2008 AFI Dallas Awards Announced - Russian Fantasy Film Mermaid Takes Top Honors

The 2008 AFI Dallas International Film Festival wraps tonight with Nacho's brilliant Time Crimes. The Russian film Mermaid has just taken top honors for this years Best Narrative Feature Award. It certainly is a beautifully shot and perversely goofy film that is so awkwardly cute you can't help but to some degree just relax and go with it as it bobs and weaves from moon women to beer costume sad moments. The rest of this years winners below and full press release after the link bump. I'll be chiming in more this week with interviews from Sori on Vexille and Ichi and Julien Leclercq on Chrysalis and his exciting next film.

Right now as the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall plays to a packed crowd I have walked out of a standing ovation for Jonathan Levine's dope feel good drug movie of the year, The Wackness. This type of positive audience response is indicative of how this two year old festival has quickly revitalized and brought film loving Dallas audiences back to the theater in masses. Just the other night for its second screening here the film Chrysalis had nearly two hundred people turned away. I don't know if anyone would have predicted a French sci-fi/noir with English subtitles would play so well and yet it brought down the house both times it played. Subtitles or no subtitles the audiences were eating up everything the festival was throwing its way this year. A new film community that only cares about great cinema has sprung up that is absent of gallon sized cowboy hats and Cadillacs. Doesn't get any sweeter when films like Chrysalis and The Wackness get such enthusiastic audiences and ovations. It also marks perhaps the only festival that has ever thrown a Charlize Theron/Dolph Lundgren closing night party with the band The Polyphonic Spree to bring the house down (while playing covers such as Nirvana's Lithium).

Now onto the full list of this years award winners...

2008 AFI DALLAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY TARGET, FOUNDING SPONSOR VICTORY PARK ANNOUNCES AWARD WINNERS

“MERMAID” RECIEVES THE $25,000 TARGET TEN FILMMAKER AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE

“IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA” RECIEVES THE $25,000 TARGET TEN FILMMAKER AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

“COOK COUNTY” RECIEVES $20,000 IN CASH, GOODS AND SERVICES FOR THE MPS STUDIOS TEXAS FILMMAKER AWARD

“FIELDS OF FUEL” RECIEVES THE $10,000 CURRENT ENERGY EARTH FRIENDLY AWARD

“TRACING COWBOYS” RECIEVES THE $10,000 HDNET AWARD FOR THE BEST FEATURE SHOT IN HD

“THE SECOND LINE”, “THE VULNERABLE ONES” AND “KEY LIME PIE" ARE NAMED WINNERS FOR BEST SHORT FILM, STUDENT SHORT AND ANIMATED SHORT

AND

AUDIENCE AWARDS GO TO “AMAL” FOR NARRATIVE FEATURE, “THE BLACK LIST” FOR DOCUMENTARY AND “A DAY’S WORK” FOR SHORT

DALLAS, TX, April 6, 2008 – AFI DALLAS International Film Festival Presented by Target, Founding Sponsor Victory Park announces its 2008 Award winners with Anna Melikyan’s MERMAID as the winner of the unrestricted $25,000 cash prize for the Target Ten Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature with Simon Bross’ BAD HABITS receiving an honorable mention in the category and Daniel Junge’s and Siatta Scott Johnson’s IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA as the winner of the unrestricted $25,000 cash prize for the Target Ten Filmmaker Award for Best Documentary. The award was presented by Ron Livingston, who returned to AFI DALLAS as a juror after having his film MUSIC WITHIN make it’s world premiere during the first year of the festival.

Presented by BATTLE IN SEATTLE star Martin Henderson, Josh Tickell’s FIELDS OF FUEL won the $10,000 cash prize for the inaugural Current Energy Earth Friendly Award, while the MPS Studios Texas Filmmaker Award and $20,000 in cash, goods and services went to David Pomes’ COOK COUNTY, with Yen Tan’s CIAO receiving an Honorable Mention.

Presented by AFI DALLAS Artistic Director and CEO, Michael Cain, Jason Wulfsohn’s TRACING COWBOYS won the $10,000 HDNet Award for best feature shot in HD.

John Magary’s THE SECOND LINE won the award for Best Short, while the award for Best Student Short went to Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt’s THE VULNERABLE ONES (LES VULNERABLES). David Lowery’s A CATALOG OF ANTICIPATIONS received an Honorable Mention I the category and Special Directing Mention went to Ken Wardrop for BONGO BONG and Leslie Ali for THE OBJECT. Reel FX Entertainment presented the award for Best Animated Short to Trevor Jimenez’ KEY LIME PIE.

Richie Mehta’s AMAL won the Audience Award for Best Narrative, while Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ THE BLACK LIST won for Best Documentary and Rajeev Dassani’s A DAY’S WORK won the Audience Award for Best Short. Stuart Townsend, whose film BATTLE IN SEATTLE screened just the night before as part of the Closing Night Gala, presented the awards.

The winners of the jury prizes for Best Short, Best Student Short and the Audience Awards each receive production and scheduling software from Entertainment Partners.

James Faust, AFI DALLAS Director of Programming, said, “There was a significant level of art and accomplishment with each of the films in the competitive categories from a diverse group of talented filmmakers. The jury had one hell of a tough job in having to choose one to honor over the others.”

Cain added, "Having our award winners represent five different countries including Russia, Mexico, Canada and Congo speaks to the fact that we are bringing the best films from all over the world to the audiences here in Dallas. And seeing that our attendance has increased by 50% from our first year to this year tells us that Dallas film goers are enthusiastically filling the theaters and responding to that."

JURY AWARDS:

TARGET TEN NARRATIVE FEATURE: MERMAID
DIR: Anna Melikyan (Russia)
Cast: Mariya Shalayeva, Yevgeni Tsyganov, Mariya Sokova

HONORABLE MENTION: BAD HABITS
DIR: Simón Bross (Mexico)
Cast: Ximena Ayala, Elena de Haro, Marco Antonio Treviño

TARGET TEN DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA
DIR: Daniel Junge (USA)

CURRENT ENERGY EARTH FRIENDLY: FIELDS OF FUEL
DIR: Josh Tickell (USA)

MPS STUDIOS TEXAS: COOK COUNTY
DIR: David Pomes (USA)
Cast: Anson Mount, Xander Berkeley, Ryan Donowho, Polly Cole

HONORABLE MENTION: CIAO
DIR: Yen Tan (USA)
Starring: Adam Neal Smith, Alessandro Calza, Ethel Lung

HDNET FEATURE: TRACING COWBOYS
DIR: Jason Wulfsohn (USA)
Starring: Eileen Dietz, Megan Edwards, Sacha Grunpeter

SHORT: THE SECOND LINE
DIR: John Magary (USA)

HONORABLE MENTION: A CATALOG OF ANTICIPATIONS
DIR: David Lowery (USA)

STUDENT SHORT: THE VULNERABLE ONES (LES VULNERABLES)
DIR: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt (Congo/USA)

HONORABLE MENTION: A DAY’S WORK
DIR: Rajeev Dassani (USA)

ANIMATED SHORT: KEY LIME PIE
DIR: Trevor Jimenez (Canada)

AUDIENCE AWARDS:

NARRATIVE: AMAL
DIR: Richie Mehta (Canada)
Cast: Rupinder Nagra, Naseeruddin Shah, Seema Biswas, Koel Purie

DOCUMENTARY: THE BLACK LIST
DIR: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (USA)
Featuring: Chris Rock, Lou Gossett Jr., Vernon Jordan, Thelma Golden

SHORT: A DAY’S WORK
DIR: Rajeev Dassani (USA)

2008 AFI DALLAS JURY MEMBERS:

NARRATIVE FEATURE JURY includes:

Steven Sawalich
Steven Sawalich is a writer, producer and director. His film MUSIC WITHIN, about Vietnam veteran and motivational speaker Richard Pimentel, made its world premiere as the Opening Night Gala presentation at the 2007 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival.

Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell is a former film critic for The New York Times, and is currently the host of KCRW's pop culture and film interview program "The Treatment." Mitchell recently produced THE BLACK LIST with director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. The film examines race, culture and the seeds of success through portraits of 20 influential African Americans.

Trevor Goth
Trevor Goth served as Senior Programmer at Sundance for nine years before becoming Director of Programming at Cinevegas.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE JURY includes:

Socheata Poeuv
Socheata Poeuv has served on staff at ABC World News Tonight Weekend, NBC News TODAY and NBC News Dateline. She is a 2007 Echoing Green Fellow and Visiting Fellow at the Yale University Genocide Studies Program. Her directorial debut, NEW YEAR BABY, won the $25,000 Target Documentary Award at the 2007 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival.

Kit Carson
L.M. Kit Carson is a writer, director, producer and actor. His diverse resume includes DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2, BOTTLE ROCKET and PERFUME. He is a Native Texan and AFI DALLAS Board Member.

Ron Livingston
Ron Livingston is an actor whose credits include OFFICE SPACE, SWINGERS and ADAPTATION. He has also had roles in “Sex and the City” and “Band of Brothers.” He starred as Richard Pimentel in Steven Sawalich’s MUSIC WITHIN, which opened the 2007 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival.

CURRENT ENERGY EARTH FRIENDLY JURY includes:

Current Energy
Current Energy is a Dallas-based company that provides energy efficient solutions that are environmentally friendly. The company was founded in 2001, anticipating the impact that energy deregulation would have on companies, and was recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy in the fall of 2007 with an Energy Innovators Award.

MPS STUDIOS TEXAS COMPETITION JURY includes:

Amy Talkington
Amy Talkington is a writer, director and Dallas native. She was selected as one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 new indie faces to watch" and one of four up-and-coming female directors by Vogue. Her first feature film, THE NIGHT OF THE WHITE PANTS – starring Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl and Selma Blair, made its Dallas premiere at the 2007 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival.

Tom Huckabee
Tom Huckabee is a writer, director and producer, and has worked closely over the years with long-time friend Bill Paxton on films such as the 2001 thriller FRAILTY. He was the founding Artistic Director of the Lone Star International Film Festival and has long been a supporter of filmmaking in Texas.

Kelly Williams
Kelly Williams is the Film Program Director of the Austin Film Festival. He received one of the inaugural Excellence Awards at the 2008 International Film Festival Summitt.

HDNET JURY includes:

HDNet
HDNet, Launched September 2001 by co-founders Mark Cuban – owner of Dallas Mavericks – and Philip Garvin of Colorado Studios, is the first national television network broadcasting all of its programming in 1080i HD, the highest-quality format of high-definition television (HDTV).

SHORT COMPETITION JURY includes:

Jacques Thelemaque
Jacques Thelemaque is an award-winning writer and director. In 1993, he co-founded Filmmakers Alliance with his wife, Diane Gaidry, and as President, has built the grassroots collective from a loose-knit group of eight filmmakers into an important independent filmmaking resource organization with over 400 members.

Harry Kellerman
Harry Kellerman is a writer and director who won the 2007 AFI DALLAS Audience Award for his short film THE LITTLE GORILLA.

STUDENT COMPETITION JURY includes:

Andy Anderson
Andy Anderson is an accomplished artist and filmmaker who served as Chair of the Art and Art History Department at University of Texas at Arlington, where he now continues as a Professor and Writer in Residence, teaching Introduction to Screenwriting, Advanced Screenwriting and the Narrative Film class.

ANIMATION COMPETITION JURY includes:

Chris Wedge – Director, Tex Avery Award winner
Chris Wedge is a director of such films as ICE AGE and ROBOTS, and producer of the 2008 remake of HORTON HEARS A WHO. In 1998 he won an Academy Award for his animated short film BUNNY. Wedge is also co-founder and Vice President of Creative Development at Blue Sky Studios.

Reel FX
Reel FX Creative Studios, founded in 1993, is an award-winning creative studio where accomplished artists and preeminent technology converge to produce extraordinary creative solutions. Their services include visual effects, animation, design and creative editorial.

AFI DALLAS kicked off with the Opening Night Gala presentation of Helen Hunt’s THEN SHE FOUND ME on Thursday, March 27, 2008 at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas. The evening’s festivities also included presentations of the AFI DALLAS Star Awards (designed from Steuben Crystal, courtesy of Neiman Marcus) to Helen Hunt and Mickey Rooney.

Other highlights included the screening of Barry Levinson’s WHAT JUST HAPPENED? with Levinson, Robert De Niro, Art Linson and Todd Wagner attending. The screening was part of a celebration of Wagner’s work including the presentation of the AFI DALLAS Star Award to Wagner. Also honored with the AFI DALLAS Star Award was Jack Lemmon (presented posthumously to his wife Felicia Farr), while Chris Wedge was given the Texas Avery Award. The festival also featured Talk Show panels at the Nasher Sculpture Center and Wet Deck chats at the W Hotel as well as a special screening of THE WIZARD OF OZ accompanied by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Morton Meyerson Symphony.

The festival closed with the AFI DALLAS Closing Night Gala presentation of Stuart Townsend’s BATTLE IN SEATTLE on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at the AMC Northpark in Dallas attended by Townsend, Martin Henderson, Michelle Rodriguez and Charlize Theron. Theron was presented with the AFI DALLAS Star Award as part of the evening’s festivities. Following the screening, filmmakers and festival goers enjoyed the music of The Polyphonic Spree at House of Blues.

Notable attendees at this year’s AFI DALLAS Film Festival included Josh Brolin, David Gordon Green, Sam Rockwell, Stephen Rea, Mischa Barton, Alex Gibney, Dolph Lundgren, Jewel, Guillermo Arriaga, Keke Palmer, Doug Atchison, James Gray, Sasha Alexander, Bill Paxton, William McNamara, Jerry Hall, Richard Jenkins, Thomas McCarthy James Duval, Chuck D, Professor Griff, DJ Lord, MC Frontalot, Fatality, Bowling For Soup and Ron Livingston.

Overall, the 2008 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival showcased 121 features and 129 shorts for a total of 250 films from 35 countries.

About AFI DALLAS International Film Festival
The AFI DALLAS International Film Festival celebrates films and their impact on society, honors filmmakers and recognizes their achievements and contribution in enhancing the creative community, provides educational programs to students to develop better understanding of the role of film in today's world, and promotes the City of Dallas and its commitment to the art of filmmaking. AFI DALLAS is a presentation of the non-profit Dallas Film Society.

About Target
Minneapolis-based Target serves guests at 1,613 stores in 47 states nationwide by delivering today's best retail trends at affordable prices. Target is committed to providing guests with great design through innovative products, in-store experiences and community partnerships. Whether visiting a Target store or shopping online at Target.com, guests enjoy a fun and convenient shopping experience with access to thousands of unique and highly differentiated items. Since 1946, the corporation has invested five percent of its income in the communities it serves. Target (NYSE:TGT) gives more than $3 million a week to its local communities through grants and special programs. Target partners with nonprofit organizations, guests and team members to help meet community needs.

About Victory Park
Located in the heart of Dallas, Victory Park is one of the country's most significant and innovative master-planned urban developments. Victory Park is creating a new urban environment with a carefully crafted collection of emerging and reputation retail, distinctive dining, modern office space, dramatic residential units, hotels and signature entertainment venues, including the American Airlines Center. Victory Park is a development of Hillwood, a Perot Company. For more information on Victory Park, visit www.victorypark.com.

Additional Sponsors
In addition to Target and Victory Park, AFI DALLAS 2008 major sponsors include American Airlines, AT&T, Bank of America, Barefoot Wine, Blockbuster, Budweiser Select, CBS Outdoor, Central Market, City of Dallas, Clear Channel Radio, Clear Channel Outdoor, Clif Bar, Current Energy, Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, Dallas Film Commission, DART, DCVB, Deloitte Consulting, DG Fast Channel, Entertainment Partners, e-Rewards, Faulkner Design Group, FLAG Marketing, Geeks on Patrol, Inc., Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, HDNet, Jones Day, KERA, Lexus, MPS Studios, NorthPark Center, Neiman Marcus, N9NE Group, People Newspapers, Post Asylum, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pure Evil Music & Sound, RADIUM, REEL FX ENTERTAINMENT, Richards Partners, Screen International, Sony, South Side on Lamar, Studio Movie Grill, Temerlin Consulting, TM Advertising, Vista Media, W Dallas Victory, WFAA, WRR and Zodiac Vodka.