SLIFF 2018 – And the Winners Are…….

The 27th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival Awards were presented Nov. 11 and We Are Movie Geeks was there!

SLIFF presented seven major filmmaking awards during the course of the 2018 festival:

Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Awards to Jim Finn, Jane Gilooly, and Karyn Kusama; Women in Film Award to Melanie Mayron; Lifetime Achievement Award to Joe Edwards and John Goodman; and the Contemporary Cinema Award to Jason Reitman.

Shorts Awards

Juries choose the winners of seven awards from among the shorts in competition. The SLIFF shorts competition is officially sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, making the winners in the Best of Fest, Best Animated, Best Live Action, and Best Documentary categories eligible to submit for Oscar® consideration. The 2018 winners:

Best Documentary Short: “Koka, The Butcher” directed by Bence Máté

Best Local Short: “The Buck: Midwest Gully” directed by Jun Bae

Best Short Short: “The Puppy Trials” directed by Becky Nicol & Thomas Nicol

Best International Short: “Death, Father & Son” directed by Waltgenwitz Denis & Paronnaud Vincent

Best Animated Short: “Le Mans 1955” directed by Quentin Baillieux

Best Live-Action Short: “Rainbow Ruthie” directed by Ruthie Marantz

Best of Fest: “Souls of Totality” directed by Richard Raymond

Interfaith Awards

Juries gives Interfaith Awards to both a documentary and a narrative, choosing from among 10 competition films (five in each category), which were selected for their artistic merit; contribution to the understanding of the human condition; and recognition of ethical, social, and spiritual values. The 2018 winners:

Best Documentary Feature: “Intelligent Lives” directed by Dan Habib

Best Narrative Feature: “Eternal Winter” directed by Attila Szasz

St. Louis Film Critics Association Joe Pollack and Joe Williams Awards

In conjunction with the St. Louis Film Critics organization, SLIFF holds juried competitions for documentary and narrative features. The awards are named in honor of the late St. Louis Post-Dispatch critics Joe Pollack (narrative) and Joe Williams (documentary). The winners are picked by two juries composed of St. Louis film critics. SLIFF chose eight films to compete in each category. The 2018 winners:

Best Documentary Feature: “Letter from Masanjia” directed by Leon Lee

Best Narrative Feature: “The Captain” directed by Robert Schwentke

Midrash Award

Midrash St. Louis engages myriad aspects of American culture — hot topics, deep subjects, music, arts, and film — and seeks to give and receive commentary on the subjects and issues that matter to people in St. Louis and that form and shape our views and lives. The Midrash St. Louis Film Award celebrates St. Louis-related films of honesty and artistry that portray the need or the hope for reconciliation or redemption. These are among the most powerful and worthy themes that films should explore. Eligible work for the Midrash St. Louis Film Award includes feature and short films largely shot in St. Louis or directed by filmmakers with strong local ties. The award comes with a cash prize of $500. The 2018 winner:

“The Man Behind the Merferds” directed by Josh Herum

New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director Award (The Bobbie)

The New Filmmakers Forum (NFF) annually presents the Emerging Director Award. Since its inception, NFF was co-curated by Bobbie Lautenschlager. Bobbie died in the summer of 2012, and SLIFF honors her memory by nicknaming the NFF Emerging Director Award as the Bobbie. Five works by first-time feature filmmakers competed for the prize, which includes a $500 cash award. The 2018 winner:

Emerging Director Award (“The Bobbie”): “Farmer of the Year” directed by Vince O’Connell & Kathy Swanson

Spotlight on Inspiration Documentary Award

This year, SLIFF inaugurates this juried competition, which awards a $5,000 prize to a feature documentary that focuses on people working to make the world a better place and that inspires audience members and leaves them with a sense of hope for the futur. The 2018 winner:

“The Providers” directed by Laura Green & Anna Moot-Levin

Best of Fest Audience Choice Awards

Audience voting determines the winner of three awards from among the films in competition.

The 2018 winners:

Leon Award for Best Documentary Film: “The Push” directed by Grant Korgan & Brian Niles

TV5MONDE Award for Best International Film: “Capernaum” directed by Nadine Labaki

Best Film: “Green Book” directed by Peter Farrelly