35th Annual Cleveland Film Fest Breaks Records, Awards "Letterman" and More

Bryce J. Renninger — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:55:56 GMT

At the end of the 35th annual Cleveland Film Festival, the fest's Executive Director Marcie Goodman and Artistic Director Bill Guentzler celebrated with other staff members and the greater Cleveland community. The festival took over ten theaters in a multiplex in downtown Cleveland and experienced record-breaking attendance numbers.

Commenting on the record-breaking year, Guentzler noted, "Once again, the audience of the Cleveland International Film Festival has astounded the staff. With close to a 10% increase this year we have realized that our audience has embraced the very thing we are trying to accomplish. By embedding ourselves within our community by outreach allows us to program challenging films that sell as much as the typical 'crowd-pleasers.' There are no words to describe what this means to us as a staff, our aim is to make Cleveland a better place to live, and to watch it actually happen is amazing."

The complete list of winners at the festival is below... Read more about the fest and the winners here.

Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Best Film Winner
"Vincent Wants to Sea," Ralf Huettner (Germany)

Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition Winner
"Dying to Do Letterman," Joke Fincioen & Biagio Messina (USA)

Central & Eastern European Film Competition Winner
"If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle," Florin Serban (Romania)

Central & Eastern European Film Competition Special Mention for Cinematography
"Venice," Jan Jakub Kolski (Poland)

Central & Eastern European Film Competition Jury Mention
"The Ugly Duckling," Garri Bardin (Russia)

Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Competition Winner
"Steam of Life," Joonas Berghall & Mika Hotakainen (Finland)

Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Competition Jury Mention
"Eleanore & The Timekeeper," Danièle Wilmouth (USA)

Best American Independent Award
"Hamill," Oren Kaplan (USA)

Cleveland State University Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film
"Carjack," Jeremiah Jones (USA)

Best Animated Short Film
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," William Joyce & Brandon Oldenburg (USA)

Best Live Action Short Film
"Carjack," Jeremiah Jones (USA)

Best Documentary Short Film
"Save the Farm," Michael Kuehnert (USA)

Best International Short Film
"Drop Dead!," Ame Toonen (Netherlands)

Best LGBT Short Film
"Same Difference," Catherine Opie & Lisa Udelson (USA)

Best Ohio Short Film
"Girlfriends Club," Dale Omori & Diane Suchetka (USA)

Best Student Short Film
"11 Weeks," Dipesh Jain (India/USA)

Best Women’s Short Film
"Secret Friend," Flavio Alves (Brazil/USA)

Rice Hershey Memorial Award for Originality
"Moving Day," Jason Wingrove (Australia)

The Clover & Maggie Award (In Celebration of Life)
"Na Wewe," Ivan Goldschmidt (Belgium)

The Spalding and Jackson Award (In Celebration of Joy)
"God of Love," Luke Matheny (USA)

"Blossoms" Wins Cleveland's Audience Award

Peter Knegt — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:15:12 GMT

The 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival, which ran March 19-29, has announced its festival winners. The festival, which saw a 27% increase in attendance over last year featured 68 sold-out screenings from 143 feature films.

Audience Choice Awards:

The 2009 Cleveland Magazine Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Best Film:
Cherry Blossoms Directed by Doris Doerie, Germany

Runners-Up:
The Way We Get By Directed by Aron Gaudet (USA)
Sin By Silence Directed by Olivia Klaus (USA)
Herb and Dorothy Directed by Megumi Sasaki (USA)
Forgotten Transports: To Estonia Directed by Lukas Pribyl (Czech Republic)
Prom Night in Mississippi Directed by Paul Saltzman (USA)

Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition:

The selections included in Standing Up are films with a conscience. Standing Up celebrates social justice and activism by presenting films with messages that cannot and should not be ignored. Thanks to the generosity of The George Gund Foundation and the establishment of an endowment in memory of Greg Gund, Standing Up and its $5,000 cash prize will remain a permanent part of the Cleveland International Film Festival.

Determined by audience vote, the 2009 Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition Award went to:
The Way We Get By Directed by Aron Gaudet (USA)

American Independent Award

The winner of the $2,500 cash prize for the 2009 American Independent Film Competition as determined by audience vote was:
Prince of Broadway Directed by Sean Baker (USA)

Central and Eastern European Film Competition:

The winner of the $10,000 cash prize for the Central and Eastern European Film Competition was:
The Investigator Directed by Attila Gigor (Hungary)

Nesnady + Schwartz Documentary Film Competition:

The winner of the $5,000 cash prize for the 2009 Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Film Competition was:
Trinidad Directed by PJ Raval & Jay Hodges (USA)

Independent Shorts Jury Awards Program:

Best Animated Short Film Award:
Hungu - Winner Directed by Nicolas Brault (Canada)

Best Documentary Short Film Award:
Down Here - Winner Directed by Charles Wilkenson (Canada)

Best International Short Film Award:
Surprise! - WInner Directed by Barrice Marucar (France)

Best LGBT Short Film:
Second Guessing Grandma Directed by Bob Giraldi (USA)

Best Live Action Short Film Award:
Gilles - Winner Directed by Constant Mentzas (Canada)

Best Student Short Film Award:
Kwame Directed by Edward Osei-Gyimah (USA)

Best Women's Short Film Award:
Love, Sadie Directed Naiti Gamez (USA)

The Clover and Maggie Award: In Celebration of Life
Forget-Me-Not Directed by Katia Grivot (France)

Jesse Epstein Humanitarian Award
Crossing Midnight Directed by Kim Synder (USA)

Kodak Best Ohio Short Film Award
Operation Falcon Directed by Tim O'Hara (USA)

The Spalding Award: In Celebration of Joy
Bronx Balletomane Directed by Jeremy Joffee (USA)

The 2009 Cleveland State University Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film
Toyland Directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank (Germany)

Check out indieWIRE's New Guide to Film Festivals (listings will be updated throughout the year):
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