Slamdance, that other Utah independent film festival, handed out its hardware on Friday.
Winning the top prize at the festival was Charles-Olivier Michaud’s "Snow and Ashes." The documentary award went to Mark Claywell’s "American Jihadist."
Alexandre Franchi’s "The Wild Hunt" and Adam Barker’s "Mind of the Demon: The Larry Linkogle Story" were among the audience award winners.
The annual festival received a record number of submissions — more than 5,000 — and programmed 91 films this year.
Feature competitions are limited to first-time filmmakers working with production budgets of $1 million or less.
“Slamdance 16 celebrated, as always, the best in independent film and emerging talent,” Peter Baxter, co-founder and president of Slamdance, said in a statement. “Congratulations to all of our winners and especially to all of our filmmakers who have come together this week to strengthen our community.
"This year’s festival also marked a first for Slamdance’s ambition of significantly widening its audience outside of Park City," Baxter said. "The online Summit shared exhibition ideas and solutions with thousands of filmmakers around the world and our film program partnership with Microsoft has the potential of reaching millions of viewers.”
The winners of the 16th annual Slamdance Film Festival and their prize packages are as follows:
GRAND JURY AWARDS
Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Narrative Film
Winner: SNOW AND ASHES, directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud
Special Jury Mention: ONE HUNDRED MORNINGS, directed by Conor Horgan
Winner also receives three 8-hour work days from POP Sound in Los Angeles for Audio Post Production Services; Panasonic AG-HPX170 Camera; Sony Software Package
Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Documentary Film
Winner: AMERICAN JIHADIST, directed by Mark Claywell
Winner also receives Sony Software Package
Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Animated Short
Winner: SEED, directed by Ben Richardson and Daniel Bird
Winner also receives Sony Software Package
Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Narrative Short
Winner: PRVI DAN MIRA (First Day of Peace), Mirko Rucnov
Special Jury Mention for a short documentary film: BOUT THAT BOUT, directed by Nico Sabenorio
Winner also receives Sony Software Package
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Sparky Award for Best Narrative Film
Winner: THE WILD HUNT, directed by Alexandre Franchi
Winner also receives $5,000 in Post Production Services from Post Factory, New York; $3500 in Legal Services from Pierce Law Group; Sony Software Package
Audience Sparky Award for Best Documentary Film
Winner: MIND OF THE DEMON: THE LARRY LINKOGLE STORY, directed by Adam Barker
Winner also receives $5,000 in Post Production Services from Post Factory, New York; $3500 in Legal Services from Pierce Law Group; Sony Software Package
Audience Sparky Award for Best Anarchy Online Film
Winner: SUGAR STICK, directed by Laura Harris
Winner also receives Sony Software Package
Spirit of Slamdance Sparky Short Film Award
Winner: MOSQUITO, directed by Jeremy Engle
Awarded by the Class of 2010 filmmakers to the film teams that best exhibit passion and talent, commitment to the independent community, and enthusiastically embrace all Slamdance has to offer.
Winner also receives Sony Software Package
SPONSORED AWARDS
Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography
Winner: GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9, directed by Robert Persons
Winner also receives 10,000 feet of Kodak film for the filmmaker to make their next feature
Dos Equis Most Interesting Film Award (and best Mumblecore film to NOT play SXSW)
Winner: NOTHING BUT EVERYTHING, directed by Wallace Cotten
Slamdance also presented the 1st Script Accessible Screenplay Award sponsored by Lonely Seal Releasing to ALL THE WRONG REASONS written by Gia Milani. The Script Accessible Award is part of Slamdance’s year-round Writing Competition that received more than 2,500 submissions in 2009
