ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Ann Arbor Film Festival is proud to announce this year’s award-winning filmmakers selected by jurors, Osbert Parker, Lynne Sachs, and Lisa Steele. Thank you, filmmakers and artists, for bringing remarkable and diverse works to our festival and thank you to everyone who watched and participated in our first virtual festival!
The 2020 awards competition presents $22,500 to filmmakers through mostly cash and some in-kind awards such as film stock, film processing, camera equipment, and digital scanning services.
An award from the AAFF confers prestige and financial support; it can also qualify filmmakers for an Oscar® nomination by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the short film category.
Qualifying awards are the Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival, the Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film, the Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film, and Best Experimental Film. See the full list of award winners below.
58th Ann Arbor Film Festival Awards:
Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival: Goodbye Fantasy – Amber Bemak and Nadia Granados
Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker:I Dream of Vietnam – Jiayu Yang
Kodak Cinematic Vision Award: E-Ticket – Simon Liu
Best Experimental Film: Video Blues – Emma Tusell
Best Documentary Film: Kere mattu Kere (The Lake and The Lake) – Sindhu Thirumalaisamy
Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film: The Golden Legend – Chema García Ibarra and Ion de Sosa
Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film: Freeze Frame – Soetkin Verstegen
Cutters Studios Archival Film Award: The Deepest Hole – Matt McCormick
Gil Omenn Art & Science Award: Home in the Woods – Brandon Wilson
Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film: SPENCER’S SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT PEEP SHOW A.K.A. MICRO-BURLESQUE – Gary SchwartzANDI’m Not A Robot – Sean Buckelew
The Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for an Emerging Experimental Video Artist: Scar – Leilei Xia ANDSomeday – Páraic Mc Gloughlin
The Eileen Maitland Award: Umbilical – Danski Tang
PROCAM Best Regional Filmmaker Award: Blue – Laura Magnusson
George Manupelli Founder’s Spirit Award: Queering di Teknolojik – Timothy Smith
The No Violence Award: Green Ash (Ceniza Verde) – Pablo Mazzolo
UMCU Audience Award: Tetlalli: The Place of Stones – Miguel Nájera
Leon Speakers Award for Best Sound Design: Who’s Afraid of RGB? – Billy Roisz
Peter Wilde Award for Most Technically Innovative Film: Vertigo A.I. – Chris Peters
Tíos Award for Best International Film: The Eyes of Summer – Rajee Samarasinghe
\aut\ FILM Award for Best LGBTQ Film: Why Can’t I Be Me? Around You – Harrod Blank
Overture/Wazoo Award for Best Music Video: Diamonds – Tobias Kubli and Tillo Spreng
Juror Awards:
KIDS-Michael Frei
Fifth Metacarpal – Scott Fitzpatrick
The Giverny Document – Ja’Tovia Gary
Framing Agnes – Chase Joynt and Kristen Schilt
Flesh – Camila Kater
Colors & Shadows – Andreas Hadjipateras
Candy Shop – Patrick Smith
Aphasia or (It Fell Upon My Mind) – Brynne McGregor
Goodbye Mommy – Jack Wedge
Throat Singing in Kangirsuk – Eva Kaukai and Manon Chamberland
Thorax – Siegfried A. Fruhauf
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The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest avant-garde and experimental film festival in North America, founded by George Manupelli in 1963. Internationally recognized as a premiere forum for independent filmmakers and artists, each year’s festival engages audiences with remarkable cinematic experiences. The six-day festival presents 40 programs with more than 180 films from over 20 countries of all lengths and genres, including experimental, animation, documentary, fiction, and performance-based works.
Source: Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF)