The 2013 Nashville Film Festival, which ran April 18-25 at Regal Green Hills Cinemas, broke records and charted new territory. The Festival, presented by Nissan, closed its 44th consecutive year with a 5.7 percent increase in attendance, bringing in a total of 27,813 attendees.
“This year we are celebrating a number of firsts,” said Ted Crockett, executive director. “We programmed a significant international segment that included 15 Kurdish films, filmmakers and journalists from Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) and a celebration for Nashville’s large Kurdish population at the War Memorial Auditorium. For the first time, NaFF hosted a high-profile group from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and we gave our first annual NaFF Beacon Award to Butch Spyridon of the Nashville Convention and Visitor’s Corporation.” The award, designed by noted Nashville artist, Alan LeQuire, depicts an artist offering his face, heart and soul to the world.
The festival also broke records for the number of film entries and screenings. This year it garnered 3,004 entries and screened 268 films from 49 countries.
“We had more entries than we could have predicted,” said NaFF’s artistic director, Brian Owens. “This is due, in part, to the fact that NaFF is an Academy Award Qualifier for short narratives. I also attribute it to our reputation as a fun festival for filmmakers and as a great city to visit. Also, we were able to bring in exceptional special presentation films,” added Owens. “They drew full-house crowds across the board.”
And now, the winners from the 2013 Nashville Film Festival:
If You Die I’ll Kill You
BRIDGESTONE NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Winner: If You Die, I Will Kill You, directed by Hiner Saleem
Honorable Mention: Breakfast With Curtis, directed by Laura Colella
Best Actor: Paul Eenhoorn in This is Martin Bonner
Best Actress: Jane Adams in All the Light in the Sky
Louis LeQuire Award for Best Screenplay: Pit Stop, written by Yen Tan, David Lowery
Best Use of Music: 3, Sebastián Del Muro Eiras
Original Song: “The One That Got Away” by Neil Oldham, from I Used to be Darker
Special Jury Prize for Promising Actor: Silas Yelich in The Cold Lands
Special Prize Best Ensemble: Cast of Breakfast with Curtis
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Winner: Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story directed by Brad Bernstein
Honorable Mentions (tie):
Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself directed by Tom Bean and Luke Poling
After Tiller directed by Martha Stone and Lana Wilson
Special Jury Prize for Vigilance in Filmmaking: These Birds Walk, directed by Omar Mullick
Joseph Wairimu in Nairobi Half Life
NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION
Winner: Nairobi Half Life, directed by David “Tosh” Gitonga
Honorable Mention: Out in the Dark, directed by Michael Mayer
Best Actor: Joseph Wairimu in Nairobi Half Life
Best Actress: Gina Piersanti in It Felt Like Love
Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble: Cast of This is Where We Live
GIBSON MUSIC FILMS/MUSIC CITY COMPETITION
Winner: Die Thomaner: A Year in the Life of the St. Thomas Boys Choir Leipzig, directed by Günter Atteln
Honorable Mention: Muscle Shoals, directed by Greg “Freddy” Camalier
Special Jury Prize for Cultural Significance: This Ain’t No Mouse Music, directed by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling
Wild Sands
GROUND ZERO TENNESSEE SPIRIT AWARDS
Feature: Nashville 2012, directed by Jace Freeman & Sean Clark
Short Narrative: Wild Sands, directed by Warren Lewis Allen and William Scott Stewart
Documentary: Another Corner, directed by Josh Harrell
SHORT FILM AWARDS
Best Live Action Short: Hatch, directed by Christoph Kuschnig
Live Action Short, Honorable Mention: Peter at the End, directed by Russ Lamoureux
Noodle Fish
Best Animated Short: Oh, Willy, directed by Sunil Narkar
Animated Short, Honorable Mention: Noodle Fish, directed by Jin Man Kim
Best Documentary Short: A Story for the Modlins, directed by Sergio Oksman
Documentary Short, Honorable Mention: I Think this is the Closest to How the Footage Looked, directed by Yuval Hameiri and Michal Vaknin
Best Experimental Short: Workers Leaving the Factory (Again), directed by Katharina Gruzei
Experimental Short, Honorable Mention: Salmon, directed by Alfredo Covelli
Best Student Short: I Think this is the Closest to How the Footage Looked, directed by Yuval Hameiri and Michal Vaknin
Student Short, Honorable Mention: Behind the Mirrors, directed by Julio O. Ramos
Watkins Young Filmmaker Shorts: The Purple Story, directed by Mateusz Madry
This is Martin Bonner
OTHER SPONSORED AWARDS
Film Musician Secondary Market Fund (FMSM) Award
This is Martin Bonner, directed by Chad Hardigan and composed by Keegan DeWitt
NPT Human Spirit Award
Remote Area Medical, directed by Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman
Women in Film & Television Award
Words of Witness, directed by Mai Iskander
Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Award (NAHCC)
A Lovely Day, directed by Kerry Gawryn
2013 Nashville Film Festival Beacon Award
Butch Spyridon, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.
Audience Favorite Awards
U.S. Documentary: Two: The Story of Roman and Nyro, directed by Heather Winters
U.S. Narrative: The Way Way Back, directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
World Doc: McCullin, directed by David and Jacqui Morris
World Narrative: Unfinished Song, directed by Paul Andrew Williams
Attended by filmmakers and industry insiders and open to the public, NaFF screened films from 49 countries and celebrates the diversity of the human voice and vision. Founded in 1969 by Mary Jane Coleman, it is one of the oldest film festivals in the U.S. As an Academy Award Qualifying Event, NaFF draws filmmakers and celebrity guests to its red carpet at the Regal Green Hills Stadium 16.
For more information, visit nashvillefilmfestival.org.
Support independent films!
