2014

Best of the Fest, Special Jury Award for Acting
Narrative Feature
Bulgaria
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
29 minutes
Director:
Thom Southerland

Krasimira Stanimirova wins second place in a Bulgarian play writing contest. Her award is a trip to the United States, Kentucky to be exact, to see the world premiere of her communist-era, autobiographical play, 'Black Coat'. Expecting to meet with a warm welcome and southern hospitality, Krasi instead finds herself isolated and lonely in a hotel off an interstate.

Exploring America on foot, Krasi must confront the reality that her play might not be such a big deal in the States. Along the way she slowly finds comfort amongst strangers in this alien world, including a young mother and her son and a fellow tourist.

Best Narrative Feature
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
38 minutes
Director:
Frank Hall Green

Mackenzie, a troubled but daring teenage girl, is sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. Although Uncle seems like a supportive caretaker and friend, the relationship turns and Mackenzie is forced to run. Trying to make her way back to Seattle alone to find her absent mother, Mackenzie only winds up deeper in the Alaskan interior. Lost and with no one else to turn to, she shadows a loner backpacker, Bartlett, an unlikely father figure with scars of his own. Together, they cross the wilderness and discover sanctuary in the last frontier.

Best Narrative Short
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
27 minutes
4 seconds
Director:
Tim Guinee

CW Rowe has it all. He owns the cotton gin, making him the wealthiest man in Harrison, Texas, and his ascendancy has solidified an unshakable belief in the system that enriched him. Few things ever interrupt the purity of his vision, with the exception of the weekly visit of a young man, Ned, who lost an arm in the gin's machinery. Ned is a little touched and believes CW can give him his arm back.

On a normal day, he goes away when CW offers him five dollars. But today is anything but a normal day.

Best Documentary Feature
Documentary Feature
Canada
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
33 minutes
Director:
Mitchell Kezin

From The Flaming Lips to The Free Design, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! is a trippy, cinematic sleigh-ride through the subculture of alternative Christmas music.

Featuring hardcore collectors, legendary DJs & musicologists, record producers and Xmas obsessives like cult film auteur John Waters, director Mitchell Kezin's intimate & quixotic search for the SOUL of Christmas music, tells the stories behind twelve of the most profound Christmas songs ever recorded...Many of whom you've likely never heard, until now!

We'll hear irreverent insights from Irwin Chusid, Wayne Coyne, Joseph (Rev Run) Simmons, bebop legend Bob Dorough, Clarence Carter, Doctor Demento and many more.

Equal parts social history, pop culture pilgrimage and revealing character study, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! confronts the Christmas music mainstream, re-inventing the seasonal soundtrack for the 21st century.

Best Documentary Short
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
39 minutes
55 seconds
Director:
Edgar Barens

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall is a moving cinema verite documentary that breaks through the walls of one of Americas oldest maximum security prisons to tell the story of the final months in the life of a terminally ill prisoner and the hospice volunteers, they themselves prisoners, who care for him.

The film draws from footage shot over a six-month period behind the walls of the Iowa State Penitentiary and provides a fascinating and often poignant account of how the hospice experience can profoundly touch even the forsaken lives of the incarcerated.

Best Animated/Experimental Film
Animation
Canada
Runtime:
4 minutes
42 seconds
Director:
The Bum Family

Lilly, a 10 foot tall orange monster, steps out for a special day at Wilma's Super Salon. What could go wrong? Everything! Patrons gasp and drown in the hair sinks as the affable giant bumbles her way through a beauty ritual like no other.

Cut out animation created during Quickdraw Animation's 48 hour Animation Lockdown by The Bum Family, 6 Canadian cousins ages 4 to 11.

Documentary Short
Brazil
Runtime:
13 minutes
34 seconds
Director:
Stefania Fernandes

Jean Marie Dubrul is a French ballet dancer, he danced in the biggest companies of the world and came to Brazil in 1979 to work as a choreographer. Since then he lives in Rio de Janeiro. Currently he gives stretching classes and teaches classical ballet He is well-known for teaching people of all types and ages. Stefania Fernandes attends his classes for 8 years now. In the movie she talks about the transformation process she experienced and presents some of the concepts passed by him in class.

Narrative Short
Australia
Runtime:
15 minutes
Director:
Chris Smellin, Robert Smellin

A young mother must come to terms with letting go the thing she loves the most, her only son. She must do the deed herself, he is subject zero the undead...

Experimental
United States
Runtime:
3 minutes
30 seconds
Director:
Samati Boonchitsitsak

We all have seen an iconic Golden Gate Bridge in a normal day from the distant. In this poetic experimental film, the filmmaker present the audience with the close-up view of the bridge in the foggy and windy day. This film is a director's love letter to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
11 minutes
50 seconds
Director:
Robert Conley

In a short period of time, film production has become a significant part of the culture in North Carolina. The Film Tax Incentive created a remarkable increase in major motion picture production, tax revenue for the state, and jobs for local industry workers. Unfortunately, this incentive is set to expire January 1, 2015. Keep It Rolling highlights the North Carolina Film Tax Incentive's contribution to a healthy economy, but more importantly focuses on the hardworking crew members, actors, and other individuals in the film industry who will be affected most if the incentive is not renewed.

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