SIFF Winners Announced

SIFF 2009 Golden Space Needle Audience Awards

Best Film Golden Space Needle Award
Black Dynamite, directed by Scott Sanders (USA, 2009)

First runner up: The Necessities of Life, directed by Benoît Pilon (Canada, 2008)
Second runner up: (500) Days of Summer, directed by Marc Webb (USA, 2009)
Third runners up (tie): ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, directed Kevin Hamedani (USA, 2009) and Morris: A Life With Bells On, directed by Lucy Akhurst (United Kingdom, 2008)
Fourth runner up: North Face, directed by Philipp Stolzl (Austria, 2008)

Rounding out the top ten: Marcello Marcello (Denis Rabaglia, Switzerland, 2008); Departures (Yojiro Takita, Japan, 2008); Patrik Age 1.5 (Ella Lemhagen, Sweden, 2008); Amreeka (Cherien Dabis, Canada, 2009) Humpday (Lynn Shelton, USA, 2009)

Best Documentary Golden Space Needle Award
The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos (USA, 2009)

First runner up: Sweet Crude, directed by Sandy Cioffi (USA, 2008)

Second runner up: William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, directed by Sarah Kunstler and Emily Kunstler (USA, 2009)
Third runner up: Every Little Step, directed by James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo (USA, 2008)
Fourth runners up (tie): Food, Inc., directed by Robert Kenner (USA, 2008) and Facing Ali, directed by Pete McCormack (Canada, 2009)

Rounding out the top ten: Gotta Dance (Dori Berinstein, USA, 2008); Afghan Star (Havana Marking, Afghanistan, 2008); Dancing Across Borders (Anne H. Bass, USA, 2009); The Garden (Scott Hamilton, USA, 2008); Icons Among Us (Michael Rivoira, LarsLarson, Peter J. Vogt; USA, 2009)

Best Director Golden Space Needle Award
Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker (USA, 2008)

First runner up: Lynn Shelton, for Humpday (USA, 2009)
Second runner up: Kari Skogland for Fifty Dead Men Walking (UK/Canada, 2008)
Third runner up: Spike Lee for Passing Strange (USA, 2009)
Fourth runner up: Marc Webb for (500) Days of Summer (USA, 2009)

Best Actor Golden Space Needle Award
Sam Rockwell for Moon (United Kingdom, 2009)

First runner up: Jim Sturgess for Fifty Dead Men Walking (United Kingdom, 2008)
Second runner up: Natar Ungalaaq for The Necessities of Life (Canada, 2008)
Third runner up: Mark Duplass for Humpday (USA, 2009)
Fourth runner up: Toni Servillo for Il Divo (Italy, 2008)

Best Actress Golden Space Needle Award
Yolande Moreau for Séraphine (France/Belgium, 2008)

First runner up: Catalina Saavedra for The Maid (Chile, 2008)
Second runner up: Trine Dyrholm, for Little Soldier (Denmark, 2009)
Third runner up: Nathalie Press for Fifty Dead Men Walking (UK/Canada, 2008)
Fourth runner up: Iben Hjejle for The Escape (Denmark, 2009)

Best Short Film Golden Space Needle Award
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death, directed by Nick Park, (UK)

First runner up: Treevenge, directed by Jason Eisener (Canada)
Second runner up: Full Employment, directed by Thomas Oberlies and Matthias Vogel (Germany)
Third runner up: French Roast, directed by Fabrice O. Joubert (France)
Fourth runner up: Make My Day, directed by Pelle Møller (Denmark)

Lena Sharpe Award for Persistence of Vision, Presented by Women in Film/Seattle
Sweet Crude, directed by Sandy Cioffi (USA, 2008)

SIFF 2009 Golden Space Needle Award winners receive a hand-made glass award by artist James Mongrain, FrameForge 3D Studio software, and Write Brothers Screenwriter software. Golden Space Needle Award Best Short Film winner receives $1,000 of Color Negative Motion Picture Film from the Eastman Kodak Company Entertainment Imaging Division, and the latest Apple Laptop Computer from The Mac Store and IrisInk.

SIFF 2009 New Directors Showcase Competition

Grand Jury Prize
The Other Bank, directed by George Ovashvili (Georgia/Kazakhstan, 2009)
Jury Statement: We give our prize to The Other Bank. It is a picaresque narrative with a powerful mise-en-scène and an exceptional skill in addressing a complex post-war situation through a remarkable character incarnated by a 12-year-old nonprofessional.

SIFF 2009 Documentary Competition

Grand Jury Prize
talhotblond, directed by Barbara Schroeder (USA, 2009)
Jury Statement: Because it tells a shocking, true crime story that reveals the Internet's power to unleash our most dangerous fantasies.

Documentary Competition Special Jury Prize
Manhole Children, directed by Yoshio Harada (Japan, 2008)
Jury Statement: For its emotionally brutal depiction of children surviving underground in Mongolia; the film both repulses and engages at the same time.

Winners of the feature film competitions receive $2,500. Short Film Jury winners receive $1,000. All winners receive FrameForge 3D Studio software and Write Brothers Screenwriter software, and a hand-made glass award from the James Mongrain Glass Studio.

SIFF 2009 Short Film Jury Awards

Narrative Grand Jury Prize
Short Term 12, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, USA
Jury Statement: For its raw and honest depiction of life in a teen detention center, which blurs the lines between caretaker and patient, through exceptionally written characters, humorous dialogue, and a captivating sense of immediacy.

Special Jury Prizes
Lowland Fell, directed by Michael Kinirons, Ireland
Next Floor, directed by Denis Villeuneuve, Canada

Animation Grand Jury Prize
Photograph of Jesus, directed by Laurie Hill, United Kingdom
Jury Statement: For answering the public's ludicrous questions with a playful flair and a firm hand in filmmaking.

Documentary Grand Jury Prize
The Herd, directed by Ken Wardrop, Ireland
Jury Statement: For its unflinching portrayal of interspecies bonding and its celebration of hopping.

As a qualifying festival of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, short films that receive the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative short film and Best Animation short film awards at SIFF may qualify to enter the Short Films category of the Academy Awards® for the concurrent season without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

WaveMaker Award for Excellence in Youth Filmmaking
A Generation of Consolidation, directed by Samantha Muilenberg
Jury Statement: For its technical precision in depicting motivated youth who exercise more bravery than most adults.

Special Jury Award
If U Want 2 Get Technical, directed by Riaebia Robinson
Jury Statement: for its timely and important subject matter portrayed with exceptional familial intimacy.

SIFF's WaveMaker Award for Excellence in Youth Filmmaking was awarded at the FutureWave Shorts program, June 6 at the Egyptian Theatre. More than 100 short films were submitted from young filmmakers ages 13-18, from Canada, USA, United Kingdom, and China. The award was selected from eleven finalists by the directors of this year's Fly Filmmaking Challenge, Laura Jean Cronin, Shannon Hart-Reed, Shawn Telford, and Tran Quoc Bao.

FutureWave Shorts Audience Award
A Generation of Consolidation, directed by Samantha Muilenberg

SIFF 2009 Youth Jury Award for Best FutureWave Feature

For the first year, SIFF selected a jury of five high-school-aged students to view eight of the ten FutureWave features and award their favorite film in the program. The 2009 FutureWave Youth Jury was comprised of Cameron Alexander, Katherine Long, Ruby Rivchun, Erin Kelly Smith, and Alyse Young.

Youth Jury Award for Best FutureWave Feature
My Suicide, directed by David Lee Miller
Jury Statement: For its ability to bring an issue clouded by controversy bravely into focus for a breadth of audiences through exceptional editing and organic character progression.

Special Jury Award
Sounds Like Teen Spirit, directed by Jamie J. Johnson
Jury Statement: For excellence in capturing the universal experience of young adults discovering their place in the world.