Worldwide Short Film Festival Award Winners 2012

Image from: The Maker, winner of Best Animated Short

Now that the 2012 Worldwide Short Film Festival has come to a close it's time to take a look at the festival award winners for both the jury award winners and audience choice awards. I actually saw a few of them this time round, which is really nice! Usually I pick other films to see but this time I saw Armadingen, The Maker and the formidable short Gravity of Center which won not just one, but two awards! Now let's have a look at all of the award winners.

2012 CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival Award Winners Are...

The Bravo!FACT Award for Best Canadian Short:
Edmond was a Donkey

The Deluxe Award for Best Live-Action Short:
The Factory / A FÁBRICA

The Deluxe Award for Best Performance in a Live-Action Short:
Miss Ming in My Sweetheart

The Kodak Award for Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short:
Gravity of Center, cinematography by Christophe Collette

The Panasonic Award for Best Documentary Short:
Eighty Eight, directed by Sebastian Feehan

Best Animated Short:
The Maker, directed by Christopher Kezelos

Best Experimental Short:
Gravity of Center, directed by Thibaut Duverneix

Screenplay Giveaway Prize goes to:
Tanya Lemke for Static

Top 10 for the Audience Choice Award:
1) Unravel
2) Armadingen
3) The Little Bird And The Leaf
4) My Sweetheart
5) Ernesto
6) The Twin
7) Lunch Date
8) Out Of Erasers
9) On The Line
10) Friend Request Pending & Under (tie)

The Worldwide Short Film Festival ran from June 5 - 10, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.


Image from: Gravity of Center, winner of Best Experimental Short and Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short at 2012 Worldwide Short Film Festival

Hot Docs 2012 Award Winners

The Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival came to a close on Sunday May 6, 2012 and although we have to wait a whole year to enjoy the festival again, it does go out with the sweet news to the award winners from this year. I sadly saw no where near as many films as I'd like this year, but that never seems to effect the fact that I almost never see festival winners. I don't know how that happens but for almost every festival of any year, I see other films. Bizarre! At least that means I have an ample supply of titles for my 'to see' list and I did see G-Dog which landed #3 on the Audience Awards and The Boxing Girls of Kabul. At least there were a few!

Here's have a look and celebrate with this years winners including the 2012 Filmmakers Award:

Hot Docs 2012 People’s Choice Award Top Ten
voted on by audience ballot
1. CHASING ICE (dir: Jeff Orlowski)
2. BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* (dir: Fredrik Gertten)
3. G-DOG (dir: Freida Mock)
4. WE ARE WISCONSIN (dir: Amie Williams)
5. LIFE IN STILLS (dir: Tamar Tal)
6. BROOKLYN CASTLE (dir: Katie Dellamaggiore)
7. 5 BROKEN CAMERAS (dir: Guy Davidi, Emad Burnat)
8. JASON BECKER: NOT DEAD YET (dir: Jessie Vile)
9. CALL ME KUCHU (dir:Malika Zouhali-Worrall, Katherine Fairfax Wright)
10. THE WORLD BEFORE HER (dir: Nisha Pahuja; Canada, Germany)

2012 Filmmaker Award: THE IMPOSTER (D: Bart Layton, UK)

Best Canadian Feature: THE WORLD BEFORE HER (D: Nisha Pahuja; P: Cornelia Principe, Nisha Pahuja, Ed Barreveld)

Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature: PEACE OUT (D: Charles Wilkinson; P: Tina Schliessler)

Inspirit Foundation Pluralism Prize: THE BOXING GIRLS OF KABUL (D: Ariel J. Nasr; P: Annette Clark)

Best International Feature: CALL ME KUCHU (D: Malika Zouhali-Worrall, Katherine Fairfax Wright; P: Malika Zouhali-Worrall; USA)

Special Jury Prize – International Feature: THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (D: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz; P: Liran Atzmor, B.Z. Goldberg; Israel)

Best Mid-Length Documentary: MY THAI BRIDE (D/P: David Tucker; Australia)
Honourable mention to NESSA (D: Loghman Khaledi; P: Katayoon Shahabi; Iran).

Best Short Documentary: FIVE FRAGMENTS OF THE EXTINCT EMPATHY (D: Anna Nykyri; P: Joonas Berghäll; Finland)
Honourable mention to FAMILY NIGHTMARE (D/P: Dustin Guy Defa; USA).

HBO Documentary Films Emerging Artist Award (tie): Bill Ross and Turner Ross for the film TCHOUPITOULAS (P: Bill Ross, Turner Ross; USA) and Benjamin Kahlmeyer for the film MEANWHILE IN MAMELODI (P: Boris Frank; Germany, South Africa)

2012 Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award recipient: Michel Brault

documentary’s Don Haig Award: Mia Donovan (INSIDE LARA ROXX, Hot Docs 2011 Official Selection)
Honourable Mention: Charles Officer (MIGHTY JEROME, Hot Docs 2011 Official Selection)

Lindalee Tracey Award: Jasmine Oore.

JURIES
The Canadian Feature Documentary Jury: Borislav Andjelic (film journalist; director of International Film Festival Belgrade), Maya Gallus (director, THE MYSTERY OF MAZO DE LA ROCHE), Dana O’Keefe (senior executive, Cinetic Media), Basil Tsiokos (programming associate, Sundance Film Festival; film journalist).

The International Feature Documentary Jury: Matthew Akers (director and cinematographer), Avril Benoît (director of communications, Doctors Without Borders - Canada), James Rocchi (film journalist), David Wilson (co-founder and co-director, True/False Film Fest).

The Shorts and Mid-Length Jury: Luis Ceriz (owner, Suspect Video), Marcelle Lean (executive director, Cinéfranco), Chi-hui Yang (film programmer, lecturer and writer).

And the Hot Docs People's Choice Award is determined by audience ballot.

The Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival 2012 ran from April 26 - May 6, 2012 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2011 Awards

The Award Winners have been announced for the 2011 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, and I again have a strikingly odd luck of going to see all the films *but* the award winners. Well, there is still a possibility in the Audience Award which will be announced soon. Until then, let's look at the results:

2011 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival Award Winners

Reel Asian Audience Award
Winner Announced: JUMP ASHIN!

Animasian Award
Winner: In a Pig's Eye, (Dir: Atsushi Wada)

Fasken Martineau Best Feature or Video Award
Winner: Buddha Mountain (Dir: Li Yu)

National Bank Best First Feature Film Award
Winner: The Journals of Musan (Dir: Park Jungbum)

Movieola Best Short Film or Video Award
Winner: A Winter Song / Une chanson d'hiver (Dir: Aonan Yang)

NFB Best Canadian Film or Video Award
Winner: Muybridge Strings / Les cordes de muybridge (dir: Koji Yamamura)

WIFT-T Award
Winner: The Sugarbowl (Dirs: Shasha Nakhai & Rich Williamson)

So You Think You Can Pitch? Emerging
Winner: Stephanie Law, LITTLE MISS JIHAD

So You Think You Can Pitch? Established
Winner: Keith Lock, THE MAGIC CHARM

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2011 ran from November 5 - 13, 2011 in Toronto and also November 18-19, 2011 in Richmond Hill in Ontario, Canada.

TIFF 2011: Award Winners

The ballots are tallied and the juries have spoken now the 2011 TIFF Award Winners including People's Choice and Fipresci Prizes have been announced:

The People's Choice Award went to Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now?
First runner up is Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation and Ken Scott’s Starbuck

The People's Choice for Midnight Madness went to Gareth Evans for The Raid
1st Runner Up: You’re Next
2nd Runner Up: God Bless America

The People's Choice Award for Documentary went to Jon Shenk for The Island President
1st Runner Up: First Position
2nd Runner Up: Pearl Jam Twenty

The Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Discovery went to Axel Petersén for Avalon

The Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Special Presentation to Gianni Amelio for The First Man /Le Premier Homme

The Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film went to Nathan Morlando for Edwin Boyd
Special citation to Anne Émond’s Nuit #1

The Award for Best Canadian Feature Film went to Philippe Falardeau for Monsieur Lazhar

The Award for Best Canadian Short Film went to Ian Harnarine for Doubles With Slight Pepper
Honourable mentions: Mathieu Tremblay’s Of events (D'aléas), Ryan Flowers & Lisa Pham’s No Words Came Down.

In a bizarre yearly tradition, I've seen almost none of the award winners, but I'm thrilled to see The Raid win for The People's Choice for Midnight Madness as it was easily my favourite film of the festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival 2011 ran from September 8 - 18, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Fantasia Awards 2011

The Fantasia International Film Festival finished up it's 15th festival this weekend in Montreal. Every year I hear amazing stories about the films and the festival experience, and looking at the film list blows my mind. The festival features fantasy, horror and extreme titles from around the world as well as premieres for upcoming big titles on many a genre fans must-see list. Yep, it sounds like an awesome. I also am always astounded and impressed by the endurance of the festival and the people who run it and attend, given it's mega-length of 3 weeks long. That easily makes Fantasia one of the festivals I most want to go to and grants it a spot on my Mega-List. How can you not love a festival that has an audience awarded prize for Guru Prize for the Most Energetic Feature? I mean, seriously. That's amazing.



Let's look at all of the festival awards, as I'm sure many will be added to my own must-see list. I've been lucky enough to see some of the winners already from other festivals like Superheroes at Hot Docs and Legend of Beaver Dam at the Worldwide Short Film Festival but at first glance I know I'll be hoping to see at the very least Milocrorze: A Love Story, Vampire, Monster Brawl and of course Bangkok Knockout sometimes soon.



2011 Fantasia International Film Festival Winners:



Feature Film Awards

Juried by: Alexandre Franchi (President), with Gilles Esposito, Lee Joon-ik, George Mihalka, Steven Schneider and Tom Vick



Cheval Noir Award for Best Film: Clown by Mikkel Nørgaard

Best Director: Yoshimasa Ishibashi for Milocrorze: A Love Story

Best Screenplay: Park Hoon-jung for The Unjust

Best Actors: Hwang Jeong-min and Ryoo Seung-beom for The Unjust

Best Actress: Norie Yasui for Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano

Special Mention to Vampire

Special Mention to the short film I LOVE YOU in THE THEATRE BIZARRE



First Feature Awards

Juried by: Jason Eisener (President), with Jephté Bastien, Alexandre Fontaine-Rousseau and Greg Newman



New Flesh Award for Best First Feature: Bullhead by Michaël R. Roskam

Special Mention to Love



Animation Awards

Juried by: Marcel Jean (President), with Jean-François Lévesque and Heidi Taillefer



Best Animated Feature Film: Surviving Life

Best Animated Short Film: Bobby Yeah

Special Mention to Crépuscule



International Animated Short Film Awards

Juried by: Buddy Giovinazzo (President), with John Fallon, Sylvain Houde and Charlotte Selb



Best International Short: The Suicide Tapes

Special Mention to The Unliving



Quebecois Short Film Awards

Juried by: Catherine Beauchamp, Dino Tavarone, Caroline Morin



Best Director: Alexandre Richard for Bonne Journée

Best Film: Carolyne Rhéaume for La Barricade

Best Actress: Charlotte Laurier for Coup Sauvage

Best Actor: Mathieu Dufresne for Bonne Journée

Best Screenplay: Caroline Renaud for Maternal

Jury’s Choice: Kim St-Pierre for Vodka Canneberge

Best Photo: Eric Morin for Opasatika



Quebecois DIY Short Film Awards

Juried by: Julie Brisson, Karl Filion, Géraldine Charbonneau



Best Film: Fuck That, Lawrence Côté-Collins

Best Screenplay: Corte, Radnath Gagnon

Best Director: Emanuel St-Pierre Beaulieu for Un film avec Brigitte Bardot

Best Actor (Male & Female): Maxime Desjardins for Gueule de Bois

Jury’s Choice: Vivre a 35 Milles a l'heure, Jean Marc E. Roy, Philippe David Gagné, Dominic Leclerc



AQCC Prize – International Section Awards

Martin Gignac, Claudia Hébert, Nicolas Krief



AQCC Prize: (TIE) Super and Superheroes



Séquences Prize – Asian Section Awards

Pascal Grenier (President), with Pierre-Alexandre Fradet and Christina Stojanova



Séquences Prize: Heaven's Story



L’Écran Fantastique Prize

Yves Rivard



L’Écran Fantastique Prize: Detention



Audience Awards



Best Asian Feature:

GOLD (TIE): 13 Assassins and Cold Fish

SILVER: Milocrorze: A Love Story

BRONZE: Don't Go Breaking My Heart



Best European or American Feature:

GOLD: Attack the Block

SILVER: (TIE) Burke and Hare and Bellflower

BRONZE: Innkeepers



Best Canadian or Quebecois Feature:

GOLD: The Corridor

SILVER: Vampire

BRONZE: (TIE) Monster Brawl and The Divide



Best Animation Feature:

GOLD: Redline

SILVER: Legend of the Millenium Dragon

BRONZE: El SOl



Best Documentary:

GOLD: Art/Crime

SILVER: Superheroes

BRONZE: Last Days Here



Most Innovative Feature:

GOLD: Milocrorze: A Love Story

SILVER: The Woman

BRONZE: Love



Guru Prize for the Most Energetic Feature:

GOLD: Bangkok Knockout

SILVER (TIE): Milocrorze: A Love Story and Detention

BRONZE: The FP



Best Short Film:

GOLD: Legend of Beaver Dam

SILVER: Night Fishing

BRONZE: Bobby Yeah



The Fantasia International Film Festival ran from July 14 - Aug 7, 2011 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.