It?s time to note the top films from the Newport Beach Film Festival. Like other film festivals, NBFF has awards. There are jury awards and audience awards. And, of course I have my favorites as well.

We?ll start with my top films. Rather than noting a best of fest, I?ll just give you my top tier films, in the order I saw them: Katie Says Goodbye, a story of dreams that move us forward even in the face of failure; Sanctuary, a film made with a theater company of intellectually challenged adults; and Out of Innocence, a young woman and her family railroaded by police in a murder investigation.

The jury at NBFF was made up of industry professionals, ?including?Claire Best, CEO and owner of Claire Best & Associates,?Hunt Lowry, producer and CEO/President of Rosework Films, actor?Robert Reed Carradine,?Mike Repsch, Senior Vice President of Distribution and Sales at Breaking Glass Pictures,?Arianne Rocchi, VP of Publicity at Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing,?Larry Greenberg, Head of Acquisitions and Domestic Distribution for Ambi Media Group, Oscar Nominated writer/director?Tom Van Avermaet, and?Todd Slater, co-founder and partner at Blue Fox Entertainment.

Jury Awards:

Best Film ??Moon Dogs

Best Actor?? Jack Parey Jones ??Moon Dogs

Best Actress?? Olivia Cooke ??Katie Says Goodbye

Best Director?? Len Collin ??Sanctuary

Best Cinematography???Marden Dean???Boys in the Trees

Best Documentary???City of Joy

Best Documentary: honorable mention???Dateline???Saigon

Best Screenwriter ??Wayne Roberts???Katie Says Goodbye

During the festival audiences are given ballots on entering the theater to rate the film. Those ballots determine the Audience Awards,. Which are given out in many categories.

Audience Awards:

Feature Film???Don?t Tell

Foreign Film?? Sami Blood (Sameblod)

Documentary ??I?ll Push You

Action Sports???Under an Arctic Sky

Art, Architecture + Design???The Gamble House

Family??Scales: Mermaids are Real

Short??Speechless

Music???Man in the Camo Jacket

 

There are various other awards presented. To see all the awards you can visit the festival?s website. ?You can also start planning to be part of next year’s festival which will run April 26-May 3.