December 20, 2025

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The Domani Vision Film Society has released the names and script titles of their top three honorees in each of their submission categories (Feature & Short Subject) for the 2025 Visionfest Screenwriting Competition. This year’s selections honor works in a wide gamut of genres, including dark comedy, sci-fi, horror, romance, and with a traditional western rising to the very top for the first time ever in the competition’s 25-year history. 

 

Placing second in last year’s competition with the post-apocalyptic sci-fi tale, CONSUMED, screenwriter, Don Stroud, returned to set a new record for consecutive placement in the winning trio of titles with his sprawling western tale, A BULLET FOR GOD’S BOUNTY, which was named Best Feature Screenplay. “This is quite an extraordinary feat,” stated VF Honorary Exec Director, Bruno Derlin, “especially considering that none of our readers and judges are supplied the names and genders of the participating authors until final recommendations for the top three scripts in each category are revealed. Our voting staff is asked to cast their vote based on the script’s impact, originality, and overall fidelity to the craft, and Mr. Stroud’s mastery of genre hopping on the aforementioned titles is a testament to his immense talent as a screenwriter. I was reminded of the Oscar-winning epic, UNFORGIVEN, in the best of ways, as this script evoked that film's lyrical pacing and its darker elements, while weaving a fresh and twisting story I just could not put down until the final "Fade Out." The author will receive a $1000 cash award, along with an InkTip prize package and the traditional Visionfest Commemorative Certificate.

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The winner of the Short Subject category, which consists of a $350 cash award, a Commemorative Certificate, and a sponsored InkTip.Com award, was MOTHER OF THE BRIDE’S MOTHER by Erica Monte. Visionfest Producer, Jana Frindtova, described the 15-page comedy as “a laugh-out-loud romp that packs more genuine surprises and heart than most 90-page feature comedies. It has a witty style of dialogue reminiscent of early Whit Stillman, but it also goes for over-the-top slapstick and in zero-to-sixty style.

 

In the runner-up, second-place positions, honors went to Luke Hunter’s DEAD FILTER in the Feature category, a horror tale that explores social media anxiety as experienced by an insecure teen influencer, and SHAPES AND COLOURS by Craig Ford in the Short Subject category, a harrowing tale of unrequited love set in the backdrop of a concentration camp during the war.

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Singled out as the third-place honoree in the Feature category was Joseph Michael Leone’s MOTHERSHIP, a fun, half-road trip adventure, half-UFO sci-fi epic zeroing in on two brothers on a wild mission to meet up with their long, lost, missing mom one more time. Rounding out this year’s winners, was third-place Short Subject honoree, ALMOST HUMAN, by Bernhard Riedhammer, a taut social commentary on modern-day anxieties and unnerving suspicions raised by folks who aren’t exactly who they claim to be.

 

Domani Vision Film Society would like to extend their gratitude to all those who participated by sharing their work and congratulations to all the finalists and winners in this year’s Visionfest Screenwriting Competition. 

 

As always, please continue to “Write here… Write now!” 

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D. Sullivan

Submissions Director