, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Assassination of the Tsar, A Clockwork Orange, Never Apologize, O Lucky Man!

2010: Jay Cocks, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Strange Days, The Big Country, The Age of Innocence

2009: Arthur Penn, Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, Bonnie and Clyde, Little Big Man, The Left-Handed Gun, Night Moves

2008: John Turturro, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Do the Right Thing, Illuminata, Mac, Romance and Cigarettes, The Big Lebowski

2007: Bud Cort, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Brewster McCloud, Harold and Maude, M*A*S*H, She Dances, Ted and Venus

2006: Walter Hill, Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, The Driver, The Long Riders, The Warriors, Undisputed

2005: Lili Taylor, Pre-Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Arizona Dream, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mystic Pizza

2004: Ed Harris, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, A Flash of Green, Alamo Bay, Empire Falls, Pollock, The Third Miracle, Walker

2003: Peter Fonda, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Easy Rider, Lilith, The Hired Hand, The Limey, Ulee’s Gold

2002: Jonathan Demme, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Married to the Mob, Silence of the Lambs, Something Wild, Stop Making Sense, The Argonomist

2001: Sissy Spacek, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Carrie, Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Straight Story

2000: Terrence Malick, Midlife Achievement Award Honoree, Badlands, Days of Heaven, Endurance, The Thin Red Line 

1999: Jos Stelling, Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, Mariken, The Flying Dutchman, The Illusionist, The Pointsman, The Waiting Room

Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We honor and celebrate the array of identities in our local community and broader communities, including those that are not part of the predominant culture. We hold space on our stage, our screens, and our gallery walls, in our studios, and at our community events and programs to present diverse stories, identities, and lived experiences in real and authentic ways.