List Of Palm Springs Short Fest Award Winners

The 2011 Palm Springs International ShortFest award winners are:

JURY AWARDS

BEST OF FESTIVAL AWARD – $2,000 cash and Software Package courtesy of The Showbiz Caf & Store; Ultimate Stock Footage Collection courtesy of FootageFilm; Post Production award courtesy of Greenhouse Studios; and Final Cut Pro courtesy of Apple. The winner of this award is eligible to submit their film to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscar consideration. Bahiya & Mahmoud (Jordan/USA), Zaid Abu Hamdan Aging couple Bahiya and Mahmoud have fallen into a reliable routine of bickering and making one another miserable until the morning that Mahmoud wakes and finds Bahiya gone.

PANAVISION GRAND JURY AWARD ? Panavision Camera Package valued at $60,000. UMOJA: No Men Allowed (Australia), Elizabeth Tadic Fed up with being abused by the men in their village, a group of tribal Samburu women in Northern Kenya create their own successful community where no men are allowed. But will the jealous men they left behind leave them in peace?

FUTURE FILMMAKER AWARD – $2,000 cash and Pipeline Filmmaker prize courtesy of Film Source LA, Smart Post Sound, Rushes and The Pipeline. Mitsuyo Miyazaki, Tsuyako (Japan/USA) In Japan, 1952, Tsuyako tries to live the life that has been set out for her?husband, children, work at the factory and care for her family. Yet when her friend arrives from Tokyo, Tsuyako finds herself entranced by the dream of a different life.

JURY SPECIAL CITATION ? The jury presented a special citation for Excellence in Filmic Storytelling to Nullarbor (Australia), co-director and writer Patrick Sarell and co-director Alistair Lockhart. The Eyre Highway through Australia?s Nullarbor Plain has the longest stretch of straight road in the world?perfect for passing that slow motorist alongside you. When two cars meet in this desolate landscape, will it be the tortoise or the hare who wins the day?

AUDIENCE AWARDS

AUDIENCE FAVORITE LIVE ACTION SHORT dik (Australia), Christopher Stollery When a young boy draws a picture of what appears to be him rubbing his best friend?s ?dik?, his parents are thrown into paroxysms of guilt and self doubt, accusing each other of all manner of sexual peccadilloes.

Runner-up ? Tsuyako (Japan/USA), Mitsuyo Miyazaki

AUDIENCE FAVORITE DOCUMENTARY SHORT Johnny & Lyman: A Life Together (USA), Paul Detwiler, Michael Chen Having met on the beach in Santa Monica in 1945, Johnny and Lyman have been partners for more than 60 years. In 2008, they joined 18,000 other gay and lesbian couples in America in applying for a marriage license. This is their story.

Runner-up ? The Unforgettable Hampton Family (USA), Julie Cohen

AUDIENCE FAVORITE ANIMATION SHORT The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (USA), William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg A gorgeously rendered allegory about the curative effects of story, this animated tale concerns a man who has built his whole life around his love of books.

Runner-up ? Danny & Annie (USA), Dave Isay, Tim Rauch

SHORTFEST ONLINE AUDIENCE AWARD

New this year, the Palm Springs International ShortFest debuted the ShortFest Online Film Festival. Ten films were chosen to represent the festival online to receive the ShortFest Online Audience Award. The film will be available to screen online for the next three months. Stephany + Me (USA), Peter Shanel Ben has no luck at love until he meets a woman in the most unexpected place ? a massage parlor!

JURY CATEGORY AWARDS All first place winners in these categories received a cash award of $2,000. First place winners in the Animation and Live Action categories become eligible for Academy Awards consideration. Second Place recipients received a $500 cash prize.

BEST Live Action short 15 MINUTES AND UNDER

First Place ($2,000) ? Cat and Mice (Kattenkwaad) (Netherlands), Nova Van Dijk A young thief, who steals local cats then returns them for reward money, suspects his brutish neighbor of kidnapping a local girl, but finds that appearances can be dangerously deceptive.

Second Place ($500) ? Nowhere Elsewhere (Au Milieu de Nulle Part Ailleurs) (Canada), Annick Blanc

Jury Special Citation – Pass the Salt, Please (USA) for Best Onscreen Pairing

BEST Live Action short over 15 minutes:

First Place ($2,000) ? The Hours’ Home (A Casa das Horas) (Brazil), Heraldo Cavalcanti While the employees of a phone sales company think they?ve hooked a sucker in the form of a lonely little old lady who?s interested in their sales pitch, they soon learn that she can work the phone even better than they do?

Second Place ($500) ? The Shore (UK), Terry George

BEST Amimation short:

First Place ($2,000) ? The Lost Town of Switez (Poland/Canada), Kamil Polak A spectacularly animated story about a traveler whose journey is diverted when his carriage driver falls asleep. An epic tale across wild lands and towns that glimmer like jewels, about a man who becomes a hero.

Second Place ($500) ? Interregnum (Canada), Nick Fox-Gieg

Jury Special Citation – The Cord-Woman (La Femme Cordes) (France) for Best Sound Design

BEST Documentary short:

First Place ($2,000) ? 75 Watts (Canada), John Cullen A young man?s body betrays him on a daily basis, until he picks up the one thing that can calm his mind and enliven his spirit.

Second Place ($500) ? Collaboration Horizontale (Ireland), Ciaran Cassidy

STUDENT CATEGORIES

All first place winners in these categories will receive a software package courtesy of The Showbiz Caf & Store. All student filmmakers in Festival competition are eligible for these awards.

BEST STUDENT Live Action short 15 MINUTES AND UNDER

First Place – The Promised Land (Israel), Vanessa Knutsen An Israeli woman gives shelter to an illegal Nigerian migr and her son in this moving story about family and fealty.

Second Place ? Kiss (Australia), Alex Murawski

BEST STUDENT Live Action short over 15 minutes:

First Place ? Bekas (Sweden/Iraq), Karzan Kader Winner in the Best Foreign Film category at the 2011 Student Academy Awards. Two brothers living on the streets in Kurdistan hatch a daring plan to get to American?which they are pretty sure lies just across the border.

Second Place ? Negative (Israel), Yoav Hornung

BEST STUDENT ANIMATION:

First Place ? The Birds Upstairs (USA), Christopher Cinq-Mars Jarvis Exquisite animation exposes a couple?s despair when, after years of trying, they at last have a child who, to their dismay, doesn?t look anything like them. A beautifully disturbing examination of familial expectations.

Second Place ? Heavy Heads (Denmark), Helena Frank

BEST STUDENT DOCUMENTARY short:

First Place ? Goodbye Mandima (Kwa Heri Mandima) (Switzerland), Robert-Jan Lacombe Robert-Jan Lacombe?s moving remembrance of the wrenching moment when his family boarded a plane and left behind the vivid world of the rural African village that shaped his childhood.

Second Place ? Wajeh (Israel/Palestinian Territories), Murad Nassar

KODAK AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT CINEMATOGRAPHY

Taj Musco (cinematographer), Eh Jeung (South Korea) The bond of two sisters gets in the way as that fine line between lust and love gets blurred.

The Alexis Award for Best Emerging Student Filmmaker went to Eh Jeung (South Korea), directed by Taj Musco. The recipient will receive Final Cut Pro courtesy of Apple. The Alexis Award is selected by the Festival?s programming team and was created in honor of Alexis Echavarria, a young filmmaker, whose talent as a budding filmmaker and gift for inspiring excellence among his fellow students were cut short suddenly in 2005 at age 16.

Bridging the Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Borders went to Bekas (Sweden/Iraq), directed by Karzan Kader. The winner will receive a HP professional mobile workstation, EliteBook 8760w; prize and promotional support provided by HP. Runner-up was The Promised Land (Israel), directed by Vanessa Knutsen. The winner will receive Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5.

Allison Anders (Director ? Border Radio, Gas Food Lodging, Mi Vida Loca), Effie T. Brown (Producer – Real Women Have Curves, Rocket Science) and Kirsten Smith (Producer/Writer – Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, The House Bunny) served on the ShortFest jury.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival will be held January 5-16, 2012.