It's All Over but the Crying
Twenty-five days and 348 films later, the 31st Annual Seattle International Film Festival came to a close yesterday. This was a big SIFF---over 150 actors/filmmakers were brought to town for the fest (we do so love the Q&A), and organizers are reporting an approximate 5% increase in ticket sales from 2004's record year. Additionally, Sunday's live movie poster auction raised nearly $7000 for the SIFF Group.
In terms of festival honors, over 67,000 ballots were filled out by audience members to determine the Golden Space Needle Awards:
-Golden Space Needle Award for Best Picture: Innocent Voices (Mexico)Directed by Luis Mandoki and written and produced by Oscar Torres based on his own childhood experience during the El Salvador civil war.
1st Runner Up for Golden Space Needle Award for Best Picture is Howl's Moving Castle (Japan) directed by Hayao Miyazaki; 2nd Runner Up is As it is in Heaven (Sweden) directed by Kay Pollak; 3rd Runner Up is Banlieue 13 (France) directed by Pierre Morel; 4th Runner Up is Yesterday (South Africa) directed by Darrell James Roodt.
-Golden Space Needle Award for Best Documentary: Murderball (USA) Directed by Henry-Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro
1st Runner Up for Golden Space Needle Award for Best Documentary is The March of the Penguins (France) directed by Luc Jacquet; 2nd Runner-up is After Innocence (USA) directed by Jessica Sanders; 3rd Runner-up is Mad Hot Ballroom (USA) directed by Marilyn Agrelo; and Fishermen's Terminal (USA) directed by B.J. Bullert was 4th Runner Up.
- Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director: Gregg Araki, Mysterious Skin (USA)
1st Runner Up for Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director is Sally Potter for Yes (USA); 2nd Runner Up Susanne Bier for Brothers (Denmark); 3rd Runner Up is a three way tie--Wong Kar-wai for 2046 (Hong Kong), Kim Ki-duk for 3-Iron (South Korea) and Alice Wu for Saving Face (USA); and Drew Emery for Inlaws and Outlaws is 4th Runner Up.
-Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actress: Joan Allen, Yes (USA)
1st Runner Up for Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actress is Maggie Cheung for Clean (France); 2nd Runner Up is Glenn Close for Heights (USA); 3rd Runner Up is Shirley Henderson for Frozen (United Kingdom); and 4th Runner Up is Amy Adams for Junebug (USA).
-Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mysterious Skin (USA)
1st Runner Up for Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor is Peter Sarsgaard for The Dying Gaul (USA); 2nd Runner Up is Mathieu Amalric for King and Queens (France); 3rd Runner Up is Romain Duris for The Beat That My Heart Skipped (France); and the 4th Runner Up is Parviz Parastui for The Lizard (Iran).
-Golden Space Needle Award for Best Short: The Raftman's Razor (USA) directed by Keith Bearden (winner receives fabulous Power Mac G5 courtesy of IrisInk and Seattle Mac Store).
1st Runner Up for Golden Space Needle Award for Best Short is While the Widow is Away (USA) directed by Adam Reid; 2nd Runner Up is La Vie d'un Chien (USA) directed by John Harden; 3rd Runner Up is Cashback (United Kingdom) directed by Sean Ellis; and The Mantis Parable (USA) directed by Joshua Staub is 4th Runner Up.
SIFF also presented juried awards for Best New Director, Best American Film, Best Documentary Award, Best Live Action Short and Best Animated Short. The award-winners (and their respective juries) are as follows:
-Grand Jury Prize, Best New Director: Ilya Khrzhanovsky, 4 (Russia)
-Special Jury Prize, Best New Director: Brad McGann, In My Father's Den (New Zealand)The Jury for Best New Director was comprised of David Poland (moviecitynews.com), Fred Tsui (Media Asia) and Bill Murray (Northwest Screenwriter's Guild).
-Grand Jury Prize, Best New American Film: Swimmers, directed by Doug Sadler
-Special Jury Prize, Best New American Film: Ellie Parker, directed by Scott CoffeyThe Jury for Best New American Film was comprised of Fridrik Thor Fridriksson (Director/Producer, Iceland), Michael Weber (Sales Agent, Bavaria Film International), and Sean Nelson (Seattle-based writer and musician).
- Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary: Based on a True Story, directed by Walter Stokman (Netherlands)
-Special Jury Prize, Best Documentary: Trudell, directed by Heather Rae (US)The Jury for Best Documentary was comprised of Ida Martins (Media Luna Entertainment, Germany), Mark Olsen (Los Angeles Times/Sight and Sound/Film Comment), Angela Pressburger (Programming Consultant, Vancouver International Film Festival).
-Grand Jury Prize, Best Live Action Short: Everything In This Country Must, directed by Gary McKendry (UK)
-Grand Jury Prize, Best Animated Short: The Raftman's Razor, directed by Keith Bearden (US)
-Special Jury Prizes for Best Short: Can't Stop Breathing, directed by Amy Neil (Scotland); Phantom Limb, directed by Jay Rosenblatt (US); and La Vie d'un Chien, directed by John Harden (US)The Jury for Short Films was comprised of Michael Seiwerath (Executive Director of Northwest Film Forum), Keith Simanton (Managing Director, iMDb.com), Shannon Gee (Writer/Producer).
If you managed to miss any of these cinematic gems, never fear---a great deal of them will be coming sometime this summer to a Landmark Theatre near you.
