2008 Winners

Inspired by legendary guitar player Hank Garland, Crazy is a story of musical genius, passion, and betrayal. Emerging from the Nashville in the 50’s, Hank had established his brilliant playing in country, rock and jazz. But his adversarial relationship with the Nashville Mob - those who controlled the music industry - caused him to be seen as a trouble maker.

From fighting for artist’s rights, to bringing black, jazz musicians into the restricted, southern music culture, Hank refused to compromise his pursuit for excellence.However, it may have been his tempestuous relationship with his beautiful but wife, Evelyn, which led to his final demise. After surviving a car crash, Hank was subjected to electro-shock treatments which tragically ended his career at the age of 31.

Fifteen years ago Raymond Colby claimed he was picked up and carried away by a giant bird, he was then committed to the Salt Creek County mental home. After fifteen years away from the small town Raymond finds himself struggling to convince his family and the local community that his "giant bird" attack was in fact real.

A daring and humorous investigation into the uncharted intersection between disability and sexuality.

Struggling filmmaker Lee Kazimir reads some advice from Werner Herzog, who said that filmmakers should skip film school and instead ‘make a journey alone, on foot, for a distance of 5,000 kilometers, let’s say from Madrid to Kiev.’ Kazimir decides to take the advice literally, walking for six months and through seven countries from Madrid to Kiev while documenting the journey with a videocamera.Along the way he confronts physical struggles and meets a varied cast of characters on the road. He learns some essential lessons, realizing ultimately that ‘before Art, comes Life.’More Shoes is a diary picture that serves both as an account of an artistic coming-of-age and as a snail’s-eye portrait of Europe in the early 21st century.