LAST YEAR'S WINNERS
18TH CINEMA ON THE BAYOU FILM FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE AWARD
THE BANALITY / U.S.A. / Michael Stevantoni, Strack Azar, Co-Directors/Writers
Judging Comments: This wonderfully moody feature film is a southern thriller with a top-notch cast, a near-supernatural Deep South setting and a very special music sound-track. This hard-to-predict film presents a powerful package of film work worthy of acknowledgment and celebration.
NARRATIVE FEATURE SPECIAL JURY AWARD
THE GROTTO / U.S.A. / Joanna Gleason, Director/Writer
Judging Comments: Ms. Gleason’s feature film writing and directing debut is a delightful, well-made film that makes us laugh and cry with the lead character and those who come to be a part of her life after her fiance’s unexpected death.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARD
RUN RAVEN RUN / U.S.A. / Michael Rainin, Director/Writer/Producer (in attendance)
Judging Comments: What a fabulous way to be introduced to the music, spirit and culture of the Gypsy through this documentary about the Roma music traditions through the generations. Director Michael Rainin takes us deep inside the world of the Gypsy, an often discriminated- against people. Despite this painful history, there is so much joy in the music! Thank you, Michael for this special film.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
305 BELLCHASE / Canada / Maxime-Claude L’Écuyer, Director (in attendance)
Judging Comments: The world of artists is revealed to us through the camera lens of filmmaker Maxime-Claude L’Écuyer and in the words of these artists. The filmmaker’s approach is to take us on this journey by showing, in intimate detail, the various studio spaces at 305 Bellchase, where these artists work and think and create, but without showing us the actual artists. The intimacy is that much more intense and real due to this unique approach.
THE SECRET ORDER / Canada / Phil Comeau, Director/Writer (in attendance)
Judging Comments: Another secret world is revealed to us through this fascinating film about the Ordre de Jacques-Cartier, a powerful secret society, a brotherhood, of French Canadians that operated from 1926 to 1965 through 850 secret cells across Canada in an effort to address the struggles of Canadian Francophone minorities. Through detailed research and based on his own connection to the society as a result of his father’s secret membership, the filmmaker presents moving, never-before-heard interviews of former members along with gripping dramatic recreations of the society’s work.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORTS AWARD
WE ONLY LIVE ONCE / Norway / Fabien Olivier Greenberg, Director; Bård Kjøge Rønning, Producer (both in attendance)
Judging Comments: This is a beautifully shot, beautifully balanced film about family, loss and grief. It presents just the right touch, with masterful direction of the exquisite cast by Fabien Greenberg.
NARRATIVE SHORTS SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
DITË E KUQE (RED DAY) / Kosovo / Besim Ugzmajli, Director
Judging Comments: The extraordinary attempt of a woman and her deaf daughter to get the latter to participate in the Festival of Performances despite not being on the list of participants is masterfully told in a remarkable one-take sequence shot of incredible feat, all supported by masterful performances of the main actresses. A story that pushes us to reflect on our patriarchal society and its shortcomings. Cinematically dazzling!
CERCUEIL, TABARNAK! (FUCKIN’ COFFIN!) / Canada / Loïc Darses, Director
Judging Comments: Cercueil, tabarnak! takes us on a journey into the past, as the Quebec of the first referendum (1980) is brilliantly recreated. In addition to the artistic direction worthy of mention, the scenario full of humor is masterfully interpreted by the main actors who make us live a beautiful yet imperfect father-daughter relationship that we see too rarely in the cinema. One of the rare flaws of this movie is that it is not a feature film because we just cannot get enough of it.
INVINCIBLE / Canada / Vincent Rene-Lortie, Director/Writer
Judging Comments: This well-done short film compelling deals with death, imprisonment, and, ultimately, freedom from the perspective of a troubled soul, a 14-year-old boy.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORTS AWARD
ANDREW AFTER ANGOLA / U.S.A. / Will LaCalle, Director; Luke Bern Carr, Editor (in attendance)
Judging Comments: This film is a powerful presentation of the ability of human beings to make amends for harm done, work towards redemption, and maybe show that we all can be more than the worst thing we have done, with due acknowledgment of the damage to and suffering of the victims of those harms.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
PICHÉ RETOURNE SUR LE RING (PICHÉ RETURNS TO THE RING) / Canada / Helgi Piccinin, Director; Philippe Miquel, Producer (both in attendance)
Judging Comments: Filmmaker Helgi Piccinin takes us with Piché Bruno, a village baker, on his nearly impossible journey, at age 64, to return to the boxing ring and challenge much younger foes. Piccinin follows Mr. Bruno on this journey with dignity and a gentle honesty that we all should want no matter what we try to accomplish at this later stage of our lives.
TAKING UP SPACE / U.S.A. / Anthony Marques, Scott Cherhoniak, Co-Directors (In attendance)
Judging Comments: The filmmakers take us along with plus-size powerlifter Laura Carter as she trains for a “strongman” competition and works to make her place in this male-dominated sport. The film is made with a notable sensitivity to Laura’s struggles and in recognition of her perseverance against many odds.
CARA ROMERA: FOLLOWING THE LIGHT / U.S.A. / Kaela Waldstein, Director
Judging Comments: A strikingly beautiful film, this documentary short tells the story of fine art photographer Cara Romero, an enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, through footage of her photo shoots and photography and through interviews with other incredible ndigenous artists. What a treat!
BEST ANIMATED SHORTS AWARD
OrHoDa / Canada / tigris alt sakda, Director
Judging Comments: This film presents a wonderful blend of animation techniques and an impressive use of color and iconography. The landscapes in the piece are stunning and evoke fine paintings and illustrations, which become even more lush with movement.
BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS AWARD
NOSTALGIA 98 / Venezuela / José Alejandro Quintero
Judging Comments: This film presents a great combination of found imagery and highly personal narrative along with intimate video and photographs of abandoned and dilapidated landscapes that tell the story of loss and hope.
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR’S CHOICE AWARD
SHUDDERBUGS / U.S.A. / Johanna Putnam, Director/Writer/Producer/Key Cast; Brennan Brooks, Producer/Key Cast; Jamie Unruh, Producer/Editor (all in attendance)
Judging Comments: What do you get when three incredibly talented filmmakers find themselves in COVID-imposed isolation in upstate New York? You get a thoughtful, suspense-filled and entertaining debut narrative feature film made with love and enthusiasm and plenty of family support! And what do you get when those same lovely filmmakers attend your film festival, along with their family? You get a whole new set of filmmaker friends who are so committed to their craft that they reached out to the local university film program and shared their knowledge and experiences with student filmmakers! Thank you to the SHUDDERBUGS team for gracing our film festival and community with your wonderful film and your filmmaking enthusiasm.
LE TRAIN BLEU AWARD
LES CÂLINS CHEAPS (CHEAP HUGS) / Canada / Sarah Baskin, Director/Writer/Producer/Key Cast; Valéry Lessard, Writer/Producer/Key Cast; Bryan Fitzgerald, Writer/Producer; Miryam Magri, Key Cast (all in attendance)
Judging Comments: Le Train Bleu award is given in memory of French filmmaker Stephanie Assimacopoulo, whose narrative short film, LE TRAIN BLEU, screened at Cinema on the Bayou in 2014. It is a beautiful film about a struggling relationship between two lovers. It screened at over 100 film festivals around the world. Stephanie, who became a filmmaker later in life after a career in psychotherapy, traveled to Louisiana to attend our Festival in January of 2014 with her film. We all fell in love with her, and she later told us that of all the film festivals she attended, ours was the warmest, the one where she felt she truly belonged to a “family of cinema.” She was hopeful after the success of her short film that she would make more narrative films. Unfortunately, later that year, she was diagnosed with cancer and died in July of 2014. We give the award, named after her film, in honor of her and her generous spirit as a person and a filmmaker, to the filmmaker whose film lives up to the high standards for filmmaking and storytelling that she set in LE TRAIN BLEU. LES CÂLINS CHEAPS is just such a film, one that so delicately and beautifully tells the story of loss and friendship and grieving, and the importance of human connection and the human touch.
BEST LOUISIANA FILM AWARD
SUGAR IN THEIR BLOOD / U.S.A. / Andrew Boyd, Director/Producer; Joe Judice, Rob Judice, Jr., Jim Judice, Justin Judice, Key Cast (all in attendance)
Judging Comments: This beautiful film tells us much about the Louisiana sugarcane industry, but it tells us so much more about the Judice family that has been a part of that industry now over seven generations and that family’s determination and commitment to the land in honor of those who worked the land before them. Also, the strength and integrity of Mr. Joe Judice is evident both in the film and in the many comments made afterward by members of the standing-room-only audience. We heard more than once that “you cannot find a better man.” We are so grateful to have gotten to know of him through this film screening, which he was able to attend with his family and friends.
INSPIRATION AWARD – TIE
CHAMPIONS / Canada / Helgi Piccinin, Director; Philippe Miquel, Producer (both in attendance)
YOU HAVE NO IDEA / U.S.A. / Alexander Jeffery, Paul Petersen, Co-Directors/Producers; Beth James Burn, Producer/Key Cast; William Paul Burns, Producer; Evan James, Key Cast (all in attendance).
Judging Comments: These documentary feature films are remarkable, each in their own way. The films are very well-made, of course, by veteran filmmakers. But, more importantly, they are full of heart and soul. They show us how amazing and wonderful people can be in the face of all sorts of challenges. These films are most certainly inspiring and also so very good for our souls. Thank you to the filmmakers and the film participants for sharing yourselves and your lives with us!
AUDIENCE AWARD
THE RAGIN’ 13 / U.S.A. / Nicholas Campbell, Director (in attendance)
Judging Comments: Wow! What a story and what a treat to present the world premiere of this film at Cinema on the Bayou for our Lafayette area audiences in celebration of the Lafayette Parish Bicentennial. This screening was particularly special because so many of the members of the University of Louisiana’s Olympic-style weightlifting team were in attendance, including Japanese prison camp survivor Walter Imahara, the team’s co-founder. That team went on to become the winningest American collegiate weightlifting team of the 20th century. And as the opening night audience made clear, it is indeed the “Audience Favorite.”