The inaugural Audience Awards Film Festival 2017 occurred last week to highlight many indie filmmakers in North Hollywood.
The festival honored award-winning documentarian Ondi Timoner (Jungletown), Effie T. Brown (Dear White People), Paz Lechantin of the Pixies and Jacques Thelemaque, president of Filmmakers Alliance.
The festival gave over $100,000 in cash and prizes towards aspiring artists and bringing them together with industry professionals.
Filmmaker Sarah Clift garnered the Women’s Film Challenge Grand Jury Prize for her film La Madre Buena (The Good Mother) and the Juice Award from Tangerine Entertainment.
Women’s Film Challenge Audience Award went to Montana Hall for her animated short Monster.
Live audience voting utilizing Audience Awards’ proprietary voting platform determined the Best of Fest winner, The Scared One, by Romain and Thibault Lafargue. The Best of Fest runner-up, The Girl in the Green Dress, was by Sarah Fletcher.
The Kodak Vision Award went to Haven Nutt for her film Mr. Man. It was shot on Super 8 film.
Here are the other following award winners:
The GOOD DOCS Mentorship Award went to Allison Otto for Property. She will receive private consultation with Sarah Feinbloom, an award-winning documentary filmmaker of GOOD DOCS.
Elise Tyler was awarded with the Documentor’s Award, a mentorship with Spitzmiller, for her film Today Will Be Out Last Day on the Streets.
Joseph Quiles took the Pro8mm Prize for his horror film Dead World. He will receive two Super 8 film kits.
Matthew Kaplowitz won $500, plus a FilmStro soundtrack license for his film En Pointe, which was shot, edited and finished in only 120 hours for the Audience Awards Fusion Doc Challenge.
Project Earth Doc Challenge (PEDC), a contest with an environmental focus, was won by Edward King for his film Riverland. He won a $1,000 cash prize. The second place went to Stani Milev for The Bulgarian Solution.
In addition, LRM was invited to the closing red carpet ceremony of the film festival this past weekend. We had the opportunity to speak with two award winners—directors Ondi Timoner and Jacques Thelemaque. We also spoke with CEO and founder of the festival Paige Williams.
Check out our exclusive interviews below.
