Stony Brook Film Fest Awards Headlined by ‘My Sweet Pepper Land,’ ‘Paper Souls’
Wrapping up their ten-day festival of world cinema, the 19th Annual Stony Brook Film Festival has announced its award winners. Presented by master of ceremonies John Anderson — a contributor to Indiewire, The New York Times and Newsday — the awards were presented on Saturday night after the conclusion of the festival’s closing night screening, “1,000 Times a Good Night” starring Juliette Binoche. Here is the full list of winners (synapse courtesy of the festival):
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2014 Jury Award-Best FeaturePaper Souls (Les âmes de papier)
With Stéphane Guillon, Julie Gayet, Jonathan Zaccai, Pierre Richard.
In French with subtitles.
In this quirky comedy from France, a funeral speech writer, a mother and her son, a man who may be a ghost, and a neighbor, all come together in a charming story of loss and love. The writer gets a new lease on life when he meets a widow who commissions him to write a piece about the father of her eight-year-old son.
2014 Audience Choice-Best Feature
Kenau
U.S. Premiere from the Netherlands. Directed by Maarten Treurniet.
A Fu Works Film. From Eye International.
In Dutch with subtitles.
A big-screen adventure based on the story of a woman folk hero who led the defense of the Dutch city of Haarlem in 1573.
2014 Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking
Maïna
Canada – Directed by Michel Poulette.
In Innu/Inuit/English with subtitles.
Michel Poulette’s career is a long list of success stories with all of Quebec and Canada’s major broadcast networks. The TV programs and features he has worked on have consistently been among the highest rated. He also works for American networks Showtime and Lifetime. This award is for his direction in Maina, introducing the fascinating civilizations of the Innu and Inuit tribes living in North America six hundred years ago.
2014 Festival Outstanding Performance
My Sweet Pepper Land
N.Y. Premiere from Iraq/France/Germany.
Written by Hiner Saleem and Antoine Lacomblez.
In Kurdish/Arabic/Turkish with subtitles.
As Govend, the teacher in My Sweet Pepper Land, Golshifteh Farahani’s performance wins special recognition. Farahani won a Best Actress award at the age of 14 for her lead in Dariush Mehrjui’s The Pear Tree and is an accomplished musician. She was the first Iranian star to act in a major Hollywood production, Body of Lies, by Ridley Scott in 2008. She is fluent in French and English and now lives in Paris.
2014 Jury Award-Best Short
Sequestered
USA – A film by Lucas Spaulding
A funny and original short in which two would-be bank robbers run into trouble when each takes exception to the other’s mask.
2014 Audience Award-Best Short
Little Africa
USA – A film by Curtis Adair Jr.
A race riot that devastated a black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 is the setting for this powerful short in which a biracial cop passing as white pleads with his black mother not to get involved in the protests. Produced by Curtis Adair Jr. while a film student at Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts, Tallahassee.
2014 Special Jury Recognition
Into the Silent Sea
USA – A film by Andrej Landin
A lone cosmonaut adrift connects with a radio operator in Italy. Produced by Andrej Landin while a film student at Chapman University in California. Gravity and Into the Silent Sea screened at the Telluride Film Festival at the same time Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity premiered.
