As part of our annual Festival, we honor filmmakers for their works, inviting distinguished jurors to review our selections for the year.
These awards include a Narrative Feature Competition for international and domestic narrative films; an Independent Vision Competition specifically for low-budget American films and emerging US artists; and a Documentary Feature Competition that has earned the Festival recognition as one of the "Top 20 Festivals for Documentaries" by All These Wonderful Things. Generous post-production packages are awarded to the winning films in each competition category.
Read on for all of our 2011 honorees, and click here to view the 2011 Film Guide.
2011 SFF AWARD WINNERS
The Sarasota Film Festival Master Of Cinema
Christopher Plummer
Sarasota Film Festival/GCC U.N. Women Impact Award
Geena Davis
Producer's Award
Sarah Green
SFF Student Trailer Competition Winner
Natasha Bangert and Minna Choung, Ringling College of Art + Design
JURY AWARD WINNERS
Narrative Feature Competition Winner
Tuesday After Christmas — Director, Radu Muntean
Narrative Feature Competition Special Jury Prize
Old Cats — Directors, Pedro Peirano and Sebastian Silva
Documentary Feature Competition
Better This World — Directors, Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane De La Vega
Documentary Feature Competition Special Jury Prize
Position Among Stars — Director, Leonard Retel Helmrich
youthFEST Best Family Film
The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Lion — Director, Alois Di Leo
Independent Vision Prize Winner
Without — Director, Mark Jackson
Independent Vision Prize Special Jury Prize
The Oregonian — Director, Calvin Lee Reeder
Promising Young Filmmaker
Dick Watson and The Case of the Missing Relative — Mitchell Zemil
Young Filmmakers Showcase Honorable Mention
Monster — Alfonso Duran
Reel Life Studio Jury Award - Best Film
Children of Space — Directors, Colton Bazenas and Eric Gruendl
AUDIENCE AWARDS SPONSORED BY PUBLIX SUPERMARKET CHARITIES
Audience Award Best Documentary Feature
To Be Heard — Directors, Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer
Audience Award Best Short Film
Fatakra — Director, Soham Mehta
Audience Award Best Narrative Feature
to.get.her — Director, Erica Dunton
Audience Award Best In World Cinema
Trollhunter — Director, Andre Ovredal
Audience Award youthFEST Best Short Film
The Auction — Director Gloria Kim
Audience Award Reel Life Studio Film
Angel Eyes — Directors, Tony DeNiro and Hunter Cross
THE JURORS
Narrative
Arianna Bocco – Sr. VP Acquisitions and Production IFC Films
Joe Neumaier – Film Critic and Film Editor, The New York Daily News
Thelma Adams – US Weekly and Author of the new novel Playdate
Documentary
David Edelstein – Film Critic, New York Magazine
Regina Weinreich – Culture Critic
Aaron Hillis – Film Critic, The Village Voice
Independent Visions
Kim Voynar – Movie City News
David Fear – Film Critic Time Out New York
Jay Duplass – Director, CYRUS, BAGHEAD, THE PUFFY CHAIR
