(Photo above: Liyana, Winner of Best Show)
14 Films Received Awards including Liyana which won $5,000 for Best of Showand won the Audience Award
BendFilm announced the 14 filmsand filmmakers awarded the jury recognizedand audience voted prizes at the 2017 BendFilm Festival. Awards were selected by a jury of industry professionals as well as the more than 8,000 attendees of the BendFilm Festival.
Todd Looby, director of BendFilm said, “I want to thank everyone who came to contribute to the creative culture of the 14th annual BendFilm Festival. The filmmakers, jurors, panelists, bands, volunteers, technical producersand of course the audiences, everyone added a special mark to an incredible event. I know the conversations sparked by these films will live on well past these four days.”
Erik Jambor, festival programmer for BendFilm said, “This year’s Festival was one of BendFilm’s funniest, deepest, most adventurousand most heartfelt programs to date. Though the awards could only go to a few, we are honored to have been able to screenand share all 105 with the festival audience. Through dialogueand sharing stories together we strengthen our sense of community locallyand around the world.”
Jurors for the Festival include: Danielle DiGiacomo, vice president of acquisitions at The Orchard; Don Lewis, editor of Hammer to Nail, Erin Maddox, producer (Neptune)and festival programmer; Peter Gilbert, producer/cinematographer (Hoop Dreams, Prefontaine); Ian McCluskey, director (Voyagers without Trace); Amy Nicholson, director (Muskrat Lovely); Selin Sevinc, scriptwriter (MagicOfStory.com); Ted Speaker, producer (Humpday)and Paul Sturtz, co-founder/co-director of the True/False Festival.
The 2017 BendFilm Festival Jury Award recipients are:
Best of Show ($5,000) – (Presented by Brooks Resources since 2004)
Liyana – directed by Amanda Koppand Aaron Kopp
Five orphaned children in Swaziland collaborate to tell a breathtakingly beautiful story of perseverance drawn from their darkest memoriesand brightest dreams. Their fictional character’s journey to rescue her young twin brothers is interwoven with poeticand observational documentary scenes to create a genre-defying celebration of collective storytelling.
Best Director ($500) – (Made possible by Independent WOMEN for Independent Film)
Bomb City – directed by Jamie Brooks
Based on the true story of Brian Deneke, Bomb City is an intenseand illuminating crime-drama about the cultural aversion of teenage punksand artists in a conservative Texas town. Their ongoing battle with a rival, more-affluent group of jocks leads to a controversial hate crime that questions the morality of American justice –– especially relevant today.
Best Cinematography
Relationtrip – directed by Renée Felice Smithand C.A. Gabriel
At an age when everyone around them is settling downand finding love, Beckand Liam are self-proclaimed loners. After bonding over their mutual disinterest in relationships, they decide to go away together on a ‘friend’ trip. And that’s when things get weird. Really, surreally weird.
Best Narrative Feature ($1,000) – (Made possible by Jayand Sheila Luber)
Mr. Roosevelt – directed by Noël Wells
After an auspicious death in her family, struggling LA-based comedian Emily Martin (Noel Wells, Master of Noneand SNL) returns to Austin. There she finds herself in the awkward position of staying with her exand his new girlfriend until the funeral while trying to close old doors from her past.
Best Documentary Feature ($1,000) – (Made possible by JL Ward Co.and Business for BendFilm)
Forever ‘B’ – directed by Skye Borgman
In 1974, in the quiet town of Pocatello, Idaho, 12-year-old Jan Broberg was kidnapped by her family’s best friendand neighbor. 18 months later, out on bailand awaiting trial for kidnapping, Robert Berchtold abducted Jan a second time, triggering a nationwide FBI manhunt.
Special Documentary Jury Award for Most Lovable Character
Big Sonia – Directed by Leah Warshawskiand Todd Soliday
When Sonia Warshawski (90) is served an eviction notice for her iconic tailor shop (in a dead Seattle mall), she’s confronted with an agonizing decision: either open up a new shop or retire. For a woman who admits she stays busy “to keep the dark parts away,” facing retirement dredges up fears she’d long forgot she had,and her horrific past resurfaces.
Special Short Film Jury Award
A Shepherd – directed by Vern Moen
A young shepherd in Oregon’s Willamette Valley struggles with the lifeand death circle of his ancient job in a modern era.
Special Short Film Jury Award
Homegrown – directed by Quentin Hamberham
Francis learns that what is right for himself may not be best for his son.
Special Short Film Jury Award
Mixtape Marauders – directed by Peter Edlund
Two young burnouts live in a world of mindless day jobs, petty drug dealsand wildly unconventional musical tastes.
Best Student Short ($500) – (Made possible since 2005 by Dan Wiedenand Priscilla Bernard Wieden on behalf of Caldera Arts)
How Far She Went – directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir
Adapted from the Flannery O’Connor Award-winning short story by Mary Hood, How Far She Went takes an unflinching look at family, personal sacrificeand the lengths we will go for those we love.
Best Documentary Short ($500) – (Made possible by Independent WOMEN for Independent Film)
The Last Honey Hunter – directed by Ben Knight
Maule Dhan Rai is the last man in the remote Nepal village of Saadi who has been visited in a dream by a spirit called Rongkemi. If no one else in the village has the dream, a generations-old tradition may die.
Best Animated Short ($500) – (Made possible by Independent WOMEN for Independent Film)
Pittari – directed by Patrick Smith
A horned creature’s destructive rampage is halted by a stubborn adversary.
Best Narrative Short ($500) – (Made possible by Independent WOMEN for Independent Film)
Emergency – directed by Carey Williams
Faced with an emergency, a group of young Blackand Latino friends carefully weigh the prosand cons of calling the police.
Best of the Northwest Short ($500) – (Made possible by Business for BendFilm)
Running Eagle – directed by Konrad Tho Fiedler
An American Indian girl escapes from captivity in the oil fields of North Dakotaand hitchhikes back to her home in Blackfeet country, Montana.
The 2017 BendFilm Katie Merritt Audience Award winner is:
Liyana – directed by Amanda Koppand Aaron Kopp
Five orphaned children in Swaziland collaborate to tell a breath-takingly beautiful story of perseverance drawn from their darkest memoriesand brightest dreams. Their fictional character’s journey to rescue her young twin brothers is interwoven with poeticand observational documentary scenes to create a genre-defying celebration of collective storytelling.
The Bend Film Festival is supported in part by a grant from the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, Oregon Arts Commission, the Roundhouse Foundationand the Oregon Cultural Trust.
541-388-3378, www.bendfilm.org