The Denver Film Fest audience awards:
Narrative Feature:
The Sapphires, directed by Wayne Blair
Documentary Feature:
Rising from Ashes, directed by T.C. Johnstone
Short Film:
ASAD, directed by Bryan Buckley
JURIED AWARDS
The Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Best Foreign Feature Film
Winner: Sister, directed by Ursela Meier
The jury was comprised of Whitney Kimmel – Film Publicist, IDPR; Adam Roffman – Program Director, Independent Film Festival Boston; and Irena Kovarova – Programmer, Czech Film Center.
The Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary Film
Winner: Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters, directed by Ben Shapiro
The jury was comprised of Danielle Renfrew Behrens – producer (Double Dare, Queen of Versailles); Paula DuPre Pesman – producer (The Cove, Chasing Ice); Mitch Dickman – director/producer (DNC Mediamockracy, Hanna Ranch).
The New Directors Award
Winner: Pincus directed by David Fenster
The jury was comprised of James Francis Flynn – Actor/Producer (Miss Ohio); Rob Nelson – Film Critic; Paul Zimmerman – Film Critic/Author (Virgin Noir).
The Spike Lee Student Filmmaker Award
Winner: Crossing directed by Gina Atwater
The jury also stated: “For his dynamic portrayal of a troubled Hasidic youth searching for his own identity in the film Where is Joel Baum, the jury would like to give a special prize for acting to Luzer Twersky.”
The jury was comprised of Jenny Chikes – Producer (The Foot Fist Way, Dead Man’s Burden); Tim Harms – Producer (The Vicious Kind, Sexting, BFF); Garret Savage – Editor (Ready, Set, Bag!, My Perestroika) / Director (various shorts).
The ASIFA-Colorado Best Animated Short Award
Winner: MacPherson, directed by Martine Chartrand
The jury was comprised of Pat Mallek – Animator / Partner, Mighty Fudge Studios; Kim Mallek – Creative Director / Partner, Mighty Fudge Studios; Evert Brown – Animation Director; Ed Desroches – Media Arts Specialist; Wes Price – Illustrator.
Liberty Global International Student Short Award
Winner: Of Dogs and Horses (Germany), directed by Thomas Stuber
The jury was comprised of Penelope Rose Bartlett – Shorts Programmer, Chicago International Film Festival; John Korn – Shorts Programmer, Frameline/Sundance; Robert Leighton – SVP Programming, Liberty Global.
Screenplay Awards
Feature Screenplay Winner: OJ’s Eleven, written by Lawrence Riggens
Shorts Screenplay Winner: Becoming Lana Liu, written by David Schroeder
The jury was comprised of Terry Dodd – Stage Director/Playwright (Goodnight Texas) / Screenwriter (Closer to Heaven), Amy Redford – Director (The Guitar, Delivery) / Actress (Sunshine Cleaning), Guinvere Turner – Screenwriter (The Notorious Bette Page) / Actress (American Psycho).
The screenplay competition is sponsored by The Program of Film and Television CU-Denver.