The Quincy Jones-produced King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones, directed by French documentarian Harriet Marin Jones, won Best Director for a Feature Documentary. Chinese director Tanxuan Shi’s Livestream won Best International Short Film. Sarah Hanner received Best Director for the US Short Film Blackfisk. Armenian screenwriter Sahag Gureghian’s Motel Room won Best LGBTQ Film, along with acting honors for Tammy Kaitz and Sebastian Rosero. Passenger C won Best Docu-Drama and Best Actor in a US Feature Film for Jon Jacobs.
Canadian films also shone brightly: Samuel T. Scofy’s documentary Run For Noah, 14-year-old filmmaker Jason Park’s And… Action!, and Tori Watt’s Henderson, which won Best Director for an International Short Film, with star Lesli Brownlee winning Best Actress in a Short Film.
Shannon Lee honored Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story with the Bruce Lee Trailblazer Award. INFINITY! by Benjamin To, a musical about a famous Japanese American ballroom dance duo during World War II, won Best Musical. Michael Afendakis’ documentary We Rise took home two awards. Larry and Terry Ziegelman won Best Sci-Fi Short Film for Broken Vessels, while Roswell Delirium, directed by Richard Bakewell and produced by Anthony Michael Hall, received Best Sci-Fi Feature Film.
Ryan Busse, producer of The Strangers’ Case, Grand Jury Award Winner.
Former ESPN reporter and Seattle filmmaker Kenny Mayne won the Seattle Filmmaker Award for Best Documentary Short Film for Wiffle Ball, starring Ken Burns and Ken Griffey Jr. War Tails won the Seattle Filmmaker Feature Film Award, produced by Dan Fine and directed by Olha Byrledianu. The Sugarman, produced by Bryan Boyd and directed by Michael Husain, won Best Sports Documentary Short Film, chronicling the journey of Seattle’s Olympic Gold Medalist Sugar Ray Seales.
Northwest filmmaker Luke Zwanziger’s horror short film Vines won three awards. Seattle filmmakers from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment won Best Animated Short Film for Spare Parts. Christine Caruso won Best US Documentary Feature for Corky, about the world’s longest-held captive orca.
Special Olympic Gold Medalist Devon Adelman accepted the trophy for the Seattle Documentary short How Do You See Me?. Northwest filmmaker Nikola Lakic won for Unega/Tales of the Guardians, a documentary about rehabilitating Great Pyrenees Mountain Dogs. Galen Andrus won two awards for his neo-noir Movie Night, and Michael Rognlie’s horror short The Need also won. Kai Bagley won Best Young Actor for the short film Gamer. Andy Yardy’s documentary on Seattle running legend Doris Brown Heritage was an Audience Choice Award winner.
For the complete list of winners, visit www.theseattlefilmfestival.com.
Isabella Rossellini is wonderful in Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera and in Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral