The AFI DALLAS International Film Festival honors the best in filmmaking with a series of prestigious honors and awards. They include cash prizes, commissioned crystal awards and tributes to some of the most talented and distinguished individuals who have ever contributed to the art form.

TARGET TEN NARRATIVE FEATURE:
"MERMAID"
DIR: Anna Melikyan (Russia)
Cast: Mariya Shalayeva, Yevgeni Tsyganov, Mariya Sokova

HONORABLE MENTION:
"BAD HABITS"
DIR: Simón Bross (Mexico)
Cast: Ximena Ayala, Elena de Haro, Marco Antonio Treviño

TARGET TEN DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
"IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA"
DIR: Daniel Junge (USA)

CURRENT ENERGY EARTH FRIENDLY:
"FIELDS OF FUEL"
DIR: Josh Tickell

MPS STUDIOS TEXAS:
"COOK COUNTY"
DIR: David Pomes
Cast: Anson Mount, Xander Berkeley, Ryan Donowho, Polly Cole

HONORABLE MENTION:
"CIAO"
DIR: Yen Tan (USA)
Starring: Adam Neal Smith, Alessandro Calza, Ethel Lung

HDNET FEATURE:
"TRACING COWBOYS"
DIR: Jason Wulfsohn (USA)
Starring: Eileen Dietz, Megan Edwards, Sacha Grunpeter

SHORT:
"THE SECOND LINE"
DIR: John Magary (USA)

HONORABLE MENTION:
"A CATALOG OF ANTICIPATIONS"
DIR: David Lowery (USA)

STUDENT SHORT:
"THE VULNERABLE ONES" (LES VULNERABLES)
DIR: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt (Congo/USA)

HONORABLE MENTION:
"A DAY’S WORK"
DIR: Rajeev Dassani (USA)

ANIMATED SHORT:
"KEY LIME PIE"
DIR: Trevor Jimenez (Canada)

AUDIENCE AWARDS
NARRATIVE:
"AMAL"
DIR: Richie Mehta (Canada)
Cast: Rupinder Nagra, Naseeruddin Shah, Seema Biswas, Koel Purie

DOCUMENTARY:
"THE BLACK LIST"
DIR: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (USA)
Featuring: Chris Rock, Lou Gossett Jr., Vernon Jordan, Thelma Golden

SHORT:
"A DAY’S WORK"
DIR: Rajeev Dassani (USA)

AFI DALLAS STAR AWARDS

The AFI DALLAS International Film Festival also honors individuals for the major role they have played and continue to play in shaping the face of modern cinema and the advancement of the art of film. The AFI DALLAS Star Award, designed from Steuben crystal, is courtesy of Neiman Marcus.

THE 2008 STAR AWARD RECIPIENTS:

Helen Hunt
With roles in more than 80 films and television series, Helen Hunt is one of the most recognized actresses of our time. She is one of only three women to have won a Golden Globe, an Academy Award and an Emmy in the same year. She was nominated seven consecutive times for the Emmy for her work on Mad About You, winning four years in a row, 1996-1999 — the only person ever to do so.

Hunt was born into a film industry family in Los Angeles and began her acting career as a child in the 1970s, making appearances on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bionic Woman. In the ’80s she had a recurring role on St. Elsewhere and made a splash in the TV movie Bill: On His Own, which co-starred another AFI DALLAS Star Award recipient, Mickey Rooney.

But it was her role as the feisty, independent Jamie on Mad About You that caught the public’s eyes — and hearts. Her work in the sitcom propelled her to starring roles in Twister and her Academy Award-winning performance in As Good as it Gets. She has since split her time between film and Broadway, appearing onstage in The Twelfth Night and Life x 3 and onscreen in Dr. T & the Women, Cast Away and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion among others.

She co-owns the Hunt/Travel production company, and she makes her directorial debut with Then She Found Me screening at AFI DALLAS.

Helen Hunt will accept her AFI DALLAS Star Award at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, at the Majestic Theatre.

Mickey Rooney
After making his stage debut at 15 months of age, Mickey Rooney hasn’t stopped. He effortlessly made the jump from silent films to talkies, giving memorable performances in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) and National Velvet (1944). He was born Joe Yule Jr. to parents who were vaudeville performers. Two weeks later he was on the circuit with his folks, and soon after that he was onstage.

His break came in 1927 when he was cast for Mickey ‘Himself’ McGuire, a series of fi lms based on a comic strip. A few years later, he caught the attention of legendary producer David O. Selznick who created a role for him in Manhattan Melodrama, which led to a long-term contract with MGM. He starred in 15 Andy Hardy films and began his longtime association with Judy Garland with 1937’s Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry. In 1938, he made Boys Townwith Spencer Tracy. All this before his 18th birthday.

In his remarkable career, Rooney has worked on more than 240 films and more than 70 television shows. He has earned four Emmy nominations — winning once — and four Oscar nominations. He received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Lifetime Achievement award in 1983. Rooney is an icon of Hollywood movie-making and the epitome of the word “entertainment.”

Mickey Rooney will accept his AFI DALLAS Star Award at

Jack Lemmon
Starting with 1949’s The Lady Takes a Sailor and ending
with 2000’s The Legend of Bagger Vance, Jack Lemmon’s
film career included 61 titles, including such acclaimed films as The Apartment, Some Like it Hot, Glengarry Glen Ross and Grumpier Old Men. He was nominated for eight Oscars and won twice, once for his supporting role in Mr. Roberts (1956) and again for Best Actor in Save the Tiger (1973). In 1988, he received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award.

A Harvard grad and Navy veteran, Lemmon worked in television, radio and film beginning in the mid-’40s. He worked with many of Hollywood’s iconic leading ladies, including Betty Grable, Doris Day, Kim Novak, Rita Hayworth and Sophia Loren. His pairing with Marilyn Monroe in Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, screening at AFI DALLAS, is one of his most loved works.

His partnership with Wilder extended to several more films, including The Apartment, The Fortune Cookie and Buddy Buddy. However, it’s his work in the latter two films, and most famously in The Odd Couple with Walter Matthau, that is regarded as one of the best comedic pairings of all time. Lemmon never fell out of favor with Hollywood, because audiences never could pass him up. Whether in comedies like Days of Wine and Roses or thrillers like The China Syndrome, he had a charm that couldn’t be ignored.

Todd Wagner
Chief executive officer of 2929 Entertainment and founder of the Todd Wagner Foundation, Todd Wagner began his ascension in the business world in 1995 as co-founder and CEO of Broadcast.com. Wagner’s passion for entertainment and business led to his current venture, the Wagner/Cuban Companies. This vertically integrated group of media entities spans content creation, distribution and exhibition: 2929 Productions, HDNet Films, Magnolia Pictures, Landmark Theatres, HDNet and HDNet Movies.

As CEO, he has executive produced Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Akeelah and the Bee (showing at AFI DALLAS) and Good Night, and Good Luck., which also earned several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Two more fi lms, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and What Just Happened? also screen at this year’s Festival.

The Todd Wagner Foundation has developed numerous programs dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk children and inner-city entrepreneurs, including MIRACLES, a structured after-school program focusing on technology, education and life skills for children grades 6-12.

The Foundation’s other involvements include serving on the national board of directors of the After-School All-Stars, which offers year-round technology, academic, sports and cultural programs for inner-city children. The Foundation was also instrumental in providing funding to bring the nationally recognized KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter school to Dallas in 2003.

Charlize Theron
In her relatively short 12-year cinema career, Charlize Theron has made a profound impact. Her roles in Monster (for which she won the 2004 Best Actress Oscar), The Cider House Rules, North Country (for which she received an Academy Award nomination) and Battle In Seattle show that she relishes non-traditional parts and inhabits them with gusto.

An only child who grew up on a farm near Johannesburg, South Africa, Theron worked as a model and trained at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York before moving to Los Angeles at 19. There, she started her acting career with a small role in Children of the Corn III, but captured the attention of then first-time director Tom Hanks and landed a part in That Thing That You Do!

She moved on to bigger movies, such as The Devil’s Advocate, Mighty Joe Young and Cider House. Her portrayal of a lesbian serial killer in Monster caught the attention of the Academy and critics alike. It led her to the Oscar and made her one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. She received both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her fi lm North Country.

She stars in Battle for Seattle at AFI DALLAS, which was directed by her longtime companion Stuart Townsend.

Chris Wedge
From his work as a principal animator on Tron to his directing on Ice Age and Robots, Chris Wedge seems to always have his hand in a cutting-edge project that both critics and audiences adore. His short film, Bunny, took an Oscar in 1999, while his creative work on Joe’s Apartment and Alien:Resurrection shows he’s in touch with his creepy side, too. Wedge, a graduate of State University of New York at Purchase and Ohio State University, has taught animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He’s co-founder and Vice President of Creative Development at Blue Sky Studios, one of the country’s most prestigious computer animation studios and the producer of his films.

Kids and parents may know Wedge best, however, as the voice of Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel from the Ice Age films who’s gone on to star in shorts of his own (that Wedge also executive produced): Scrat’s Missing Adventure and No Time for Nuts.

Wedge’s current project as an executive producer is Blue Sky’s take on the Dr. Seuss classic Horton Hears a Who!, which stars Jim Carrey, Steve Carell and Carol Burnett.

Sponsor Awards:
• Target Filmmaker Award ($25,000) in Narrative Feature Competition:
"Shut up and Shoot Me"
Directed By: Steen Agro
• Target Filmmaker Award ($25,000) in International Documentary Competition: "New Year Baby"
Directed By: Socheata Poeuv
• Best HD Feature presented by HD Net ($10,000): "Sharkwater"
Directed By: Robert Stewart

Audience Awards:
• Audience Award for Narrative Feature: "Music Within"
Directed By: Steven Sawalich
• Audience Award for Documentary: "Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life"
Directed By: Logan Smalley
• Audience Award for Shorts: "The Little Gorilla"
Directed By: Harry Kellerman

Jury Awards:
•Grand Jury Prize, Texas Competition: "A Lawyer Walks into a Bar"
Directed By: Eric Chaikin
•Special Jury Prize, Texas Competition: "Eve of Understanding"
Directed By: Alyson Shelton
•Grand Jury Prize, Animation Competition: "One Rat Short"
Directed By: Alex Weil
• Grand Jury Prize, Student Competition: "Redemption Maddie"
Directed By: Aaron King
•Grand Jury Prize, Short Competition: "Little Farm"
Directed By: Calvin Reeder
• Honorable Jury Mention, Shorts: "BITCH"
Directed By: Lilah Vandenburgh
• Special Jury Mention, Documentary: "Where the Sun Rises"
Directed By: Grace Phan