AFIFest – The Awards

The last day of AFIFest presented by Audi features screenings of the award winning films. It makes it a bit hard to plan your day since you never know what will be playing until you get to the festival. But it means that you have a very good chance of seeing something good. Before moving to all the winners, I want to thank the staff and volunteers of AFIFest for the wonderful event. I should also point to my favorites: The Red Turtle, Fraud, and I, Daniel Blake.

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I was able to see The Future Perfect, which was awarded the New Auteurs Grand Jury Prize. (The jury for this award was made up of three film critics, Robert Abele, Michael Nordine, and Claudia Puig.) This film focuses on Xiaobin, a Chinese immigrant to Argentina as she learns (with other Chinese immigrants) to speak Spanish. She is in a place between cultures.? Her family seeks to arrange a marriage for her, but Vijay, a young Indian man, wants to marry her and take her home to India. The relationships (and a bit of coming of age issues) play out as she and the others work their way through the task of learning the language. I can see why the film appealed to the jury. It is certainly engrossing and uses language in way beyond the norm in film. But in the end it left me with a certain ?and so?? feeling.

Other winners at the festival:

New Auteurs Special Jury Mention for Acting:?Oulaya Amamra for DIVINES

World Cinema Audience Award:?LAND OF MINE

New Auteurs Audience Award:?DIVINE

American Independents Audience Award:?DONALD CRIED

Breakthrough Audience Award:?DIVINES

Breakthrough Audience Award First Runner-Up:?ONE WEEK AND A DAY

Breakthrough Audience Award Second Runner-Up:?THE RED TURTLE

In the short film category the winners were:

Grand Jury Award ? Live Action Short:?ICEBOX

Grand Jury Award ? Animated Short:?PUSSY

Live Action Short Special Mention for Comedic Narrative: HOUNDS

Live Action Short Special Mention for Documentary: THE SEND-OFF

Live Action Short Special Mention for Acting: DREAMING OF BALTIMORE

Live Action Short Special Mention for Cinematography: A THOUSAND MIDNIGHTS

Live Action Short Special Mention: SPEAKING IS DIFFICULT

Animated Short Special Jury Mention: SUMMER CAMP ISLAND

Animated Short Special Jury Mention for Mixed Media: DEER FLOWER

Animated Short Special Jury Mention for Visual Aesthetics: SUPERBIA

 

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