VISIONFEST 10 wraps with standing room only

VISIONFEST 10: THE OTHER FESTIVAL    Promoting Domestic Filmmaking

Standing room only at Tribeca Cinemas as VISIONFEST 10 unveiled its 5×5 NY State of Mind Digital Project and Ron Farrar Brown’s CONSENT led award winners’ pack with 3 statuettes at VISIONFEST 10 Awards

Tim VandeSteeg’s MY RUN was the year’s top doc; 

Stephen Bell’s FSU Thesis film THE QUARTERING ACT, year’s Outstanding Short Subject; 

MISS OHIO and CHRISTINA ‘belles of the ball’ crowned with 2 statuettes apiece

Acting honors bestowed upon Stephen Lang (AVATAR) for his performance in CHRISTINA; 

Troian Bellisario & Peter Vack (Jack Nance Award) singled out for their work in CONSENT

Matt Wheeler’s HOW TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER, winner of the Feature Screenwriting Competition

New York City, (June 28, 2010) – VISIONFEST 10:The Other Festival, subtitled ‘VFX’ this year in honor of its tenth anniversary run, ended its 2010 edition last night with a ‘standing room only’ crowd at Tribeca Cinemas, in NYC.  The event held its Independent Vision Awards ceremony and presented the “world premiere” screening of its 5×5 NY STATE OF MIND DIGITAL PROJECT, a collection of 5 digital shorts, created by 5 NY-based filmmakers over the course of 5 days.  The very ambitious Project this year consisted of the following shorts (in screening order):  Alexandra Roxo’s BEMVINDO, Ari Taub’s FAIRIES FATALE, Elizabeth Van Meter’s DAVID, Justin Sullivan’s ONE LAST QUESTION, and Nyle Cavazos Garcia’s MARY’S JOURNAL.  All five filmmakers, along with members of their respective cast and crew, were present to enjoy the sustained applause and standing ovation, which also wrapped the evening’s proceedings, just before the final 2010 ‘farewell’ party held in the adjacent Tribeca Lounge.

The awards ceremony, hosted by VF10 co-director, Bruno Derlin, was integrated with the 5×5 program, handing out certificates and statuettes at various intervals between the digital shorts.  Ron Farrar Brown’s CONSENT was the big winner with 3 awards, including the festival’s top “Filmmaker of the Year” Domani Vision Award, the Jack Nance Award for Breakthrough Performance (which went to Peter Vack), and the female lead acting award, presented to very promising newcomer, Troian Bellisario.  The WWII drama CHRISTINA picked up awards for its writer-director, Larry Brand, and lead actor, Stephen Lang (recently seen in the Oscar winning epic, AVATAR).  Another narrative feature crowned with two awards was MISS OHIO, which won honors for its director, Gregory Fitzsimmons (also producer), and co-producer, James Flynn. DESERT SON’sJames Mann, who won the Abe Schrager Award for Cinematography and STUCK! composer, Rob Kleiner, a winner for his original score, rounded out the list, marking the first time in VF history that all eligible narrative features in the line-up received awards.

On the documentary front, Tim VandeSteeg’s MY RUN, a darling of the film festival circuit, with a slew of awards already on its mantle, took home top honors for ‘long form’ doc, while David Binder’s CALLING MY CHILDREN was singled out as the ‘short form’ winner.  Todd Drezner’s LOVING LAMPPOSTS, which was presented as a benefit screening with proceeds going to the Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, a National Autism Organization, won the annual Social Consciousness award.

Florida State University was represented at VF by the winner of Outstanding Achievement in Short Subject Filmmaking, which saw the triumph of Stephen Bell’s WWII short,THE QUARTERING ACT.  While another student thesis project, CONTRITION, landed a “Most Promising Filmmaker” certificate for its writer-director, Jason Begue, from New York’s School of Visual Arts.  The 35mm short, BANANA BREAD by Barton Landsman, received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing, which was inscribed forClayton Hemmert.  The festival also gave kudos to THE BEEKEEPER by Sean J.S. Jourdan, who was handed a Certificate of Merit for his “short form screenplay” of the film he plans to extend into a feature length project.

This year’s Feature Screenwriting Competition, presented by InkTip.com, was won by Matt Wheeler’s HOW TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER, but with the author unable to attend the event, VF organizers accepted on his behalf.   Rounding out 2nd and 3rd place respectively were: John Bengel’s THE VOYEUR and Simon Nagel’s BOTHERED MINDS.

The following is a full list of the 2010 Visionfest Independent Vision Awards winners:

Film Competition Statuettes

Domani Vision Award for Emerging Talent:  Ron Farrar Brown (Consent)

Production: Gregory Fitzsimmons & James Flynn (Miss Ohio)

Directing: Gregory Fitzsimmons (Miss Ohio)

Writing: Larry Brand (Christina)

Documentary Feature: My Run – by Tim VandeSteeg

Short Subject Narrative: The Quartering Act by Stephen Bell

The Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award:  Peter Vack (Consent)

Acting (Male Lead):  Stephen Lang (Christina)

Acting (Female Lead):  Troian Bellisario (Consent)

The Abe Schrager Award for Cinematography:  James Mann (Desert Son)

Editing:  Clayton Hemmert (Banana Bread)

Original Score:  Rob Kleiner (Stuck!)

Certificates of Merit

Social Consciousness:  Todd Drezner (Loving Lampposts)

Most Promising Filmmaker:  Jason Begue (Contrition)

Short Form Documentary:  David Binder (Calling My Children)

Short Form Screenwriting:  Sean J.S. Jourdan (The Beekeeper)

Feature Screenwriting Competition

1st Place:  Matt Wheeler (How To Leave Your Lover)

2nd Place:  John Bengel (The Voyeur)

3rd Place:  Simon Nagel (Bothered Minds)

Visit www.visionfest.com for additional information.