Ketchikan-raised filmmaker Emilio Torres was recently named the 2025 Arizona Filmmaker of the Year. He received the award at the annual Phoenix Film Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. The 11-day festival ended on Sunday.
Torres’ first feature film, The Ladder, was filmed and set in Ketchikan. It’s a sci-fi movie about an experimental medical procedure that reverses the effects of aging. Many of the faces in the film belong to Ketchikan residents.
Torres grew up in Ketchikan but currently lives in Arizona. Torres was presented the award on the last night of the film festival for being an Arizona-based filmmaker who “has not only made a beautiful film, but is kind, hard-working, and regularly gives back to the community.”
This is the third festival appearance of The Ladder. The film made its world premier at the Fargo Film Festival in Fargo, North Dakota earlier this spring and then took home two awards for “Best First Feature Film” and “Best Editing” at the OKCine Latino Film Festival in Oklahoma in late March.
The next stop for Torres’ film The Ladder is the Houston International Film Festival in early May.
