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2012 Tribeca Film Festival Awards Announced!

Related: 11th Annual Tribeca Film Festival

2012-Tribeca-Film-Festival-Awards-Announced-20010101

The 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its competition categories tonight, April 26, at a ceremony hosted at the Conrad New York in New York City. The Festival runs through April 29, 2012. The honorees are listed below.

The world competition winners for narrative and documentary films were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 18 countries. Best New Director prizes were awarded to a first-time director for both narrative and documentary films, selected from a pool of 24 feature films throughout the program. Awards were also given for the best narrative short, best documentary short and student visionary films in the short film competitions. This year’s Festival included 89 features and 60 short films from 46 countries, programmed by a team led by Tribeca’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore, new Artistic Director Frederic Boyer, and Director of Programming Genna Terranova.

Also announced at the awards were the Tribeca (Online) Film Festival feature and short film winners selected by the online audience. The winners of the Heineken Audience Awards, determined by audience votes throughout the Festival, will be announced on April 28.

“It’s been so gratifying to see the audiences react so positively to the films, and our juries have been equally passionate. I celebrate these immensely talented filmmakers,” said Nancy Schafer, TFF Executive Director.

“We salute the courage of the jury to award films that not only tell stories about real issues in the world, but are beautifully constructed and crafted,” said Frederic Boyer, TFF Artistic Director. "The amazing first-time performances by young actors are a tribute to the creativity of the films and filmmakers."

Screenings of all winning films will take place throughout the final day of the Festival, Sunday, April 29, at various venues. Specific times and ticketing information are available on the Festival website, www.tribecafilm.com.

In addition to cash awards and in-kind services provided by sponsors including American Express, AKA, Persol, Apple, Company 3 and Kodak, the Festival presented the winners with original pieces of art created by acclaimed artists, including Cindy Sherman, JR and Stanley Whitney.

Following are the winners, awards and details on the jury who selected the recipients:

WORLD NARRATIVE COMPETITION CATEGORIES:

The jurors for the 2012 World Narrative Competition were Patricia Clarkson, Dakota Fanning, Mike Newell, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Jim Sheridan, and Irwin Winkler.

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen (Canada). Winner receives $25,000 and the art award “The Wrinkles of The City, Los Angeles, Carl revealed on wood, 2011” by JR. Sponsored by AKA. The award was given by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Larry Korman, President of AKA.

Jury Comments: “This indelible character study of a girl who becomes a woman before our eyes in the midst of harrowing war gives words to the unspeakable. Riveting, heartbreaking, vivid, and eloquent, the movie balances scenes of crazy enemy hatred with moments of luminous private love.”

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Dariel Arrechada and Javier Nuñez Florian as Raul and Elio in Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy (UK, Cuba, USA). Winners split $2,500. The award was given by Patricia Clarkson.

Jury Comments: “We give the award for Best Actor in a Narrative Feature to Dariel Arrechada and to Javier Nuñez Florian in Una Noche, for potent individual performances that together are even greater than the sum of their parts. Playing Raul and Elio, young Cuban men who goad each other on in a dream of fleeing Havana for a fantasy of Miami, Dariel locates Raul’s danger and sexual power as precisely as Javier taps into Elio’s essential sweetness. Both young actors are nonprofessionals who took great risks to tell a daring story. Each won our hearts.”

Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Rachel Mwanza as Komona in War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen (Canada). Winner receives $2,500. The award was given by Jim Sheridan.

Jury Comments: “A nonprofessional actress, this remarkable young woman—barely a teenager when the movie was shot—so fully inhabits her role that there are no borders to her stunning performance, no distance at all between the actress and the unforgettable character Komona.”

Best Cinematography in a Narrative Feature Film – Cinematography by Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder, for Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy (UK, Cuba, USA). Winner receives $5,000 and $50,000 in post-production services provided by Company 3. The award was given by Lisa Schwarzbaum.

Jury Comments: “Una Noche reveals a Havana we could never otherwise see, in its jumble of vibrant life, decay, and making do. There’s a ‘you are there’ documentary immediacy to the picture, shot on the fly and in the streets, that keeps us enthralled.”

Special Jury Mention – Alex Catalan for Unit 7. The announcement was made by Lisa Schwarzbaum.

Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature Film – All In (La Suerte en Tus Manos), written by Daniel Burman and Sergio Dubcovsky and directed by Daniel Burman (Argentina). Winner receives $5,000. The award was given by Irwin Winkler.

Jury Comments: “We are impressed with the movie’s elegant and thoughtful balance of comedic lightness and deepness of soul; its ability to locate universal issues regarding families, lovers, kids, and running a business within the tangy specificity of an Argentinean Jewish poker-playing milieu; and its ability to cram vasectomies and rock ’n’ roll rabbis into the same story without breaking a sweat. Comedy is hard; All In handles it with ease.”

BEST NEW NARRATIVE DIRECTOR:

The jurors for the 2012 Best New Narrative Director Competition were Camilla Belle, Whoopi Goldberg, Susannah Grant, Zach Helm, Courtney Hunt, Kellan Lutz and Leelee Sobieski.

Best New Narrative Director – Lucy Mulloy, director of Una Noche (UK, Cuba, USA). Winner receives $25,000, presented by American Express; $50,000 in post-production services provided by Company 3; and the art award “Red Top, 2012” courtesy of Stanley Whitney & Team Gallery, New York. The award was given by Leelee Sobieski and Deb Curtis from American Express, Vice President, Entertainment Marketing & Sponsorships.

Jury Comments: “Lucy Mulloy’s Una Noche rang the bell inside all of our little director hearts. We simply thought the film was awesome, and it only grew in our esteem as we spoke of it after. It is a film that immediately connects any audience member it can find to the undeniable, hopeful, and naïve intentions of the young. It is so rich in its motivations, and so breathtaking in its outcomes, it is thoughtful and entertaining in perfect balance. Mulloy pulled us through social portrait to family drama, to true crime, to thriller, all with skill, grace, the realized intent of a sophisticated filmmaker, and deep love for humanity. So, Lucy, we would like you to accept the 2012 Best New Narrative Director award, and please consider us for your next picture.”

Special Jury Mention – P. Benoit, director of Stones in the Sun; and Sharon Bar-Ziv, director of Room 514. The announcement was made by Leelee Sobieski and Deb Curtis from American Express.

WORLD DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION CATEGORIES:

The jurors for the 2012 World Documentary Competition were Julia Bacha, Kim Cattrall, K’naan, Michael Moore, and Lucy Walker.

Best Documentary Feature – The World Before Her, directed by Nisha Pahuja (Canada). Winner receives $25,000 and the art award “An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters, 2010” by Kara Walker; courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. The award was given by Julia Bacha.

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