2009 Award Winners
Best Narrative Feature |
Director: Jonathan Gershfield |
 Paul (Mackenzie Crook) is fed up with driving trains and longs to write novels. He suffers two people falling under his train and hears that three accidents will qualify him for early retirement with 10 years' paid salary' lump sum! Now all he has to do is find a willing victim. He meets Tommy (Colm Meaney), furious at being saved by Paul from jumping off a bridge. Paul offers him '1500 cash to wait till Monday to die (you know, so he can get that third one in). Having abandoned his family, Tommy decides to salve his conscience by paying his wife Rosemary (Imelda Staunton) and his daughter Frankie (Gemma Arterton) a last visit. Relationships are changed forever but Paul and Tommy are confronted with the reality of the deal they struck. After all a deal is a deal. |
Best Narrative Short |
Director: Pamela Green |
 Al's favorite Hawaiian food restaurant has stopped delivery in his area. With only one street separating him from his Chicken Katsu passion, Al has to think outside the box. His strategy: have the food delivered to his car in a nearby supermarket parking lot. |
Best Documentary Feature |
“Burning The Future: Coal In America” Director: David Novack |
 BURNING THE FUTURE examines the explosive forces that have set in motion a groundswell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Confronted by an emerging coal-based U.S. energy policy, local activists watch the nation praise coal without regard to the devastation caused by its extraction. Faced with toxic ground water, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains, and a government that appeases industry, our heroes demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation's help in protecting their mountains, saving their families, and preserving their way of life. |
Best Documentary Short |
Director: James Rauchman Director: Sandy Smolan |
A short exploration of the concept of religious faith in today's Cuba where hope is in short supply, the film follows a Cuban family as they make their annual pilgrimage to the shrine of San Lazaro outside Havana on the night of December 16th. San Lazaro is a contested figure, whose identity and meaning may be different, depending on your cultural background. The Tallahassee Film Festival is proud to present this world premiere of a beautiful and evocative film about the remarkable transformation of a group of illiterate women in southern Nepal. Their journey out of poverty was led by Heifer International, a development organization that uses the donation of livestock as a means of providing a sustainable livelihood to the poor. |
Best Animated Film |
Director: Don Hertzfeldt |
Called by one reviewer "the existential life of a stick man," this short film combines animation with Brakhage-esque film imagery to tell the hilarious and poignant story of one hand-drawn individual's life. Like all of Hertzfeldt's films, it was single-handedly animated and photographed by hand without the use of computers. It was shot entirely on an antique 35mm animation stand, one of the last remaining cameras of its kind left in America. All of the special effects were meticulously created directly on film, using traditional double exposures, in-camera mattes, and innovative experimental techniques. The 22 minute short took close to two years to complete. The Tallahassee Film Festival is proud to present this award-winning work by writer/director/animator Don Hertzfeldt. |
Best College Student Film |
Director: Harun Mehmedinovic |
 After escaping execution, Tarik, a Bosnian prisoner of war, immigrates to the United States looking to leave his past behind. Years later, the man who spared his life shows up at his doorstep asking for a favor. |
Audience Choice Award |
Director: John Marks and Craig Detweiler |
 In college, twenty five years ago, Craig Detweiler and John Marks roomed together. Both were born again Christians. After college, Craig stayed in the faith and became a pastor, theologian and professor. John left the faith and became a novelist, journalist and television producer. A quarter century after they roomed together, the old friends sit down together and talk about their friendship, their choices, their disagreements and their affinities. The documentary is an attempt to get past the serious cultural divides that afflict so much conversation about religion. John Marks is expected to present for a Q&A following the film. |
Emerging Filmmaker |
Aloura M. Charles |
48-Hour Film Contest Award
Professional Category |
“Animo” Team Name: WHS Guerrilla Filmmakers |
Amateur Category |
“Hungry For Love” Team Name: Fruitcake TV |
Student Category |
“Don’t Stop The Party” Team Name: Brown Bear Productions |
Audience Choice |
“Heartbreaker” Team Name: Penn Productions |
2008 Award Winners
Best Narrative Feature |
“The Flyboys” |
Best Narrative Short |
“Expendable” |
Best Documentary Feature |
“Five Days in September: The Rebirth of an Orchestra” |
Best Documentary Short |
“Africa's Daughters” |
Best Animated Film |
“Once Upon a Christmas Village” |
Best College Student Film |
“Rundown” |
Audience Choice Award |
“The Flyboys” |
Other Awards - Lifetime Achievement |
Richard Portman |
