‘Other People’, ‘Life, Animated’ win Nantucket Film Fest – ‘Home’, ‘Chop’ get top awards at Palm Springs Shortfest
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LOS ANGELES, June 28, (RTRS): “Other People” and documentary “Life, Animated” took the top prizes at the 21st annual Nantucket Film Festival, which wraps Monday.
The festival’s audience award for narrative feature went to the drama “Other People” starring Molly Shannon, Sissy Spacek, Jesse Plemons and Zach Woods. The pic, written and directed by “Saturday Night Live” scribe Chris Kelly, tells the story of a gay “SNL” writer who runs into family conflict after he returns home to be with his mother as she’s dying of cancer.
“Life, Animated” is a documentary from Roger Ross Williams that tells the story of a boy on the autism spectrum who overcomes his inability to communicate through his deep affection for Disney animated movies.
Other winners at the fest included docu short “Joe’s Violin” from director Kahane Cooperman.
The runner-up for narrative feature was Viggo Mortensen starrer “Captain Fantastic.” “Tickled” was the runner-up for documentary.
“We’re tremendously proud of this year’s festival, from the engaging array of films and signature programs to our highly supportive audiences who spent five days enjoying our lineup and the glorious Nantucket sunshine,” said fest exec director Mystelle Brabbee and program director Basil Tsiokos.
“Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” won the AFI Docs audience award for best feature, while “Snails” won the award for best short.
The five-day festival, which concluded on Sunday night, featured 93 films from 30 countries.
“Maya Angelou” was directed by Rita Coburn Whack and Bob Hercules and chronicles the life of Angelou, told in her own words.
“Snails” directed by Grzegorz Szczepaniak, is a Polish film and profiles a group of best friends who become snail farmers.
The festival, held in Washington DC and Silver Spring, Md., opened on Wednesday with a screening of Alex Gibney’s “Zero Days” about the ramifications of the use of a computer virus to disrupt Iran’s uranium enrichment program. It concluded with the screening of “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” with Lear appearing at a Q&A session at the Newseum. On Friday, Werner Herzog was honored at the festival’s annual Guggenheim Symposium.
Capture
Other screenings included Trisha Ziff’s documentary “The Man Who Saw Too Much” about Enrique Metinides, a photojournalist whose lifework of images from crime scenes in Mexico City have become prized works in the art community. In the documentary, Ziff also spotlights contemporary photojournalists as they capture tragedies, showing the shifting nature of their work in light of the rise in crime related to the Mexican drug cartels.
Daniel Mulloy’s “Home” a short from Kosovo chronicling a family’s involvement in a refugee migration, won the best of the festival award at the 2016 Palm Springs International Shortfest.
The shortfest, which is the only short film market in North America, screened 327 films from more than 4,100 filmmaker submissions. The awards were announced Sunday night, the festival’s closing night, and winners received more than $115,000 in prizes.
The judges said “Home” “devastated the jury with its portrayal of a family escaping danger.” “The film deftly elicits not just our compassion, but more importantly, our empathy,” the jury said in a statement.
The top jury awards went to three shorts from France, Mexico and Greece. Vincent Maury’s “Minh Tam” which follows a woman who uses men to escape from daily life, won the grand jury award; Aaron Schock’s “La Laguna” a story of a young Mayan boy living in Southern Mexico’s rainforest who is confronted with the realities of growing up that might push him out into the world, won the best North American short award and Konstantina Kotzamani’s “Limbo” nabbed the future filmmaker award.
Audience awards went to “The Chop” a live-action comedy about a Jewish butcher, directed by Lewis Rose; the documentary short “Phil’s Camino” about a Stage 4 cancer patient and directed by Annie O’Neil and Jessica Lewis; and the animated short “Taking Flight” directed by Brandon Oldenburg.
“A common thread of immigration and compassion dominates our award winning films this year — echoing current issues around the world,” said Helen du Toit, festival director.
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