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.

2025
Feature: A Moment in the Sun by Mia Weinberger and Thomas Van Kalken
Short: Final Frontier by Heidi Burkey

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

2025
Clive Owen, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Croupier, Children of Men, Closer, Duplicity, Gosford Park, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

Ken Eisen, Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree
Co-founder of Railroad Square Cinema, Maine International Film Festival, and president of Shadow Distribution

2024
Mary Harron, Mid-Life 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, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
My Twentieth Century, On Body and Soul (Teströl és télekröl), Simon the Magician, The Story of My Wife

2022
Debra Winger, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
A Dangerous Woman, Mike’s Murder, The Lovers, The Sheltering Sky

2019
Hilary Brougher, Mid-Life 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, Mid-Life 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, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Jindabyne, Louder than Bombs, Miller’s Crossing, The Usual Suspects

2015
Michael Murphy, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Away from Her, Fall, The Front, Manhattan

2014
Glenn Close, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Albert Nobbs, Cookie’s Fortune, Dangerous Liasons, Low Down

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

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

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

2010
Jay Cocks, Mid-Life 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, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Do the Right Thing, Illuminata, Mac, Romance and Cigarettes, The Big Lebowski

2007
Bud Cort, Mid-Life 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-Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Arizona Dream, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mystic Pizza

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

2003
Peter Fonda, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Easy Rider, Lilith, The Hired Hand, The Limey, Ulee’s Gold

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

2001
Sissy Spacek, Mid-Life Achievement Award Honoree
Carrie, Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Straight Story

2000
Terrence Malick, Mid-Life 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.