BY KRISTIN MC CRACKEN |

Awards Announced: 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

The award winners for TFF 2011 have been announced! Top winners include She Monkeys, Bombay Beach, The Journals of Musan and Like Water.

Awards Announced: 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

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The 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its competition categories tonight at a ceremony hosted at the W Union Square in New York City. The top awards went to She Monkeys, Bombay Beach, The Journals of Musan, and Like Water.

 

A video archive of the Awards Show is now available for viewing.

The world competition winners were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 21 countries. Best New Director prizes were awarded for both narrative and documentary films, selected from all feature films by a first-time director throughout the program. Awards were also given in four categories in the short film competition. This year’s Festival included 93 features and 60 short films from 40 countries.

This year, the Festival introduced two new annual awards in the narrative competition: Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay; and one in the documentary competition: Best Editing.

And for the second year, online viewers voted for the best Tribeca (Online) Film Festival awards, including Best Feature and Best Short.

The winner of the Heineken Audience Award, determined by audience votes throughout the Festival, will be announced on Saturday, April 30.

“It’s wonderful to have reached our 10th edition and to be able to celebrate with all of these gifted filmmakers. We’ve been fortunate that as we have grown we have remained a place that welcomes a diverse range of stories told by compelling and exciting filmmakers,” said Festival co-Founder Jane Rosenthal. “We are truly honored that the community has supported the Festival all these years – the community of New York and the international film community.”

“We are truly pleased to have had such a great group of filmmakers at Tribeca,” said Nancy Schafer, Executive Director of the Festival. “Audiences and juries have responded so positively to the films, and on behalf of the programming team, I thank all our filmmakers for sharing their work with us and our audience.”

In addition to cash awards and in-kind services provided by sponsors including American Express, AKA Hotel Residences, Accenture, Persol, Apple, Company 3 and Kodak, the Festival presented the winners with original pieces of art created by seven acclaimed artists, including Robert De Niro Sr. and Nate Lowman, via the Tribeca Film Festival Art Awards, sponsored by CHANEL.

A list of all award winners follows.


World Narrative Competition

 

2011 World Narrative Competition Jurors:
Souleymane Cissé, Scott Glenn, David Gordon Green, Rula Jebreal, Art Linson, Jason Sudeikis and Dianne Wiest

 

She Monkeys
 
The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature
She Monkeys
Directed by Lisa Aschan (Sweden)

 

Winner receives $25,000, sponsored by AKA Hotel Residences; and the art award "Anna Christie Entering the Bar, 1965-1967," by Robert De Niro Sr.

Jury Comments: “Haunting, resonant, but never posed. Conventional shots become dangerous. With balanced storytelling that moves between danger and innocence, this film speaks of sex, adolescence, power, and ambition. It is original and authentic.”

 


 
Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film
Carice Van Houten in
Black Butterflies
Directed by Paula Van Der Oest (Germany, Netherlands, South Africa)

 

Winner receives $2,500.

Jury Comments: “There are a million colors in this complicated performance. We award this honor for bravery and fragility, and for showing tremendous range and strength throughout.”

 

Grey Matter

 

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film
Ramadhan "Shami" Bizimana in Grey Matter
Directed by Kivu Ruhorahoza (Rwanda, Australia)

 

Winner receives $2,500.

Jury Comments: “In a world shattered by genocide, this performance was so pure.”

 

Artificial Paradises

Best Cinematography
Lisa Tillinger for Artificial Paradises
Directed by Yulene Olaizola (Mexico)

 

Winner receives $5,000, and $50,000 in post-production services, provided by Company 3.

Jury Comments: “A beautiful portrait of landscape and emotion.”

 



Best Screenplay
Jannicke Systad Jacobsen for Turn me on, goddammit 
Directed by Jannicke Systad Jacobsen  (Norway)

 

Winner receives $5,000.

Jury Comments: “This jury was unanimous. Hands down, this is the best screenplay.”


Best New Narrative Director

 

2011 Best New Narrative Competition Jurors:
Paul Dano, Atom Egoyan, Zoe Kazan, Anna Kendrick, Rainn Wilson

 

Journals of Musan
 
Best New Narrative Director
Park Jungbum, writer and director, The Journals of Musan

(South Korea)

 

Winner receives $25,000, sponsored by American Express; $50,000 in post-production services provided by Company 3; and the art award “Double Happiness” by Nate Lowman.

Jury Comments: “This film is an extraordinary study of an outcast, one that examines a complex journey with compassion and grace. The jury was unanimous in honoring this rare film, which is both emotionally arresting and an important social document. We are proud to commend this auspicious debut from an extremely talented filmmaker.”

 

Grey Matter
 
Special Jury Mention
Kivu Ruhorahoza, writer and director of Grey Matter
(Rwanda, Australia)

 

Jury Comments: “For its audacious and experimental approach, this film speaks of recent horrors and genocide with great originality. We wanted to give a special commendation to this filmmaker for his courage and vision.”


World Documentary Competition

 

2011 World Documentary Competition Jurors:
Amir Bar-Lev, Michael Cera, RJ Cutler, Abigail Disney, Whoopi Goldberg, Louie Psihoyos and Peter Scarlet.
 
Bombay Beach

 

Best Documentary Feature
Bombay Beach

Directed by Alma Har'el (Israel, USA)

 

Winner receives $25,000, and the art award "Nathans" by Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao.

Jury Comments: “Our unanimous award for the film’s beauty, lyricism, empathy and invention.”

 

Semper Fi

 

Best Editing in a Documentary Feature
Purcell Carson,
Semper Fi: Always Faithful
(USA)

 

Winner receives $5,000.

Jury Comments: “The film skillfully weaves journalistic investigation with emotional personal narrative.


Best New Documentary Director

 

2011 Best New Documentary Competition Jurors:
Margaret Bodde, Jared Cohen, J.D. Heyman, Lauren Hutton, Annie Sundberg

 

Like Water
 
Best New Documentary Director
Pablo Croce, Like Water

(USA)

 

Winner receives $25,000, sponsored by American Express; and the art award “Path to the Stage” by Inka Essenhigh.

Jury Comments: “The film opens up a violent world in an unexpected way through its sensitive and seamless portrayal of its complex hero, ultimate fighter Anderson Silva.”

 

Give Up Tomorrow
 
Special Jury Mention
Michael Collins, director of Give Up Tomorrow
(UK, USA)

 

Jury Comments: “A powerful work of investigative journalism. We honor the filmmakers' six years of hard work in illustrating how a society can clash with justice, and the impact on an individual life. Everyone should see this film.”


Best Narrative Short Film Competition
 
2011 Best Narrative Short Film Competition Jurors:
Nora Ephron, Ceci Kurzman, Denis Leary, Fran Lebowitz, David O. Russell, Paul Schneider and Jimmy Wales
 

 

Best Narrative Short
Man and Boy

Directed by David Leon and Marcus McSweeney
Written by David Leon and Rashid Rasaq (UK)

 

Winner receives $5,000, sponsored by Persol; 5,000 feet of film stock, donated by Kodak; and the art award “Gold Dust (Undeclared)" by Taryn Simon.

Jury Comments: “The jury liked this film’s marriage of brilliant acting, superb technical prowess, and provocative subject matter, and it’s a movie memorable for upending expectations.”

 

The Terms

 

Special Jury Mention
The Terms

Written and directed by Jason LaMotte (UK)

 

Jury Comments: “Dark, original and beautifully written.”


 

Best Documentary and Student Short Film Competition
 
2011 Best Documentary and Student Short Competition Jurors:
Ahmed Ahmed, Agnes Gund, Zoe Kravitz, Nicole Lapin, Lisa Shields, Christine Vachon and Patrick Wilson
 

 

Best Documentary Short
Incident in New Baghdad

Written and directed by James Spione (USA)

 

Winner receives $5,000, sponsored by Persol; 5,000 feet of film stock, donated by Kodak; and the art award “Big Penny” by Tom Otterness.

Jury Comments: “The winner is a film that bravely explores the residual effects of experiencing trauma in war in a truthful and fearless manner. Using a mixture of archival and current material, this timely film is the story of one man’s struggle to reconcile war, his place in it, and the legacy he will pass on to his children.”

 

 

Special Jury MentionGuru
Written and directed by Jonathan VanBallenberghe (USA)

 

 

Jury Comments: “Congratulations to a film that started in one direction and ended up going in another. This unexpected journey was well crafted and followed a unique character for whom we were rooting.”

 

 

Student Visionary Award
Rooms
  
Written and directed by Joanna Jurewicz (USA)

Winner receives MacPro Desktop with Final Cut Pro and a 24-inch monitor, provided by Apple; and the art award “Study: Northern City Renaissance (Mass MoCA #79N)” by Stephen Hannock.

Jury Comments: “A simply told story with great depth that examines an average day in the life of an ordinary person living through other people. We applaud this director for her focus, attention to detail, and nuanced acting.”

 

 

Special Jury MentionEva – Working Title
Written and directed by Dor Fadlon (Israel)

 

 

Jury Comments: “Characterized by bold directorial choices, this film is a disturbing and intriguing story of an actor’s struggle, and examines the price paid for realizing one’s dreams. We congratulate this filmmaker for his ability to fully realize this story in a unique structure.”



Tribeca (Online) Film Festival
 
The 2011 Tribeca (Online) Film Festival winners were voted on by visitors to tribecafilm.com.

 

 

 

Tribeca (Online) Film Festival Best Feature Film
Donor Unknown
Directed and written by Jerry Rothwell (UK)

 

Winner receives $25,000, sponsored by American Express; and the art award “Untitled” by Sarah Crowner.

 

 

 

Tribeca (Online) Film Festival Best Short Film
The Dungeon Master
Directed by Shiloh & Rider Strong (USA)

 

Winners receive $5,000, sponsored by Accenture.



Tribeca would like to thank our award sponsors:

 


 

 

 

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