The 24th Annual Atlanta Film & Video Festival is pleased to announce the winning films & videos of this year’s competition:
Grand Jury Prize: GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, directed by Frank Novak
Best Animated Film: MISTER SMILE, directed by Fran Krause
Best Animated Film, Honorable Mention: ATLAS GETS A DRINK, directed by ^ Michael Overbeck ^
Best Documentary: GOOD KURDS, BAD KURDS, directed by Kevin McKiernan
Best Experimental Film: MY BIG HEART, directed by Jeff Walker
Best Narrative Film: CRUSH, directed by Philip Bartell
Best Narrative Film, Honorable Mention: ELSEWHERE, directed by Brian ^ Drysdale ^
Best Student Film: MOONSHINE, directed by Kelly Riley
Best Student Film, Honorable Mention: MINOTAUR, directed by Daniel Sousa
Audience Award: THE BALLAD OF RAMBLIN’ JACK, directed by Aiayana Elliott
Southeastern Mediamaker’s Award: David Gordon Green, director of ^ GEORGE WASHINGTON ^
This year the Atlanta Film & Video Festival received over 600 films and videos for consideration-more than any previous year. Throughout January and February, the entries were viewed by a prescreening committee comprised of local film and video makers, programmers, curators and media professionals dedicated to selecting the best films to screen at this year’s Festival. After being selected for general screening, 53 films were selected for competition screening in front of a panel of four judges from the film and video community, including: Kim Adelman, content editor for SHORT (formerly Short Cinema Journal), the acclaimed series of short film collections on DVD; Stephen Gallagher, publisher of FILMMAKER: The Magazine of Independent Film; Tony Murphy, Festival Director for the UrbanWorld International Film Festival and Cauleen Smith, director of the film DRYLONGSO playing at this year’s AFVF which won the Silver Armadillo at the 1999 South by Southwest Film Festival.
Works in competition were under consideration for the following awards: Grand Jury Award, awarded to the film voted “best of the fest;” Best Animation, Best Documentary Short; Best Documentary; Best Experimental; Best Narrative and Best Student Work. In addition to these awards, two special awards are given out: the Audience Award, presented by US Weekly Magazine, and the Southeastern Mediamaker’s Award. Awarded to a work of any length deemed best film by the viewers themselves, the Audience Award gives AFVF audiences the chance to speak their minds and democratically recognize the people’s choice. The AFVF’s Southeastern Mediamaker’s Award has been presented to an individual artist by IMAGE Film & Video Center each year since 1995 in an effort to recognize and promote regional filmmaking. The award, consisting of over $50,000 in in-kind donations by local film businesses, is given to a filmmaker whose work was produced in Georgia or any neighboring state as an incentive to produce their next project in the Atlanta area. Past winners include: CITY BOYS DREAM OF BEACHES by Eric Wise (Georgia, 1995), CLOSEST THING TO HEAVEN by Dorne Pentes (North Carolina, 1996), BIG JIM FOLSOM by Robert Clem (Alabama, 1997), PARADISE FALLS by Nick Searcy (North Carolina, 1998) and BURNING QUESTIONS by Mishael Porembski (Georgia, 1999).
For more information about the Atlanta Film & Video Festival, please call (404) 352-4225 or go to [ www.imagefv.org. ]
