June 3 to 8, 2008
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June 3 to 8, 2008 |
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Award Winners Through the Years2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 2007JURY AWARDS NARRATIVE FEATURE Best Narrative Feature: Eagle vs. Shark, directed by Taika Cohen Best Director: Shane Meadows (This is England) Best Actress: Loren Horseley (Eagle vs. Shark) Best Actor: Kene Holiday (Great World of Sound) DOCUMENTARY Best Documentary: Taxi to the Darkside, directed by Alex Gibney Jury Prize: King of Kong SHORTS Best Short:
The Guarantee, directed by Jesse Epstein STUDENT JURY AWARDSStudent Jury Award: Shotgun Stories,
directed by Jeff Nichols CHILDREN'S PROGRAM AWARDSStudent Jury awards: SPECIAL AWARDSThe Senator Claiborne Pell Award For Artistic Vision: AUDIENCE AWARDSBest Feature: Vitus Best Documentary: Autism: The Musical Best Short: The Strange Case of Marie France 2006JURY AWARDSBest Narrative Feature: The Road to Guantanamo, directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross. Best Narrative Director: Kelly Reichardt for Old Joy. Best Narrative Actress: Emily Rios for Quinceañera. Best Narrative Ensemble Acting: the cast of The Road to Guantanamo. Best Documentary: Black Sun, directed by Gary Tarn. Documentary Jury Prize: Thin, directed by Lauren Greenfield, and The Trials of Daryl Hunt, directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. Best Short Film: Breached, directed by Laura Richard. Short Film Jury Prize: Antonio’s Breakfast, directed by Daniel Mulloy. Short Film Honorable Mention: Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot directed by David Chai, and The Aluminum Fowl directed by James Clauer. STUDENT JURY AWARDSThe Student Jury Award, chosen by a panel of local high school students, mentored by Film Critic and NIFF Juror Elvis Mitchell, and coordinated by Middletown HS alumnus Maggie Drayton selected: What Remains, directed by Steven Cantor. CHILDREN'S PROGRAM AWARDS Children’s Program, coordinated, and announced,
by Andrea Van Beuren, presented the following awards: Shorts For All Ages ($300): One Man Band, directed by Mark Andrews and Andrew Jimenez. Shorts For 10+ ($300): Celamy, directed by Julie Anne Meerschwam. Shorts For Teens ($300): Queen of Cactus Cove, directed by Anna Christopher. AUDIENCE AWARDSThe Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was presented to: Quinceañera, directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. The Audience Award for Best Documentary was presented to: The Trials of Daryl Hunt, directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. 2005JURY AWARDSBest Dramatic Feature Award: The Forest for the Trees (Germany), Directed by Maren Ade. Best Actor Award: Nicolas Cazalé for his work in Le Grand Voyage. Best Actress Award: Eva Löbau for The Forest for the Trees. Best Director: Miranda July for her Me and You and Everyone We Know. Best Screenplay: Mutual Appreciation written by Andrew Bujalski (who also directed and edited). Best Documentary Award: The Boys of Baraka (USA), Directed by Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady. Documentary Jury Prize was a tie, and was awarded to Abel Raises Cain (USA), Directed by Jenny Abel & Jeff Hockett; and The Real Dirt on Farmer John (USA), Directed by Taggart Siegel. Best Short Film: I’d Rather Be Dead Then Alive In This World, director Andrew Semans. Short Film Jury Prize: Ryan, director Chris Landreth’s animated film. STUDENT JURY AWARDSBest Film: Four-Eyed Monsters (USA), Directed by Susan Buice & Arin Crumley. AUDIENCE AWARDSBest Feature: Miranda July for her Me and You and Everyone We Know (USA). Best Documentary: Press On (USA), Directed by Gillian Grisman. Best Short: Positively Naked by Arlene Donnelly Nelson. CHILDREN'S PROGRAM AWARDSBest Feature: The Color of Milk, directed by Torun Lian. Kids Shorts For All Ages Audience Award: Blue Dog Blues, Directed by Mair Doyle. Shorts For Kids (ages 8 and up) Audience Award: Girl Power, Directed by Per Carleson. Shorts For Teens Audience Award: Let's Love Hate, Directed by Shia Labeouf & Lorenzo Edwardo. 2004BEST FILMMARIA FULL OF GRACE, from director Joshua Marston, focuses on the plight of a young Colombian woman desperate to better her economic circumstances, but instead she is plunged into the underworld of drug smuggling. The film's star, Catalina Sandino Moreno, also received the festival's best actress award. BEST DOCUMENTARYCHECKPOINT, the Israeli-produced documentary, directed by Yoav Shamir, is set in the many contentious border areas separating the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza from the Palestinians. JURY PRIZESHilary Clarke's BAD BEHAVIOR, about a family that turns to a behavior specialist for help with their seven-year-old daughter. Nina Davenport's PARALLEL LINES, which takes place over a six-week period in which she traveled across the U.S. to document reactions to 9/11. Best short went to Jeremy Saulnier's CRABWALK, with jury prizes going to Taika Waititi's TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT, (which also won the Clairborne Pell award for original vision) and Martin Bell's TWINS. AUDIENCE AWARD: BEST DOCUMENTARYLAST OF THE FIRST, directed by Anja Baron AUDIENCE AWARD: BEST FEATUREWHEN ZACHARY BEAVER CAME TO TOWN, directed by John Schultz's AUDIENCE AWARD: BEST SHORTOBSTINATO: MAKING MUSIC FOR TWO, Sascha Paladino's look at banjo player Bela Fleck and double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer. BEST ANIMATED SHORTGONE NUTTY, directed by Carlos Saldanha BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORTDIVE, directed by Sirin Eide STUDENT JURY AWARDDANDELION, directed by Mark Milgard 2003BEST FEATURE FILMTHE MAGDALENE SISTERS (Ireland), from director Peter Mullan, is set in 1964 and based on the true story of four young Irish women fighting authority at the Magdalene Sisterhood convent where they have been confined by their families to atone for their sins. BEST FIRST-TIME DIRECTORAmy Hobby for CONEY ISLAND BABY (USA), in it she spins a down-to-earth love story set in Coney Island, Ireland. The Best Actor Award was presented to young actor Rodrigo Noya for his performance in Valentin. Feature Film Jury member Alexis Alexanian presented the awards. BEST DOCUMENTARYRostslav Aalto's CLEANING UP (Finland - US Premiere). CLEANING UP follows the East European tour of 'Cleaning Women," a cult Finnish rock phenomenon comprised of three earnest sympathetic country boys clad in women's suits and glamour make-up playing instruments made from drying racks. DOCUMENTARY JURY PRIZESPEEDO, director Jesse Moss' lovestory set against the uniquely American phenomenon of demolition derby. (Moss was present at the awards). BEST SHORT FILMACORDAR (Waking Up) (Portugal - US Premiere), director Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra's story of the moment of, and just before, waking up is given a life of its own again, and again, and again ". SHORT FILM JURY PRIZETHE TOLL COLLECTOR (US), Rachel Johnson's film of a toll collector with an eccentric deformity who dreams of becoming a ballerina and director Paul Gutrecht's THE VEST (US), an altruistic third grader must deal with the consequences of wearing a homemade vest to school. Special Recognition was presented to Royston Tan's 15 (Singapore - US Premiere) which charts the misadventures of teenagers on the fringe of Singaporean society. CLAIBORNE PELL AWARD FOR ORIGINAL VISIONFor One More Hour With You (Un'Ora Sola ti Vorrei) (Italy - US Premiere), director Alina Marazzi's personal quest to give life back to the mother she didn't really ever know, if only through old films shot by her grandfather. 2002BEST FEATURE FILMSecret Ballot, directed by Babak Payami was named Best Feature Film. An absurdist comedy that looks at the election process in Iran, Secret Ballot follows a soldier who is assigned to work with a female pollster as she moves through a remote area on a determined mission to rally everyone to vote. Incredulous at first that a woman has been to supervise the election, the soldier is soon swept up in her idealistic mission, and their experiences ultimately challenge their assumptions both about democracy and about each other. BEST DOCUMENTARYMy Father the Genius, directed by Lucia Small, was named Best Documentary. Asked by her father, legendary architect Glen Small, to write his biography, Ms. Small instead spent 10 years making this unflinching but irreverent account of his vision and the dismantling effect his career and personality had on their family life. My Father the Genius is Ms. Small's full-length directorial debut. BEST SHORT FILMI Am Ali, director Dream Hampton's dark comedy about a schizophrenic young man who believes that he is Muhammad Ali, was named Best Short Film. BEST DIRECTORJacques Audiard was named Best Director for his work on Read My Lips (Sur mes levres), a thriller about a deaf secretary and the ex-con who uses her to pull off a heist. By allowing the audience to experience his heroine's silent world, Audiard simultaneously develops compelling portraits of his characters while building suspense in Read My Lips, which he co-scripted. Audiard's other work includes See How They Fall and Self-Made Hero. New York Times Claiborne Pell Award for Original VisionNothing So Strange, was named recipient of the Festival's New York Times Claiborne Pell Award for Original Vision. Conceived by Los Angeles-based director/producer/playwright Brian Flemming, the film is a "documentary" from an alternative reality in which Bill Gates is assassinated and a group of independent investigators are the only ones looking for the truth. The Claiborne Pell Award was presented by Peter Antone of The New York Times. BEST ACTORClaudio Santamaria was named Best Actor for his performance as Paolo in Gabriele Muccino's The Last Kiss (L'Ultimo bacio). A powerful story of four friends whose personal lives are at their breaking points, The Last Kiss features Mr. Santamaria as a character who falls into turmoil when he is named successor to his family business after his father becomes deathly ill. BEST ACTRESSEmmanuelle Devos was named Best Actress for her performance as Carla, the hearing-impaired secretary who is drawn into a world of crime in Jacques Audiard's Read My Lips. Ms. Devos' performance captures her character's metamorphosis from awkward observer to confident participant in a role that won her the Best Actress Cesar, the French Oscar Award. JURY AWARDSBEST DOCUMENTARYSister Helen, director by Rebecca Cammissa and Rob Fruchtman, won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary. The film is an inspiring portrait of Sister Helen Travis, a former alcoholic herself, who aggressively and disarmingly helps recovering addicts to regain control of their lives. BEST SHORT FILMKid Protocol, a how-to look at sneaking into parties from the self-proclaimed Harry Houdini of gate-crashers, won the Jury Award in the Short Film Competition. Directed by Amir Bar-Lev (whose film Fighter won Best Documentary at Newport 2000) and Alex Mamlet. HUMANITARIAN CINEMA AWARDThe Last Just Man, directed by Steven Silver, won the Humanitarian Cinema Award. The film is a shocking expose of the events surrounding the 1994 Rwandan massacres and the head of the UN Peacekeeping Mission, Brigadier General Romeo Dallaire, whose calls for help went unheeded. BREAKING THE MOLD AWARDDaddy and Papa, a documentary by Johnny Symons about gay couples adopting children won the second annual Breaking the Mold Award, as judged by the Newport Film Festival student jury. A first for an American film festival, eight Middletown, RI, high-school students interested in filmmaking were selected to form a jury panel led by Boston Phoenix film critic Gerald Peary. JOE JARVIS AWARD FOR BEST FEATUREFast Runner (Atanarjuat), directed by Zacharias Kunuk, won the Joe Jarvis Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. The first all-Inuit feature, Fast Runner is based on an ancient legend of the indigenous people of the Arctic regions of Canada. Kunuk worked with a cast of mostly novice actors to tell the story of Atanarjuat, the fastest runner in his village, who whisks away the bride of his rival and then must find a way to face the consequences. JOE JARVIS AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARYRising Low, directed by Mike Gordon, and Uncle Frank, directed by Matthew Ginsburg, shared the Joe Jarvis Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary, the first tie in the Festival's Audience Awards. Rising Low is a musical tribute to Allen Woody, the late bassist of the band Government Mule. Director Mike Gordon, himself the bassist for the band Phish, followed 25 of the world's greatest bass players as they convened to record an album in honor of Allen Woody's extraordinary talent. Uncle Frank is the story of Frank Pour, a dynamic 80-year-old ladies' man and self-taught musician, who is on a mission to bring joy to the lives of the 90-somethings in the nursing homes around his hometown of Rome, New York, through his music. LUCY AUDIENCE AWARDNo Dumb Questions, directed by Melissa Regan, won the Lucy Audience Choice Award for Best Short. The 24-minute film features three sisters, aged six, nine and eleven, as they struggle to understand why and how their Uncle Bill is undergoing surgery to become a woman. The girls love their uncle, but wonder how to keep loving him when he's a she. 2001BEST FEATURE FILMInugami, directed by Masato Harada, was named Best Feature Film. Set the rural town of Omine in the cedar forests of Japan's Shikoku Island, Inugami is a hauntingly beautiful adaptation of the novel by Masako Bando. The women of the Bonomiya clan are doubly cursed: Every generation must keep a constant vigil on the urns that contain the spirits of the Inugami, wild dog gods who terrorize the countryside, but this terrible burden makes the women outcasts in their own town. When a new school teacher arrives in Omine and falls in love with the eldest Bonomiya daughter, their romance sets in motion a series of events that changes the town forever. BEST DOCUMENTARYAvant de Partir, directed by Marie de Laubier, was named Best Documentary. Rather than offering a detached look at the elderly residents of a nursing home outside of Paris, de Laubier gets deeply involved with her subjects to take a tender and honest look at the beauty of life, no matter what one's age. BEST SHORT FILMRejected, an animated film by American Don Herzfeld was named Best Short Film. In an uproariously twisted collection of animations rejected from an imaginary advertising campaign, Herzfeld uses simple, mostly black-and-white, line drawings to create a surreal universe of black humor. BEST DIRECTORBille Eltringham and Simon Beaufoy shared the award for Best Director for their work on The Darkest Light. The Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of The Full Monty, Mr. Beaufoy collaborated with Ms. Eltringham to tell the story of a small English farming village set into turmoil when two young girls-one English by birth, the other a recent immigrant from India-witness an inexplicable flash of blinding light. As the town is overrun by true believers looking for a miracle, the villagers must come to terms with their notions of faith and reason, and community and outsiders. NEW YORK TIMES CLAIBORNE PELL AWARD FOR ORIGINAL VISIONHybrid was named recipient of the Festival's New York Times Claiborne Pell Award for Original Vision. Director Montieth McCollum's highly compelling first film chronicles the life and career of his grandfather, Iowa farmer Milford Beeghly. Beeghly's lifelong obsession with breeding corn serves a metaphor for larger questions of life itself in this witty, tender and hugely poetic film. The Claiborne Pell Award was presented by Janet Robinson, president of The New York Times. 2001 Jury AwardsBEST FEATURE FILMTogether won the Jury Award for Best Feature Film. As their commune spirals out of control, a group of dreamers in 1970's Stockholm learn what it means to be a family in this touching and optimistic film. Writer and director Lukas Moodysson drew wonderful performances out of his large ensemble cast, including Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist, Gustaf Hammarsten, Anja Lundqvist, Jessica Liedberg and Ola Norell. HONORABLE MENTION — NARRATIVE COMPETITIONGirls Can't Swim won Honorable Mention in the Narrative Competition. A wonderful first feature from director Anne-Sophie Birot, this film captures one of the most ephemeral of relationships: the friendships between young girls. Girls Can't Swim chronicles the bond between a teenage girl in coastal Brittany and her best friend, a city girl who returns each summer. With deep understanding of the tensions pulling at the young girls, Birot and writing partner Christophe Honoré give their audience an insightful look at what it means to be a friend-and to grow up. BEST DOCUMENTARYThe Buffalo War won the Jury Award in the Documentary Competition. Director Matthew Testa documents the clash between Native Americans, ranchers and radical environmentalists over the killing of America's last wild buffalo herd, following the 500-mile spiritual march across Montana undertaken by Lakota Sioux Indians as they protest the government-sanctioned slaughter. This is Testa's first feature-length documentary. BEST IN SHORT FILM COMPETITIONChicken won the Jury Award in the Short Film Competition. Barry Dingham shows us a game of chicken between a bully and his prey in this three-minute short from Ireland. SHORT FILM COMPETITION — HONORABLE MENTIONThe Sunshine won Honorable Mention in the Short Film Competition. This documentary short by Phil Bertelsen offers a glimpse into the real-life drama of the residents of a derelict hotel in lower Manhattan and how gentrification is changing their neighborhood. NEWPORT FILM FESTIVAL STUDENT AWARDHow to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog, an enchanting and acerbic comedy starring Kenneth Brannagh as a cynical British playwright in Los Angeles, written and directed by Michael Kalesniko, won the Newport Film Festival Student Award. A first for an American film festival, eight Middletown, RI, high-school students interested in filmmaking were selected to form a jury panel led by Boston Phoenix film critic Gerald Peary. The Holland and Knight Charitable Foundation generously supported this program. 2000 | JURY AWARDSBEST DRAMATIC FILM:George Washington, directed by David Gordon Green. Shot entirely in Cinemascope in rural North Carolina, the film is a delicately told and deceptively simple story of a group of children in a depressed small town who band together to cover up a tragic mistake. BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM:Fighter, directed by Amir Bar-Lev. Concerned with the intertwined stories of two Czech emigrés who fled their homeland during World War II, Fighter follows Arnost Lustig and Jan Weiner as they travel through Europe to revisit stops on their epic six-year journey to freedom. BEST SHORT FILMS:Bait, by English director Tom Shankland, is a striking vignette of a caring, but unemployed, father who snaps when his son lets a homeless man eat their carefully prepared lunch. Ice Fishing, by American director Alexandra Kondracke, deals with a boy who longs for a father figure in a landscape barren of likely candidates. BEST DIRECTOR:David Gordon Green; for George Washington. Born in Texas in 1975, Mr. Green studied filmmaking at the North Carolina School of the Arts and has worked in the film industry in New York and Los Angeles, both for studios and independent companies. George Washington is his first feature-length film. BEST ACTOR:The cast of George Washington, for their ensemble performance. Young actors Candace Evanofski, Donald Holden, Curtis Cotton, Eddie Rouse and Rachel Handy brought subtlety and depth to their portrayals of children thrown into confusion as they try to come to terms with their own responsibilities in the tragic accident at the core of this year's Best Dramatic Film. NEW YORK TIMES CLAIBORNE PELL AWARD FOR ORIGINAL VISION:La Bonne Conduite, subtitled Five Stories from Driving School, by director Jean Stéphane Bron. This documentary follows unlikely pairings of instructor and student as a metaphor for the changing way of life in his native Switzerland. JURY AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR:Léon Desclozeaux, for his work on Chittagong: Last Stopover. Desclozeaux tells the story of a ship captain on mission to ground his command at a ships' graveyard in Bengal, only to find that he has much more to accomplish as he becomes more involved with a young boy and his pregnant mother. JURY AWARD IN THE DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION:Long Night's Journey into Day, by director Frances Reid. A powerful and unflinching account of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. HONORABLE MENTION — DOCUMENTARY:The Eyes of Tammy Faye, directed and produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbatowas. A sympathetic and lighthearted documentary about the life of former wife of disgraced televangelist Jim Baker. LUCY AWARDS — Awarded by Audience VoteBEST NARRATIVE FEATURE:What Happened to Tully, directed by Hilary Birmingham. BEST DOCUMENTARY (tie):Long Day's Journey Into Night, directed by Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffman The Eyes of Tammy Faye, directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. BEST SHORT:The Transformation, directed by Barry Strugatz. 1999 | JURY AWARDSBEST DRAMATIC FILM:Last Big Attraction, The (1999) - Hopwood DePree, director BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM:American Hollow (1999) - Rory Kennedy, director BEST SHORT FILM:Fishbelly White (1998) - Michael Burke, director BEST DIRECTOR:Following (1998) - Christopher Nolan BEST ACTOR:Big Brass Ring, The (1999) - William Hurt SHORT COMPETITION:Come Unto Me: The Faces of Tyree Guyton (1998) - Nicole Cattell, director DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION:Rabbit in the Moon (1999) - Emiko Omori, director Speaking in Strings (1999) - Paola di Florio, director ORIGINAL VISION:Last Big Attraction, The (1999) - Hopwood DePree, director LUCY AWARDS —Awarded by Audience VoteBEST NARRATIVE FEATURE:Chutney Popcorn (1999) - Nisha Ganatra, director BEST DOCUMENTARY:One Girl Against the Mafia (1997) - Marco Amenta, director BEST SHORT:Confessions of a Sushi Addict (1999) - Kimberly Harwood, director 1998 JURY AWARDSBEST AMERICAN FEATURE:Anima (1997) - Craig Richardson, director BEST DIRECTOR:Craig Richardson, for Anima (1997) BEST FEATURE:Children of Heaven (1997) - Majid Majidi, director DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION:The Hunt (1997) - Niek Koppen, director ORIGINAL VISION:Anima (1997) - Craig Richardson, director LUCY AWARDS — Awarded by Audience VoteBEST NARRATIVE FEATURE:That Was You (1998) - Ron Lazeretti, Reno Liberatore, directors BEST DOCUMENTARY:The Cruise (1997) - Bennet Miller, director |
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Newport International Film Film Festival | PO Box 146,
Newport, RI 02840 | 401.846.9100 |