Monday, December 11, 2023

AIFF 2023: The Winners Announced Saturday Night

 I got the names of the winners at the Awards Event.  Well, the ones I could hear clearly.  I tried to get the names of the ones I missed but they seemed to want to post them on the Festival website before I did, so I let it go.  

 Later, I'll compare them to my favorites, but I'm back at the airport headed south to meet family in LA.  Overall I think the choices are reasonable.  There are some I never got to see.  More than normal, especially for  a festival that had fewer films than normal.  And there were no opportunities to see a film again if you missed it when it was shown.  

They will show 'the best of the fest' Sunday, Dec. 16 at the Alaska Experience Theater.  They said it would be an all day showing of films and they'll put up the list sometime this week.  

There were lots of shorts, but the number of feature documentaries and narrative films seemed thin.  I think this is reflected in the fact that there was only one winner in the Narrative Features category.  And the one comment I will make now, is that Ariel: Back To Buenos Aires which was an excellent film - the story was important and well told, the actors were terrific, and the cinematography was strong.  There were no gratuitous shots of Buenos Aires, they all added to the story.  It should have gotten an award.  I'm not quibbling about Farewell Mr Haffmann.  It was an excellent film and I could easily argue it was the best.  But Ariel was also an excellent film that got shortchanged in my opinion.  


Festival Directors Ida Myklebost and John Gamache
at the Awards Ceremony










Here are the winners as posted on the AIFF Facebook page:


THE WINNERS
of the 23rd edition of the Anchorage International Film Festival are...
...drumroll...
...:
AUDIENCE AWARDS
---Documentary Feature---
WINNER: "Dusty & Stones" by Jesse Rudoy
2nd place: "The Body Politic" by Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough
3rd place: "Ranger" by Austin Peck
---Narrative Feature---
WINNER: "Farewell, Mr. Haffmann" by Fred Cavayé
---Made in Alaska---
WINNER: "One with the Whale" by Peter Chelkowski & Jim Wickens
2nd place: "A Piece of Myself" by Vivienne Ayres, Nidhi Kumar & Audrey Shuppert
3rd Place: "Nourishing The Kenai" by Emrys Eller
---Short Animated---
WINNER: "Mano" by Brittany Biggs
2nd place: "Witchfairy" by Cedric Igodt & David Van de Weyer
3rd Place: "love bubbles" by Marcel Hobi
---Short Documentary---
WINNER: "Seeds of Change" by Maximilian Armstrong
2nd place: "This Is Where I Learned Not To Sleep" by Anne de Mare & Kirsten Kelly
3rd Place: "The Winterkeeper" by Laurence Topham & David Levene
---Short Narrative---
3rd Place: "Barely Breathing" by Derek Evans & Neal Reddy
2nd place: "Infraction" by Timothy Blackwood
WINNER: "The Bond" by Jahmil Eady
JURY AWARDS
---Documentary Feature---
WINNER: "Wild Life – The Lance Mackey Story" by Finn-Erik Rognan
2nd place: "Dusty & Stones" by Jesse Rudoy
3rd Place: "Karen Carpenter: Starving For Perfection" by Randy Martin
---Narrative Feature---
WINNER: "Farewell, Mr. Haffmann" by Fred Cavayé
---Made in Alaska---
WINNER: "A Piece of Myself" by Vivienne Ayres, Nidhi Kumar & Audrey Shuppert
2nd place: "One With The Whale" by Peter Chelkowski & Jim Wickens
3rd Place: "School of Fish" by Colin Arisman & Oliver Sutro
---Short Animated---
WINNER: "Little Hurts" by Deborah Solomon
2nd place: "Mano" by Brittany Biggs
3rd Place: "Awakening: The First Day" by Jos Diaz Contreras & Santiago Carrasquilla
---Short Documentary---
WINNER: "This Is Where I Learned Not To Sleep" by Anne de Mare & Kirsten Kelly
2nd place: "Funny Not Funny" by Ben Feldman & Marc D'Agostino
3rd Place: "The Winterkeeper" by Laurence Topham & David Levene
---Short Narrative---
WINNER: "The Stupid Boy" by Phil Dunn
2nd place: "The Old Young Crow" by Liam LoPinto
3rd Place: "Limite" by George Nicholas
SCREENPLAY AWARDS
---Short Screenplay---
WINNER: "Pending" by Jennifer Rapaport
2nd place: "Wildflower" by Peter Salisbury
3rd Place: "Devil’s Instrument" by Frederik Ehrhardt
---Feature Screenplay---
WINNER: "Gramps" by John Stimpson, Geoffrey Taylor and Rapaport
2nd place: "Wreckage" by Colin Scott
3rd Place: "The Most Marvelous Man in the World" by Colin Scott and Kris Burton
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL 🎉🤩

It was a good festival and I'll post a few more posts.  One, as I said, comparing my favorites to the winners.  Another to share my thoughts about the festival itself overall.  



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