A Thriller at Sea, a Party in New York: The 2026 MOMO Feature Film Awards

MOMO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL · 4TH EDITION

FEATURE FILM AWARDS

2026

Presented by the Festival Directors · South Lyon Theater, Michigan · October 9–11

The festival directors honor Everyone Calls Me Mike with four awards and give Timings a Special Mention at the fourth MOMO Independent Film Festival.

SOUTH LYON, Mich. — Two feature films, two very different nights at the movies. At the fourth edition of MOMO Independent Film Festival, held October 9–11 at South Lyon Theater, the festival directors presented the 2026 Feature Film Awards: four to Guillaume Bonnier's sea thriller Everyone Calls Me Mike, and a Special Mention to Jeffrey Moore's Timings, set at a New York City party.

Unlike the Short Film Awards, which were decided by our jury, the Feature Film Awards were chosen by the festival directors. Both films were selected by the festival and screened at South Lyon Theater in Michigan.

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The Winners

BEST FEATURE FILM	Everyone Calls Me Mike Directed by Guillaume Bonnier
BEST FEATURE DIRECTOR	Guillaume Bonnier Everyone Calls Me Mike
BEST FEATURE ACTOR	Abdirisak Mohamed Everyone Calls Me Mike
BEST FEATURE ACTRESS	Daphné Patakia Everyone Calls Me Mike
SPECIAL MENTION, FEATURE FILM	Timings Directed by Jeffrey Moore

BEST FEATURE FILM · DIRECTOR · ACTOR · ACTRESS

Everyone Calls Me Mike

A Thriller at Sea

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Sailing around the world on their blue schooner, Jean, Isabelle and her son Damien stop in Djibouti to repair their engine. There they meet a taxi driver named Mike, who asks if they would take him along. Jean hesitates, because the Gulf of Aden is dangerous, but finally agrees. What follows is a tense, off-grid thriller at sea, in which a family has to decide how far to trust a man they barely know.

“The utopia of the south seas turns into a relentless thriller.”

— Arnaud Desplechin, director of A Christmas Tale, quoted in the film's press kit

It is Guillaume Bonnier's first feature film, and critics took notice: Le Monde called it “a successful debut feature film.” In South Lyon, our audience stayed with it until the very end.

Bonnier, who wrote and directed, takes Best Feature Film and Best Feature Director. Abdirisak Mohamed, who plays Mike, takes Best Feature Actor. Daphné Patakia, who plays Isabelle and is also known for Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta, takes Best Feature Actress.

FILM CREDITS	Everyone Calls Me Mike
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY	Guillaume Bonnier
CAST	Daphné Patakia, Pierre Lottin, Abdirisak Mohamed, Thibault Dierrickx, Said Helaf
CINEMATOGRAPHY	David Grinberg
MUSIC	Olivier de Paris
PRODUCER	Cedric Walter

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SPECIAL MENTION · FEATURE FILM

Timings

One Night, Seven Relationships

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Timings puts seven relationships in one room: they collide one evening at a party in New York City, setting the stage for a night of emotional reckoning. It is the feature film directorial debut of Jeffrey Moore, originally from Ohio and now based in New York City, who has been producing and directing music videos for over 20 years. The script is by Ricky Whitcomb.

The project began with a wild idea shared over a few beers between Moore, Whitcomb and producer Nicole Madar. With no budget and no real plan, they decided to fund the film themselves. They shot it in just eight days, mostly in an unheated warehouse in the middle of winter, including one overnight outdoor shoot on the coldest night of the season. At one point the cold even shut down the main camera. The music comes exclusively from local New York City musicians.

“Our mindset was simple: no matter what, we’ll be able to look back and say we did it.”

— Jeffrey Moore, director’s statement

The festival directors presented Timings with a Special Mention on stage at Closing Night.

FILM CREDITS	Timings
DIRECTED BY	Jeffrey Moore
WRITTEN BY	Ricky Whitcomb
PRODUCED BY	Jeffrey Moore, Ricky Whitcomb, Nicole Madar
CAST	Kait Dieppa, Jacquie Bonnet, Quinn Nehr, Mateo Parodi, Logan McKenzie, Michael Jayson, Scott Keyes
CINEMATOGRAPHY & EDITING	Jeffrey Moore

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Congratulations to all of our feature film winners and their casts and crews. Our thanks to South Lyon Theater, our Official Venue Partner, and to everyone who joined us in the room. The winners of the Short Film Awards are announced in our previous Journal post.

MOMO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

South Lyon, Michigan