Award winners announced after Poppy Jasper festival expands internationally

The 20th Poppy Jasper International Film Festival closed its 2026 edition with “Mistake” and “Zoe” leading the feature-film winners. (moviemaker.com) MovieMaker reported April 23 that Honey Lauren’s “Mistake,” a drama centered on an intersex birth, won best drama feature. Emanuela Galliussi and Dean Matthew Ronalds’ “Zoe” won best comedy feature. (moviemaker.com) The best documentary feature award went to James Hall’s “Bird of Four Hundred Voices.” The festival’s 2026 edition ran April 8 through April 15. (moviemaker.com) (pjiff.org) Poppy Jasper’s 20th edition was larger than its early years in Gilroy alone. The festival website said the 2026 program included more than 150 films from 38 countries. (pjiff.org) The event also spread across more of Southern Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County. Poppy Jasper listed Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista as its 2026 host communities. (pjiff.org) Its schedule shows how that expansion worked on the ground: local-film blocks, panels and screenings were programmed at venues including Gavilan College Theater, CURA Contemporary Art Gallery, CMAP and the Granada Theater. (pjiff2026.eventive.org) (morganhilltimes.com) Festival director Mattie Scariot told attendees at the opening gala that Gilroy was once a much smaller agricultural town, framing the anniversary as both a hometown event and an international one. MovieMaker said filmmakers from around the world attended the opening-night celebrations. (moviemaker.com) (morganhilltimes.com) The festival says its mission is to promote inclusion, diversity and women’s empowerment in film, with a focus on filmmakers who have been historically marginalized. That mission has become part of how Poppy Jasper presents its growth beyond a single-city festival. (pjiff.org) This year’s winners landed at the end of an anniversary edition that paired local venues with an international lineup, closing the loop between South Valley roots and a broader festival map. (moviemaker.com) (pjiff.org)