SFF Jury Prizes

     Last night the 14th Annual Sarasota Film Festival came to an end. I'm sure I'll be suffering from symptoms of film-deprivation and withdrawal soon enough, but I think all the blogging I have yet to do will keep it alive for awhile. At the Filmmaker Tribute and Awards that preceded the Closing Night Film, this year's jury winners were announced. I want to share who won... and who should have:

Narrative Feature Competition Winner:
Elena

     Having seen every film in contention save for 11 Flowers, I can definitively say that this was hands-down the best film in competition. It was one of the few four-star films I saw, a truly Hitchcock-ian masterpiece of paced tension and subdued brilliance (my review is soon to come). It's nice to see the best film win.

Narrative Feature Competition Special Jury Prize for Creative Achievement:
Alps

     Daring and provocative, director Yorgos Lanthimos' experiment in identity was most certainly the second-best entry in the competition (read my review here). I'm glad the jury found a special way to recognize it outside of the planned awards.

     Having forgone viewing any documentaries this year due to the plethora of quality narratives being shown, and since I didn't see anything competing as a part of Youthfest -I won't mention any of their jury awards. And having seen only one of the films competing in the Independent Visions race, I can't fairly asses the winners -save to say that considering its honest writing and realistically introspective performances, it's shocking that In Our Nature (the one I saw) received no recognition. Which leaves the audience awards (for which *as far as I know* anything screened was eligible):

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature:
Missed Connections

     I didn't see this film, but heard great things about it all week in
line. Excluding what screened in competition, I think this award should belong to Bryan Wizemann's gritty and unnerving Think of Me (review to come soon). The brilliant Monsieur Lehzar would also have been a worthy winner, but it has already received so much recognition through its Oscar nomination, whereas Think of Me is the epitome of a true festival find.

Audience Award for Best in World Cinema:
Polisse

     This french film (read my review here) was a well-crafted mosaic of the magnitude of heinous crimes committed against children daily and the the toll it takes on those brave officers working to end them. Polisse was also the recipient of the Jury Prize at this past Cannes Film Festival. It was a good choice for this award, but (excluding films in competition -or Elena would have to be my choice) Monsieur Lehzar would have again been a worthy winner or it even would have been nice for a lesser known film like Oslo, August 31st or Little White Lies to have received some recognition.

     Well, that covers the jury winners and later today (or possibly tomorrow) I'll be back to blogging my reviews for everything I haven't covered yet. But before I end this post, I'd like to share some exiting news: With so many filmmakers in attendance, I was actually able to talk to a few and providing that things work out, I'll soon be posting my email interviews with Marie Therese Guirgis (producer of both The Loneliest Planet and Keep the Lights On), Olivia Silver (writer and director of Arcadia), and Bryan Wizemann (writer and director of Think of Me)!