In 1957, the Golden Gate Awards was established to augment the San Francisco International Film Festival’s tradition of recognizing and promoting excellence in independent and world cinema. Years later, the Golden Gate Awards continue to recognize and honor filmmakers of the highest caliber. For over five decades, the competition has introduced Bay Area audiences to illustrious filmmakers who have transformed the medium with their award-winning documentary features and animated, narrative, experimental and documentary short films.

Festival programmers put together roughly three-quarters of our programs, including all of the theatrical narrative features. For the remaining quarter we turn to the Bay Area's active and dedicated professional media community. Each year, these filmmakers, journalists, exhibitors, curators and academics devote hours of their valuable time to screen hundreds of entries and make recommendations to SFFS programmers, who will choose the Official Selections. Three juries will view these works at the Festival and bestow Golden Gate Awards on films in fourteen categories.
 
Selected from a wide array of entries, these films truly represent the best
of the international filmmaking community. Some past recipients of the award include Satyajit Ray, Roberto Rossellini, Roman Polanski and Shirley Clarke, while local luminaries such as Marlon Riggs, Sam Green and Stanley Nelson also have been awarded for their brilliant efforts.
 
The Golden Gate Awards are one way we fulfill an important Festival function: to increase attention and resources given to independent filmmakers, and to support the development of international cinema. We invite you to join us in celebrating the accomplishments of every winner from the past fifty years as we look ahead to another half-century of Golden Gate excellence.