LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Haskell Wexler
HONORARY TRAILBLAZER AWARD: James Schamus
HONORARY MAVERICK AWARD: Kevin Smith
The Lee Marvin award for BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Jury Members:
Matt Dentler, Mark Duplass, Ted Hope, Mary Stuart Masterson
Sponsored by the Lee Marvin Estate
Prizes: $5,000 Cash Award
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
Honorary Award receives Final Cut Studio Pro
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
First Prize: "Prince of Broadway"
Directed by Sean Baker
Honorable Mention: "Medicine for Melancholy"
Directed by: Barry Jenkins
Maverick Awards for BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Jury Members: Rachel Grady, Morgan Spurlock, Molly Thompson
Prizes: Final Cut Studio Pro
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"In A Dream"
Directed by: Jeremiah Zagar
Audience Award for NARRATIVE FEATURE
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
DVD duplication services certificate from Disc Makers
"Let the Right One In"
Directed By: Tomas Alfredson
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno"
Directed By: Kevin Smith
"Pride and Glory"
Directed By: Gavin O'Connor
Audience Award for DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
DVD duplication services certificate from Disc Makers
Playing For Change: "Peace Through Music"
Directed By: Jonathan Walls and Mark Johnson
"Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight"
Directed By: Wendy Keys
"At the Edge of the World"
Directed By: Dan Stone and Patrick Gambuti Jr.
Diane Seligman Award for BEST SHORT:
Jury Members: Karen Durbin, Ross Partridge, Peter Bowen
Sponsored by Lowel-Light
Prizes: Light Kit and $750 cash from Lowel Light
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"Glory at Sea"
Directed By: Benh Zeitlin
Diane Seligman Award for BEST STUDENT SHORT:
Jury Members: Amy Gossels, Jeremiah Newton
Sponsored by Lowel-Light
Light Kit and $750 cash from Lowel Light
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"Sikumi"
Directed By: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Diane Seligman Award for BEST SHORT DOC:
Jury Members: Ryan Harrington, Tim Sternberg, Stephen Nemeth
Sponsored by Lowel-Light
Light Kit and $750 cash from Lowel Light
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"Pickin' & Trimmin'"
Directed By: Matt Morris
HASKELL WEXLER AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Jury Member: Haskell Wexler
Sponsored by Panavision, NY
Prize: $15,000 worth of film camera equipment from Panavision, NY
"At the Edge of the World"
Directed By: Dan Stone, Patrick Gambuti Jr.
Cinematographer(s): Daniel Fernandez, Tim Gorski,
Simeon Houtman, James Joyner,
Jonathan Kane, Mathieu Mauvernay,
Rip Odebralski
Maverick Award for FOR BEST ANIMATION
Jury Members: Bill Plympton, Signe Baumane
Presented by Bill Plympton
DVD duplication services certificate from Disc Makers
"Berni's Doll"
Directed By: Yann Jouette
James Lyons Editing Award for NARRATIVE FEATURE:
Jury Members: Sabine Hoffman, Brian Kates, ACE, Kate Williams
Sponsored by the James Lyons Estate
Prize: $1,000 Cash Award
"Were the World Mine"
Directed By: Tom Gustafson
Edited by: Jennifer Lilly
James Lyons Editing Award for DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Jury Members: Sabine Hoffman, Sloane Klevin, Susan Littenberg
Sponsored by the James Lyons Estate
Prize: $1,000 Cash Award
"In A Dream"
Directed By: Jeremiah Zagar
Edited By: Keiko Deguchi, Jeremiah Zagar
Honorable Mention: "Pressure Cooker"
Directed by Jennifer Grausmand & Mark Becker
Jury Members:
FEATURE NARRATIVE JURY
Matt Dentler is the head of marketing and programming for Cinetic Rights Management, a sister company of Cinetic Media in New York. Prior to that, he spent five years as the Producer of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin starting in 2003. Matt currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Austin Film Society and graduated with a BS in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas. He is also the executive producer of PJ Raval’s and Jay Hodges’ documentary feature, Trinidad.
Mark Duplass and his brother Jay’s film, The Puffy Chair, was one of the breakout hits from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which also stars Mark, won the Audience Award at SXSW and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Mark and Jay first made a name for themselves with a string of award-winning short films, including This is John and Scrabble, both of which premiered at Sundance. The brothers are currently writing and directing films for both Universal and Fox Searchlight and have sold The Trail, a television show, to NBC. Their latest feature, Baghead, sold to Sony Classics at Sundance 2008 and is now in limited theatrical release.
Ted Hope is the co-founder of This is That, a New York production company. He most recently wrapped production on Greg Mottola’s Adventureland. His credits include production of Oscar®-winner Alan Ball’s directorial debut Nothing is Private. Ted has also brought the first features of Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Moises Kaufman, Bob Pulcini and Shari Berman, among others, to the screen. Among Hope’s productions are 21 Grams, which earned two Academy Award® nominations; In the Bedroom, earner of five Oscar® noms; and Happiness, winner of the Cannes Critics Prize.
Mary Stuart Masterson started acting before the age of ten, when she appeared in The Stepford Wives in 1975 with her father. Afterwards, at the direction of her parents, Mary Stuart led a life outside of the limelight, attending school in New York. She appeared in a few productions at New York’s Dalton School. At the age of 15, the young actress appeared on Broadway in Eva Le Gallienne’s version of Alice In Wonderland. She played two parts, the Four of Hearts and the Small White Rabbit. She returned to films in 1985 with the role of Dani in Heaven Help Us (1985). For eight months afterwards, Mary Stuart attended New York University, where she studied anthropology.
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY JURY
Rachel Grady is the co-director of the Emmy®-nominated documentary T he Boys of Baraka. A private investigator-turned-filmmaker, she has produced and directed numerous non-fiction films for MTV, CBS, Discovery Channel, A&E and Britain’s Channel 4. She has directed several films that focus on mental illness, including Mad Justice and Ward 2 West. Rachel was the Series Producer for TX, an eight-part series for VH1. She recently completed her second documentary feature, Jesus Camp, which was nominated for an Academy Award®. She is currently directing a film in Saudi Arabia, and is the co-founder of Loki Films.
Morgan Spurlock is the writer/producer/director of the Academy Award®-nominated film Super Size Me. His highly acclaimed series 30 Days recently completed its third season on the F/X network. The show examines social issues in America and has been praised by such diverse groups as the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Spurlock’s latest directorial project, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? premiered at Sundance 2008. In 2006, Spurlock and Arts Alliance America created a film and distribution partnership to release films considered to be groundbreaking and important that were overlooked by the majority of filmgoers.
Molly Thompson launched and runs A&E IndieFilms, the network’s feature documentary division. She executive produces the division’s original productions including Jesus Camp, a film by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, which was nominated for an Academy Award® and American Teen, a film by Nanette Burstein which won best director at Sundance 2008 and was released by Paramount Vantage this summer. Molly also executive produced a film about Anna Wintour directed by RJ Cutler; and a film on Pat Tillman directed by Amir Bar Lev. Other A&E IndieFilms include the Oscar®-nominated, Sundance Award-winner Murderball and My Kid Could Paint That.
SHORTS JURY
Peter Bowen is editor of FilmInFocus and Senior Editor of Filmmaker magazine. He previously served as Editorial Director of the Sundance Channel. He has written for a range of periodicals and served on the board of the New Festival.
Karen Durbin is the film critic for Elle magazine, where she writes a monthly two-page column. She also writes features for Elle and articles on film for the Sunday Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times. Previously, she was the film critic for Mirabella magazine and its arts and entertainment editor. From April 1994 to September 1996, Karen was the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice.
Ross Partridge, a native of the Hudson Valley area, recently received critical acclaim for his role of Matt in the Duplass Brother’s Baghead. He went on to co-produce their next film Dodeca Pentathlon, to be released in 2009. Film credits include Steven Spielberg’s The Lost World; Black and White with Gina Gershon; Amityville Horror with Terry O’Quinn; and The Wedding Murders with Canadian director Bashar Shibib. Television credits include: NYPD Blue, CSI, Law and Order, Hudson Street, Quantum Leap and The Net. In addition, Ross wrote and directed the feature film Interstate 84. He was a producer for Trigger Street Productions.
Student SHORTS JURY
Jeremiah Newton is the producer of the upcoming documentary Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol Superstar Candy Darling, which has just been sold to the Sundance Channel. He is the industry liaison for New York University’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television and is known for his work with young filmmakers. Jeremiah currently resides in Manhattan and Cherry Valley, NY.
Amy Gossels has been the casting director, and in many cases a producer, for more than sixty film productions. Feature film casting credits include Something’s Gotta Give, Godsend, Milk & Honey and Shoot First and Pray You Live. Ms. Gossels has cast and produced more than thirty award-winning short films, including the Academy Award® winning Zen and the Art of Landscaping and Happenstance. Ms. Gossels also casts for a wide range of televison projects, including the Comedy Central 2008 Special Night of Too Many Stars; Lifetime Television’s upcoming series Mom’s Cooking; and three highly anticipated new productions from the creators of Blue Man Group, Counts Media and legendary comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, all slated to open on Broadway in early 2009.
SHORT DOCS JURY
Ryan Harrington serves as the Head of IndiePix Studios. In addition, he serves as the Executive Producer on all IndiePix films. Current projects include 21 Below, Entre Nous, P-Star’s Redemption and Slap & Tickle, all of which will hit the festival circuit in 2009. Prior to this, Ryan ran the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and managed production for A&E IndieFilms for four years. He was a champion for the Oscar®-nominated films Murderball and Jesus Camp; the Sundance hits My Kid Could Paint That and American Teen; and Barbara Kopple’s Bearing Witness and Street Thief.
Stephen Nemeth formed and heads Rhino Films, the independent film company that originated as a division of iconoclastic record label Rhino Records. He has produced ten films and has executive produced fourteen others, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; What We Do Is Secret; the upcoming Radio Free Albemuth; the 2008 Oscar®-nominated documentary War Dance; the documentary Fields of Fuel, which won the 2008 Sundance Audience Award; and the documentary Flow which is being screened at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. He is also working with Amnesty International through Artists for Amnesty on developing and producing human rights-related motion picture and television projects.
Tim Sternberg started working in the editing rooms of Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope Studios in San Francisco. After moving to New York he has worked as a sound effects recordist on Sleepless in Seattle and The Human Stain; re-edited the 1992 Academy Award® winning Mediterraneo for U.S. release; and acted as a script consultant for the IFP and American Zoetrope. Recently he worked as music editor on Milos Forman’s Goya’s Ghosts and the Academy Award® winning documentary The Taint of Yingzhou District directed by Ruby Yang. His first film as a director, the documentary short Salim Baba, was nominated for an Oscar® in the 2008 Best Short Documentary category but won the 2007 Best SHort Doc Awad at Woodstock.
ANIMATION JURY
Since her arrival to New York, Signe Baumane has produced and co-produced, written, directed and designed eight independent animated shorts. She has continued her collaboration with Rija Films, where she directed two of her own stories. Her films have screened at such prestigious festivals as Annecy, Tribeca, Sundance, Berlin and Ottawa and have received numerous awards. Signe is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is a Fellow in Film with the New York Foundation for the Arts. She advises a series of film festivals in the U.S. on their animation programs and curates special shows where she personally presents films and filmmakers.
Bill Plympton is often referred to as the “King of Indie Animation.” He’s completed six animated features and over thirty animated shorts. He has a new book coming out this winter, illustrating the lyrics of Kanye West, and is now starting his seventh animated feature film, about sexual jealousy.
Patrick Smith has written, produced, animated and directed five award-winning films. He has made his directorial debut for the Emmy®-nominated series Daria. Smith is a senior thesis advisor at the Pratt Institute in New York; a fellow with the New York Foundation of the Arts; and a curator for multiple international film and animation festivals.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Haskell Wexler, A.S.C, is considered one of the most well respected cinematographers in the film industry today, His career spans six decades, and his work includes such films as Coming Home, Bound for Glory, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Interviews With My Lai Veterans and American Graffiti. Haskell has received five Academy Award® nominations and a number of other prestigious awards honoring his outstanding achievements in the photography of a wide range of films. He won his first Best Cinematography Oscar® in 1967 for Mike Nichols’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and received the coveted prize again, ten years later, for Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory. His other nominations were for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976), Matewan (1988), and Blaze (1989).
EDITING JURY–NARRATIVE
Sabine Hoffman has passionately edited independent feature films for over ten years. Credits include Rebecca Miller’s The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Personal Velocity, and her new feature film The Private Lives of Pippa Lee; Rodney Evans’ Brother to Brother; Morgan J. Freeman’s Desert Blue and Hurricane Streets; Katja Esson’s Academy Award®-nominated Ferry Tales and Bill Jennings’ Harlem Aria. Sabine is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and serves on the advisory boards of the Fusion Film Festival and the Woodstock Film Festival.
Brian A. Kates, A.C.E. ‘s work as a feature film editor includes the Oscar®-nominated The Savages (Tamara Jenkins); the Emmy Award®-winning Lackawanna Blues (George C. Wolfe) for which he won an A.C.E. Eddie Award; Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell); The Woodsman (Nicole Kassell); and the Emmy®-nominated The Laramie Project (Moisés Kaufman). He was Jonathan Caouette’s co-editor on the groundbreaking documentary Tarnation, named Best Non-Fiction Film by the National Society of Film Critics. Brian recently completed the Warner Bros. production Nights in Rodanthe (George C. Wolfe). He is currently editing Taking Chance, his third collaboration with director/producer Ross Katz.
Kate Williams studied photography, sculpture and film theory in Australia. In New York, she began editing as an assistant on Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet and Fred Schepisi’s Six Degrees of Separation. A sampling of the films she has edited include: Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge and Interview; Schepisi’s Last Orders and Empire Falls; Hong Kong director Clara Law’s The Goddess of 1967; and Michael Almereyda’s This So-Called Disaster, a documentary on Sam Shepard. Most recently, Williams edited the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury prizewinner Frozen River.
EDITING JURY–DOCUMENTARY
Sabine Hoffman (see above)
Sloane Klevin has been an editor of films, television, commercials and music videos for twenty years. Her most recent feature film, Taxi to the Dark Side, which she also co-produced, won the 2008 Academy Award® for best Documentary Feature as well as the WGA award for Best Doc Screenplay. She also received a Peabody Award and the jury prizes at the Tribeca and Chicago film festivals. Her other feature credits include Real Women Have Curves, Heights and Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues for PBS. She is a partner at Union Editorial and an Adjunct Professor of Film Editing at Columbia University.
Susan Littenberg’s credits include the recent live action Charlotte’s Web; A Lot Like Love; Gary Winick’s 13 Going on 30 and Tadpole. Most recently, she completed Five Dollars a Day with Christopher Walken. She is currently editing Bride Wars starring Kate Hudson and Drew Barrymore. Other credits include The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack, winner of a Special Jury Prize for Artistic Achievement at Sundance 2000; Jump Tomorrow, winner of a BAFTA award for first-time filmmakers; and Stephen Soderbergh’s 1996 film, Gray’s Anatomy.
Enter Your Post7
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HONORARY TRAILBLAZER AWARD: James Schamus
HONORARY MAVERICK AWARD: Kevin Smith
The Lee Marvin award for BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Jury Members:
Matt Dentler, Mark Duplass, Ted Hope, Mary Stuart Masterson
Sponsored by the Lee Marvin Estate
Prizes: $5,000 Cash Award
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
Honorary Award receives Final Cut Studio Pro
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
First Prize: "Prince of Broadway"
Directed by Sean Baker
Honorable Mention: "Medicine for Melancholy"
Directed by: Barry Jenkins
Maverick Awards for BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Jury Members: Rachel Grady, Morgan Spurlock, Molly Thompson
Prizes: Final Cut Studio Pro
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"In A Dream"
Directed by: Jeremiah Zagar
Audience Award for NARRATIVE FEATURE
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
DVD duplication services certificate from Disc Makers
"Let the Right One In"
Directed By: Tomas Alfredson
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno"
Directed By: Kevin Smith
"Pride and Glory"
Directed By: Gavin O'Connor
Audience Award for DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
DVD duplication services certificate from Disc Makers
Playing For Change: "Peace Through Music"
Directed By: Jonathan Walls and Mark Johnson
"Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight"
Directed By: Wendy Keys
"At the Edge of the World"
Directed By: Dan Stone and Patrick Gambuti Jr.
Diane Seligman Award for BEST SHORT:
Jury Members: Karen Durbin, Ross Partridge, Peter Bowen
Sponsored by Lowel-Light
Prizes: Light Kit and $750 cash from Lowel Light
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"Glory at Sea"
Directed By: Benh Zeitlin
Diane Seligman Award for BEST STUDENT SHORT:
Jury Members: Amy Gossels, Jeremiah Newton
Sponsored by Lowel-Light
Light Kit and $750 cash from Lowel Light
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"Sikumi"
Directed By: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Diane Seligman Award for BEST SHORT DOC:
Jury Members: Ryan Harrington, Tim Sternberg, Stephen Nemeth
Sponsored by Lowel-Light
Light Kit and $750 cash from Lowel Light
1-year FilmTracker membership for one year from Baseline Studiosystems
"Pickin' & Trimmin'"
Directed By: Matt Morris
HASKELL WEXLER AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Jury Member: Haskell Wexler
Sponsored by Panavision, NY
Prize: $15,000 worth of film camera equipment from Panavision, NY
"At the Edge of the World"
Directed By: Dan Stone, Patrick Gambuti Jr.
Cinematographer(s): Daniel Fernandez, Tim Gorski,
Simeon Houtman, James Joyner,
Jonathan Kane, Mathieu Mauvernay,
Rip Odebralski
Maverick Award for FOR BEST ANIMATION
Jury Members: Bill Plympton, Signe Baumane
Presented by Bill Plympton
DVD duplication services certificate from Disc Makers
"Berni's Doll"
Directed By: Yann Jouette
James Lyons Editing Award for NARRATIVE FEATURE:
Jury Members: Sabine Hoffman, Brian Kates, ACE, Kate Williams
Sponsored by the James Lyons Estate
Prize: $1,000 Cash Award
"Were the World Mine"
Directed By: Tom Gustafson
Edited by: Jennifer Lilly
James Lyons Editing Award for DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Jury Members: Sabine Hoffman, Sloane Klevin, Susan Littenberg
Sponsored by the James Lyons Estate
Prize: $1,000 Cash Award
"In A Dream"
Directed By: Jeremiah Zagar
Edited By: Keiko Deguchi, Jeremiah Zagar
Honorable Mention: "Pressure Cooker"
Directed by Jennifer Grausmand & Mark Becker
Jury Members:
FEATURE NARRATIVE JURY
Matt Dentler is the head of marketing and programming for Cinetic Rights Management, a sister company of Cinetic Media in New York. Prior to that, he spent five years as the Producer of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin starting in 2003. Matt currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Austin Film Society and graduated with a BS in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas. He is also the executive producer of PJ Raval’s and Jay Hodges’ documentary feature, Trinidad.
Mark Duplass and his brother Jay’s film, The Puffy Chair, was one of the breakout hits from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which also stars Mark, won the Audience Award at SXSW and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Mark and Jay first made a name for themselves with a string of award-winning short films, including This is John and Scrabble, both of which premiered at Sundance. The brothers are currently writing and directing films for both Universal and Fox Searchlight and have sold The Trail, a television show, to NBC. Their latest feature, Baghead, sold to Sony Classics at Sundance 2008 and is now in limited theatrical release.
Ted Hope is the co-founder of This is That, a New York production company. He most recently wrapped production on Greg Mottola’s Adventureland. His credits include production of Oscar®-winner Alan Ball’s directorial debut Nothing is Private. Ted has also brought the first features of Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Moises Kaufman, Bob Pulcini and Shari Berman, among others, to the screen. Among Hope’s productions are 21 Grams, which earned two Academy Award® nominations; In the Bedroom, earner of five Oscar® noms; and Happiness, winner of the Cannes Critics Prize.
Mary Stuart Masterson started acting before the age of ten, when she appeared in The Stepford Wives in 1975 with her father. Afterwards, at the direction of her parents, Mary Stuart led a life outside of the limelight, attending school in New York. She appeared in a few productions at New York’s Dalton School. At the age of 15, the young actress appeared on Broadway in Eva Le Gallienne’s version of Alice In Wonderland. She played two parts, the Four of Hearts and the Small White Rabbit. She returned to films in 1985 with the role of Dani in Heaven Help Us (1985). For eight months afterwards, Mary Stuart attended New York University, where she studied anthropology.
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY JURY
Rachel Grady is the co-director of the Emmy®-nominated documentary T he Boys of Baraka. A private investigator-turned-filmmaker, she has produced and directed numerous non-fiction films for MTV, CBS, Discovery Channel, A&E and Britain’s Channel 4. She has directed several films that focus on mental illness, including Mad Justice and Ward 2 West. Rachel was the Series Producer for TX, an eight-part series for VH1. She recently completed her second documentary feature, Jesus Camp, which was nominated for an Academy Award®. She is currently directing a film in Saudi Arabia, and is the co-founder of Loki Films.
Morgan Spurlock is the writer/producer/director of the Academy Award®-nominated film Super Size Me. His highly acclaimed series 30 Days recently completed its third season on the F/X network. The show examines social issues in America and has been praised by such diverse groups as the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Spurlock’s latest directorial project, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? premiered at Sundance 2008. In 2006, Spurlock and Arts Alliance America created a film and distribution partnership to release films considered to be groundbreaking and important that were overlooked by the majority of filmgoers.
Molly Thompson launched and runs A&E IndieFilms, the network’s feature documentary division. She executive produces the division’s original productions including Jesus Camp, a film by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, which was nominated for an Academy Award® and American Teen, a film by Nanette Burstein which won best director at Sundance 2008 and was released by Paramount Vantage this summer. Molly also executive produced a film about Anna Wintour directed by RJ Cutler; and a film on Pat Tillman directed by Amir Bar Lev. Other A&E IndieFilms include the Oscar®-nominated, Sundance Award-winner Murderball and My Kid Could Paint That.
SHORTS JURY
Peter Bowen is editor of FilmInFocus and Senior Editor of Filmmaker magazine. He previously served as Editorial Director of the Sundance Channel. He has written for a range of periodicals and served on the board of the New Festival.
Karen Durbin is the film critic for Elle magazine, where she writes a monthly two-page column. She also writes features for Elle and articles on film for the Sunday Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times. Previously, she was the film critic for Mirabella magazine and its arts and entertainment editor. From April 1994 to September 1996, Karen was the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice.
Ross Partridge, a native of the Hudson Valley area, recently received critical acclaim for his role of Matt in the Duplass Brother’s Baghead. He went on to co-produce their next film Dodeca Pentathlon, to be released in 2009. Film credits include Steven Spielberg’s The Lost World; Black and White with Gina Gershon; Amityville Horror with Terry O’Quinn; and The Wedding Murders with Canadian director Bashar Shibib. Television credits include: NYPD Blue, CSI, Law and Order, Hudson Street, Quantum Leap and The Net. In addition, Ross wrote and directed the feature film Interstate 84. He was a producer for Trigger Street Productions.
Student SHORTS JURY
Jeremiah Newton is the producer of the upcoming documentary Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol Superstar Candy Darling, which has just been sold to the Sundance Channel. He is the industry liaison for New York University’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television and is known for his work with young filmmakers. Jeremiah currently resides in Manhattan and Cherry Valley, NY.
Amy Gossels has been the casting director, and in many cases a producer, for more than sixty film productions. Feature film casting credits include Something’s Gotta Give, Godsend, Milk & Honey and Shoot First and Pray You Live. Ms. Gossels has cast and produced more than thirty award-winning short films, including the Academy Award® winning Zen and the Art of Landscaping and Happenstance. Ms. Gossels also casts for a wide range of televison projects, including the Comedy Central 2008 Special Night of Too Many Stars; Lifetime Television’s upcoming series Mom’s Cooking; and three highly anticipated new productions from the creators of Blue Man Group, Counts Media and legendary comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, all slated to open on Broadway in early 2009.
SHORT DOCS JURY
Ryan Harrington serves as the Head of IndiePix Studios. In addition, he serves as the Executive Producer on all IndiePix films. Current projects include 21 Below, Entre Nous, P-Star’s Redemption and Slap & Tickle, all of which will hit the festival circuit in 2009. Prior to this, Ryan ran the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and managed production for A&E IndieFilms for four years. He was a champion for the Oscar®-nominated films Murderball and Jesus Camp; the Sundance hits My Kid Could Paint That and American Teen; and Barbara Kopple’s Bearing Witness and Street Thief.
Stephen Nemeth formed and heads Rhino Films, the independent film company that originated as a division of iconoclastic record label Rhino Records. He has produced ten films and has executive produced fourteen others, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; What We Do Is Secret; the upcoming Radio Free Albemuth; the 2008 Oscar®-nominated documentary War Dance; the documentary Fields of Fuel, which won the 2008 Sundance Audience Award; and the documentary Flow which is being screened at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. He is also working with Amnesty International through Artists for Amnesty on developing and producing human rights-related motion picture and television projects.
Tim Sternberg started working in the editing rooms of Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope Studios in San Francisco. After moving to New York he has worked as a sound effects recordist on Sleepless in Seattle and The Human Stain; re-edited the 1992 Academy Award® winning Mediterraneo for U.S. release; and acted as a script consultant for the IFP and American Zoetrope. Recently he worked as music editor on Milos Forman’s Goya’s Ghosts and the Academy Award® winning documentary The Taint of Yingzhou District directed by Ruby Yang. His first film as a director, the documentary short Salim Baba, was nominated for an Oscar® in the 2008 Best Short Documentary category but won the 2007 Best SHort Doc Awad at Woodstock.
ANIMATION JURY
Since her arrival to New York, Signe Baumane has produced and co-produced, written, directed and designed eight independent animated shorts. She has continued her collaboration with Rija Films, where she directed two of her own stories. Her films have screened at such prestigious festivals as Annecy, Tribeca, Sundance, Berlin and Ottawa and have received numerous awards. Signe is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is a Fellow in Film with the New York Foundation for the Arts. She advises a series of film festivals in the U.S. on their animation programs and curates special shows where she personally presents films and filmmakers.
Bill Plympton is often referred to as the “King of Indie Animation.” He’s completed six animated features and over thirty animated shorts. He has a new book coming out this winter, illustrating the lyrics of Kanye West, and is now starting his seventh animated feature film, about sexual jealousy.
Patrick Smith has written, produced, animated and directed five award-winning films. He has made his directorial debut for the Emmy®-nominated series Daria. Smith is a senior thesis advisor at the Pratt Institute in New York; a fellow with the New York Foundation of the Arts; and a curator for multiple international film and animation festivals.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Haskell Wexler, A.S.C, is considered one of the most well respected cinematographers in the film industry today, His career spans six decades, and his work includes such films as Coming Home, Bound for Glory, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Interviews With My Lai Veterans and American Graffiti. Haskell has received five Academy Award® nominations and a number of other prestigious awards honoring his outstanding achievements in the photography of a wide range of films. He won his first Best Cinematography Oscar® in 1967 for Mike Nichols’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and received the coveted prize again, ten years later, for Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory. His other nominations were for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976), Matewan (1988), and Blaze (1989).
EDITING JURY–NARRATIVE
Sabine Hoffman has passionately edited independent feature films for over ten years. Credits include Rebecca Miller’s The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Personal Velocity, and her new feature film The Private Lives of Pippa Lee; Rodney Evans’ Brother to Brother; Morgan J. Freeman’s Desert Blue and Hurricane Streets; Katja Esson’s Academy Award®-nominated Ferry Tales and Bill Jennings’ Harlem Aria. Sabine is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and serves on the advisory boards of the Fusion Film Festival and the Woodstock Film Festival.
Brian A. Kates, A.C.E. ‘s work as a feature film editor includes the Oscar®-nominated The Savages (Tamara Jenkins); the Emmy Award®-winning Lackawanna Blues (George C. Wolfe) for which he won an A.C.E. Eddie Award; Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell); The Woodsman (Nicole Kassell); and the Emmy®-nominated The Laramie Project (Moisés Kaufman). He was Jonathan Caouette’s co-editor on the groundbreaking documentary Tarnation, named Best Non-Fiction Film by the National Society of Film Critics. Brian recently completed the Warner Bros. production Nights in Rodanthe (George C. Wolfe). He is currently editing Taking Chance, his third collaboration with director/producer Ross Katz.
Kate Williams studied photography, sculpture and film theory in Australia. In New York, she began editing as an assistant on Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet and Fred Schepisi’s Six Degrees of Separation. A sampling of the films she has edited include: Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge and Interview; Schepisi’s Last Orders and Empire Falls; Hong Kong director Clara Law’s The Goddess of 1967; and Michael Almereyda’s This So-Called Disaster, a documentary on Sam Shepard. Most recently, Williams edited the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury prizewinner Frozen River.
EDITING JURY–DOCUMENTARY
Sabine Hoffman (see above)
Sloane Klevin has been an editor of films, television, commercials and music videos for twenty years. Her most recent feature film, Taxi to the Dark Side, which she also co-produced, won the 2008 Academy Award® for best Documentary Feature as well as the WGA award for Best Doc Screenplay. She also received a Peabody Award and the jury prizes at the Tribeca and Chicago film festivals. Her other feature credits include Real Women Have Curves, Heights and Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues for PBS. She is a partner at Union Editorial and an Adjunct Professor of Film Editing at Columbia University.
Susan Littenberg’s credits include the recent live action Charlotte’s Web; A Lot Like Love; Gary Winick’s 13 Going on 30 and Tadpole. Most recently, she completed Five Dollars a Day with Christopher Walken. She is currently editing Bride Wars starring Kate Hudson and Drew Barrymore. Other credits include The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack, winner of a Special Jury Prize for Artistic Achievement at Sundance 2000; Jump Tomorrow, winner of a BAFTA award for first-time filmmakers; and Stephen Soderbergh’s 1996 film, Gray’s Anatomy.
Honorary Trailblazer Award: Ted Sarandos
Maverick Award For Best Feature Narrative: “August Evening”
Directed By: Chris Eska
Maverick Award Winner For Best Feature Documentary: “The Cool School”
Directed By: Morgan Neville
Honrable Mention To “Constantine's Sword”
Directed By: Oren Jacoby
And "Run Granny Run"
Directed By: Marlo Poras
Audience Award Winner For Narrative Feature: “The Living Wake”
Directed By: Sol Tryon
Audience Award Winner For Documentary Feature: “War/Dance”
Directed By: Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine
Very Close Second Was “Run Granny Run”
Directed By: Marlo Poras
Diane Seligman Award For Best Short: “High Falls”
Directed By: Andrew Zuckerman
Diane Seligman Award For Best Student Short: “Aquarium”
Directed By: Rob Meyer
Maverick Award For Best Short Doc: “Salim Baba”
Directed By: Tim Sternberg
Honorable Mention To “The Ladies”
Directed By: C. A. Voros
Haskell Wexler Award For Best Cinematography: “War/Dance”
Directed By: Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine
Maverick Award For Best Animation: “Fantaisie In Bubblewrap”
Directed By: Arthur Metcalf
Honorable Mention: “Teat Beat Of Sex”
Directed By: Signe Baumane
Maverick Award For Best Editing For A Feature Narrative: “In Search Of A Midnight Kiss”
Directed By: Alex Holdridge
Maverick Award For Best Editing For A Feature Documentary: “Constantine's Sword”
Directed By: Oren Jacoby
and many more...
Guillermo Del Toro (PAN'S LABYRINTH) says "Larry Fessenden is one of the most original voices to emerge in the horror field and THE LAST WINTER is his most accomplished work to date. He brings the Gothic trappings of the old classics to shocking new life."
The New York Times says "elegantly restrained horror ... metaphorically resonant ... Feverishly Real, Terrifying. Larry Fessenden is among the most thoughtful Americans
working on the lower-budget end of this oft-abused and mindlessly corrupted genre."
In addition to THE LAST WINTER, Larry can currently be seen in Neil Jordan's THE BRAVE one starring Jodie Foster, and he is involved either as a producer or actor in four upcoming 2007 WFF films, including TRIGGER MAN and LIBERTY KID.
Students and Alumni of PACE will be in attendance along with Nicole Quinn (writer/director), and key cast and crew members who will be taking part in a question and answer session after the film.
"RACING DAYLIGHT" is the story of Sadie Stokes (Melissa Leo) who has returned to the family farm to care for her catatonic Grandma (Leclanche Durand). There have always been Stokes in Cedarsville, but Sadie and Grandma are the last. When Harry (David Strathairn), a deceased Civil War soldier beckons Sadie from a mirror, Sadie begins to take on the character of her ancestor Anna, and a rich history of love and mystery unfolds.
This magical love story of hope and forgiveness is set against the backdrop of the beautiful Hudson River Valley and the historically rich Shawangunks where the film was made.
East Village Collective, 8 Old Forge Road, Woodstock NY 12498
Show runs October 10-November 10, 2007
"Having photojournalistic instincts and patience allows one to wait for the right moment when photographing anything, most especially people. The 'decisive moment' is not always easily obtained without some form of patience and anticipation. I originally went to Cozumel, Mexico, to photograph Hunter for the Playboy Interview in March, 1974, at his request. I completed my assignment in 2 days, but Hunter asked me to 'hang around' for the rest of the week, so I stayed, photographing him wherever we went. In addition to the interview we went shark fishing one night which became the title of one of his later books. These photographs represent images of Hunter photographed over a week of drugs and alcohol on the island of Cozumel." (Al Satterwhite)
Presented by the Woodstock Film Festival and East Village Collective
Lotus Gallery, Rock City Rd., Woodstock, NY
Show runs October 10-28, 2007
In this exciting photographic exhibition which includes images taken in the late 1960s but never chronicled in the press, Elliott presents an intimate look at Bob Dylan, at home and with his family, during the years he lived in the hills of Woodstock.
Elliot Landy, renowned for his iconic portraits of '60's musical legends, is one of the first music photographers to be recognized as an artist. Co-sponsored by the Woodstock Film Festival in conjunction with the screening of Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There."
Meira Blaustein, Woodstock Film Festival Executive Director said: "The Maverick Award was derived from its symbolic meaning to the Woodstock arts colony, representing an individual whose life and work is based on creativity, independent vision, and social activism. Christine Vachon's unique and courageous approach to filmmaking, coupled with her relentless support of the fiercely independent, makes her the perfect recipient of the Woodstock Film Festival Honorary Maverick Award. We were proud in 2002 to close the festival with Todd Haynes and Christine Vachon's film FAR FROM HEAVEN, and we're proud once again to close the festival with their newest and one of their most daring films, I'M NOT THERE."
Festival co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein says she is awed by the quality of filmmaking presented by the festival this year, and credits her co-programmers Ryan Werner (senior programmer), Michael Lerman and Tom Quinn for the incredible line-up. She emphasizes that the quality of films continues to grow in substance and stature.
Animation programmer Bill Plympton (animation) and animator extraordinaire Signe Baumane hung out with Jack Polak (94) and Ina Soep (84), subjects of the Holocaust love story" Steal a Pencil for Me," showing at the festival; sponsors Doreen Ringer Ross (BMI) and Steven Hays (120db Films) shared a drink with Woodstock concerts promoter Michael Lang and indie attorneys/producers Jonathan Gray and Robert Siegel; filmmaker Larry Fessenden (whose own film premiere, "The Last Winter," was taking place two blocks away) shared a laugh with producer Gill Holland; and actor Norman Reedus ("The Boondock Saints") was flanked by friends Danielle DiGiacomo and Jordan Mattos (Indiepix), agent Rachel Sheedy and friend Amos Poe, to name a few. Sponsors Molly Thompson and Ryan Harrington of A&E Indie Fiilms, as well as press members from Brian Brooks of Indiewire to Michael Musto of The Village Voice enjoyed a drink and a chat as well. The line up was announced by senior programmer Ryan Werner and festival's Executive Director Meira Blaustein.