Anaheim Film Fest Announces Award Winners
“COLONY” AND “EIGHTEEN” SHARE THE JURY PRIZE
FOR BEST FEATURE
“THE GOD OF LOVE” IS NAMED BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“THE LOST THING” TAKES BEST ANIMATION SHORT HONORS
AUDIENCE AWARDS GO TO “THE YANKLES” FOR BEST LIVE ACTION FEATURE, “UNDER THE BOARDWALK: THE MONOPOLY STORY” FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY AND “SUMMER WARS” FOR BEST ANIMATION FEATURE
“BEDFELLOWS” AND “THE GRUFFALO” ARE AUDIENCE FAVORITES IN LIVE ACTION AND ANIMATION SHORTS CATEGORIES
ANAHEIM, Calif. - October 18, 2010 - The Anaheim International Film Festival (AIFF) announced the award winners for its inaugural outing with Carter Gunn's and Ross McDonnell's COLONY and Jang Kun-jae's EIGHTEEN sharing the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film and Luke Matheny's THE GOD OF LOVE and Andrew Ruhemann's and Shaun Tan's THE LOST THING named as the Grand Jury Prize winners for Best Live Action Short Film and Best Animation Short Film, respectively.
Audience Awards went to David Brooks 'THE YANKLES for Best Live Action Feature, Kevin Tostado's UNDER THE BOARDWALK: THE MONOPLOY STORY for Best Documentary, and Mamoru Hosoda's SUMMER WARS for Best Animation Feature. The Audience Award winner for Best Live Action Short Film was Pierre Stefanos' BEDFELLOWS, while Max Lang's and Jacob Schuh's THE GRUFFALO was the Audience Award winner for Best Animation Short.
AIFF Director of Programming Matt Bolish, said, “Our competition section was a singular point of pride within the programming staff and reflecting on the strength of filmmaking and artistry within each of those films, it was no surprise that our jurors had difficulty narrowing it down to the eventual winners.”
Executive Director Jo Moulton added, “In our first year, we were very pleased to have been able to offer Anaheim and Orange County audiences such a wonderful selection of films from around the world that ran the gamut from comedy to drama, narrative to documentary, live-action to animation, as well as launch a phenomenally successful New Media Expo and Market as a strong component of the film festival. In many ways, this film festival exceeded many of our own hopes and ambitions and we all look forward to raising the stakes for next year.”
The festival featured 127 films, including 47 features and 80 shorts representing 30 different countries. AIFF began with more than a thousand film goers attending the Opening Night Gala featuring four films and a shorts package. The evening was highlighted by red carpet entrances including WILD TARGET's director and AIFF honoree Jonathan Lynn, festival guest Robbie Coltrane, AMERICAN BULLY's stars Natasha Henstridge and Paul Ben-Victor, THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS' star Doug Jones, as well as many of the attending filmmakers and stars of the films and web series presented over the course of the film festival.
The AIFF Awards Celebration at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel on Saturday, October 16 honored the Grand Jury Prize winners as well as shining a light on AIFF Honors recipients Jonathan Lynn, Hector Elizondo and Mira Sorvino. Presentations were also made to local Orange County philanthropic legends Lawrence and Kristina Dodge and Bruno Serato. The presentations and speeches made by Robbie Coltrane, Paul Sorvino and David S. Ward on the honorees behalf shared a common theme of emphasis on the family, bringing an unexpected, but appreciated wave of emotion over the proceedings which had the air and production values befitting a major televised awards show complete with impressively staged musical and dance production numbers throughout the show. Afterward, the attendees were treated to a special presentation of Disneyland's “World of Color” water and light show.
Sinan Kanatsiz, chairman of the Anaheim International Film Festival, said, “The founders of AIFF are humbled and appreciative to have had our vision supported by the film industry, our community and our sponsors. The awards gala hosted by our partner Disneyland Resort was the perfect celebration to end five days of extraordinary films that were international in reach and groundbreaking in scope. We thank all our filmmakers, sponsors, partners and staff for their participation in making our inaugural year a tremendous success."
Sunday, October 17 featured an inspired New Media Expo and Market presented by Tubefilter, Celebrate the Web, & Web TV Workshop and designed to emphasize the creators and artists within the web series community. Comprised of a number of screenings and panels throughout the day covering everything from web criticism to branded marketing, and including the first ever New Media Market, the event within an event had 20 web series participate, with hundreds of overall attendees and more than 15,000 online streaming viewers sampling, meeting, doing business and watching the panels and world premieres of web series and films that were presented.
The festival concluded with a Gala Closing Night event at Bruno Serato's celebrated THE WHITE HOUSE restaurant where the AIFF audience award winners were named and Serato held court with festival filmmakers, press and staff enjoying his internationally renowned cuisine.
JURY AWARDS:
BEST FEATURE FILM (Co-Winners):
COLONY
DIR: Carter Gunn, Ross McDonnell
PROD: Morgan Bushe, Macdara Kelleher
EIGHTEEN
DIR: Jang Kun-jae
PROD: Jang Kun-jae, Kim Woo-ri
Cast: Seo Jun-yeong, Lee Min-ji, Kwon Hyeok-pung, Han Na, Choi Hyo-sang, Choi Hyeon-sook
BEST LIVE ACTION/NARRATIVE SHORT FILM: THE GOD OF LOVE
DIR: Luke Matheny
BEST ANIMATION SHORT FILM: THE LOST THING
DIR: Andrew Ruhemann, Shaun Tan
AUDIENCE AWARDS:
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: THE YANKLES
DIR: David Brooks
PROD: David Brooks, Zev Brooks, Cary Glieberman
Cast: Brian Wimmer, Bart Johnson, Don Most, Michael Buster, Susanne Sutchy, Kenneth Brown, Jesse Bennett
BEST DOCUMENTARY: UNDER THE BOARDWALK: THE MONOPOLY STORY
DIR: Kevin Tostado
PROD: Craig Bentley, Kevin Tostado
Appearances in the film: Hank Azaria, Matt McNally, Phil Orbanes
Narration: Zachary Levi
BEST ANIMATION FEATURE: SUMMER WARS
DIR: Mamoru Hosoda
PROD: Takuya Ito, Yuichiro Saito, Nozomu Takahashi, Takashi Watanabe
Voices: Nanami Sakuraba, Ryonosuke Kamiki, Ayumu Saito, Mitsuki Tanimura, Sumiko Fuji, Takahiro Yokokawa
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: BEDFELLOWS
DIR: Pierre Stefanos
BEST ANIMATION SHORT: THE GRUFFALO
DIR: Max Lang, Jacob Schuh
Cast (Voices): Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson
2010 AIFF JURY MEMBERS
FEATURE FILM JURY includes:
Julie Davis
After getting her start in the film business by editing and directing ultra low budget films, Davis raised $60,000 to make her first feature I LOVE YOU, DON'T TOUCH ME! which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 to rave reviews and sold to the Samuel Goldwyn Co. Davis followed with the award-winning AMY'S ORGASM (2001), ALL OVER THE GUY (2001), and last year's FINDING BLISS.
Christian Gaines
From 2000 to 2008, Christian served as Director of Festivals at the
American Film Institute, where he oversaw several festivals including
AFI FEST presented by Audi. During this time, Christian was involved in
the launch planning of SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary
Festival, was instrumental in developing a strategic alliance with the
American Film Market, and oversaw the rapid development of AFI's Los
Angeles-based, year-round exhibition programs. Representing AFI,
Christian also spearheaded the negotiations that led to the launch of the
AFI DALLAS International Film Festival.
Most recently, Christian joined the Withoutabox division of IMDb.com, an
Amazon.com company, where he's focused on festival strategy, business
development and alternative distribution.
SHORT FILM JURY includes:
Kimberly Browning
Kimberley Browning is a filmmaker and a film festival programmer. Her directing and producing credits span both film and television content, and new media/web entertainment. Kimberley is the founder and Festival Director of Hollywood Shorts, launched in 1998 in Los Angeles. Hollywood Shorts is a monthly industry screening series, and presents the annual African American Shortsfest at the American Cinematheque each February.
Matt Spain
Since 2008, Matthew Spain has been Creative Executive at Magnet Media Group, where he is involved in evaluating submissions, script development, packaging, and production of Magnet's films. Magnet finances and produces theatrical feature films in the $10 - 40 million range, geared towards domestic and international distribution.
About AIFF
The Anaheim International Film Festival marks the addition of a world-class cultural event to Southern California and the international film festival circuit. The AIFF mission is to create an environment that inspires, nurtures and showcases the work of emerging independent film talent while paying tribute to accomplished film artists in the international, national and local film communities. For more information, visitwww.anaheimfilm.org.
AIFF Sponsors
The Anaheim International Film Festival is grateful for the support of its founding sponsors, including: Anaheim GardenWalk, the Official Home of the Festival; UltraStar Cinemas, the Official Theater Venue of the Festival; Disneyland Resort, the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau and KCOMM. Special thanks also to our sponsors AIM Mail Centers, AM 830 KLAA: Home of Angels Baseball, California State University Fullerton, American Airlines, Anaheim White House Restaurant, California Limousines, Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, ConAgra Foods, Down Syndrome Association of Orange County, Freeman, Insight Schools, Internet Marketing Association, Live Publishing, MacFusion, OC Family Magazine, OC Metro Magazine, OC Standard, Orange Coast Magazine, Orange County Business Council, Orange County Department of Education, Orange County Restaurant Association, Pretend City Children's Museum, PSAV Presentation Services, RWB Party Props, Shorts Showcase, The Place Magazine, SuperShuttle and Turkish Airlines.
Special thanks also to our hotel sponsors the Anaheim Marriott, Anabella Hotel, Best Western Stovall's, Clarion Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, Desert Palms Hotel & Suites, Doubletree Guest Suites, Doubletree Anaheim/Orange County, Embassy Suites Anaheim South, Hilton Anaheim, Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort, and Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Anaheim.
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