Nantucket Current | Nantucket Film Festival Announces 2024 Prize…

The 29th Nantucket Film Festival (NFF) announced the Audience Award winners for this year’s festival on Tuesday.

The tale “Los Frikis,” set in Cuba in the early 1990s, written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, won the Audience Award for Narrative Feature Film.

“Porcelain War” by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, focusing on Ukrainians using their art to resist during the war, received the Audience Award for Documentary Feature.

“Puppy Love,” directed by Daniel Rashid and written by Rashid and Elizabeth Valenti, about a woman who must decide whether her bond with a new man is deep or whether she simply loves her dog, received the Audience Award for Narrative Short Film . .

Tom Dey’s “Jumpman,” which features the photographer behind the iconic photo of Michael Jordan in mid-air, won the People’s Choice Award for Documentary Short.

“Widow Clicquot,” written by Erin Dignam and directed by Thomas Napper; and “Maya and the Wave,” directed by Stephanie Johnes; as well as the short film “Lost In Nevers Land”, directed by Penny Dey; were named NFF’s Best of Fest selections and received repeated special screenings due to popular demand.

NFF also announced the winners of the prestigious Tony Cox Screenplay Competition, which recognizes the best unproduced screenplays and television pilots submitted to the festival by emerging writers. Missy Hernandez received first prize as the winner of the screenplay competition for “I Don’t Dream in Spanish Anymore.”

The 60 Minutes Screenplay Competition Prize for Episodic Film went to Daniel Hernandez-Zapata for “The Soloist”; the 30-Minute Episodic Film Screenplay Competition Prize went to Phillip Roquemore for “Illicit Bids For Dying Kids” and the Short Screenplay Competition Prize went to “Who Raised You?” » by Daniel Gonzalez.

The jury for the Film Screenplay Competition was composed of New York ReviewRebecca Alter, filmmaker and actress Katie Aselton Duplass and filmmaker and playwright Derek Nguyen.

The jury for the episodic screenplay competition included film and music video director Katherine Dieckmann, “Winner” writer and director Susanna Fogel and Sarah Vacchiano, head of film business affairs at UTA.

The Festival also announced the winner of the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Excellence in Filmmaking Award, a $5,000 grant recognizing the achievements of a female filmmaker and named in honor of the late actor and director. This year’s award went to “Every Little Thing,” directed by Sally Aitken and screened as part of NFF’s feature-length documentary programming. Producer Bettina Dalton attended the festival and accepted the award on behalf of the film. Aitken also received a second award: this year’s Maria Mitchell Visionary Award, given to a female filmmaker who demonstrates vision and innovation. Sponsored by the Maria Mitchell Association, the honoree receives a $5,000 grant in the name of Maria Mitchell, the first woman inducted into the Academy of Arts and Sciences and a native of Nantucket.

The Children’s Resilience in Screenwriting Award presented by Shine Global is a new award given to a film whose exceptional storytelling effectively depicts the resilience and strength of children. “Los Frikis,” written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, received the inaugural award, which included a $2,500 prize and an invitation to participate in Shine Global’s upcoming 2024 Resilience Awards events. Award-winning nonprofit media company Shine Global’s annual Resilience Awards recognize outstanding films focused on children’s resilience and continue the organization’s mission to improve the lives of children by harnessing the power of storytelling.

The Teen View Jury Award, selected by a group of seventh and eighth graders from Nantucket as the most inspiring of all the NFF short films, went to writer-director Chris Cole for “Terminally Ill,” with a special mention for “The Ugandan Quidditch Movement,” directed by Ben Garfield.

“It is a privilege to honor this cohort of established and emerging screenwriters and storytellers, who represent the heart of our industry, at the 2024 edition of the festival,” said Mystelle Brabbée, Executive Director of the Nantucket Film Festival, and Anita Raswant. , lead programmer of the Nantucket Film Festival. “Thank you to all of our filmmakers and writers in attendance for sharing their powerful stories with us and to our passionate audiences who continue to come to theaters and support our mission. We would like to take a moment to recognize our jurors, sponsors, staff and volunteers, all of whom worked to make another incredibly successful festival possible.

Actress, writer and radio host Ophira Eisenberg hosted the tribute to the screenwriters of ‘Sconset Casino on Friday, June 21. Academy Award, Emmy and Peabody award-winning director, producer and writer Roger Ross Williams accepted the Career Achievement in Filmmaking Award, presented by author and anti-racist activist Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. At the festival, Williams screened her film “Stamped From The Beginning,” based on Dr. Kendi’s best-selling book of the same name, and participated in an in-depth discussion about the screening alongside Dr. Kendi, moderated by ViewThis is Sunny Hostin.

Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated writer and producer Kerry Ehrin received the award for Excellence in Television Writing, presented by “The Morning Show” actress June Diane Raphael.

Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Meredith Scardino received the New Voices in Television Writing Award, presented by the cast of “GIRLS5EVA”: Emmy Award-winning writer Paula Pell and Tony Award-winning performer Renée Elise Goldsberry. At the festival, Scardino and fellow honoree Kerry Ehrin were joined by Pell and Goldsberry for a special Garden Conversation program, hosted by Ophira Eisenberg, which provided a behind-the-scenes look at the production of their television works, from script to production. screen.

Special guests who attended NFF 2024 included Ken Burns, Kerry Ehrin, Ophira Eisenberg, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sunny Hostin, Dr. Ibram Sheer, Roger. Ross Williams, and more.