Slamdance. Awards.

"Slamdance may have started out as Sundance's punk-ass little brother, but now, it seems, the little festival that could is getting a little more respectable, whether it likes that fact or not," wrote MaryAnn Johanson at Cinemarati a few days ago. "A carefully cultivated lack of propriety? Whether that's the attitude Slamdance is consciously projecting or merely a welcome side effect of being the thorn in the side of Sundance's oxymoronic conventional counterculture, it has fostered an environment where truly weird, truly angry, truly unusual, truly different filmmaking finds an audience." The evidence she then rolls out makes for a pretty convincing argument, too.

At any rate, to the awards. Over 20 in all; I'll mention a few, but the full list is here.

• Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature: We Go Way Back, written and directed by Lynn Shelton. The film also took the Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography.

• Special Jury Recognition: The Guatemalan Handshake, written and directed by Todd Rohal.

• Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature: The Empire in Africa, directed by Philippe Diaz.

• Special Jury Recognition for Best Documentary Feature: Forgiving Dr Mengele, directed by Bob Hercules and Cheri Pugh.

• Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short: The Saviour, directed by Peter Templeman.

• Special Jury Recognition for Narrative Short: The Devil, directed by Tomasz Szafranski.

• Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short: Under the Roller Coaster, directed by Lila Place.

• Special Jury Recognition for Documentary Short: Grand Luncheonette, directed by Peter Sillen.

• Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short: Dragon, directed by Troy Morgan.

• Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang, written and directed by Tim Skousen.

• Special Jury Recognition for Best Film Screening Out of Competition: Neo Ned, directed by Van Fischer.

• Audience Sparky Award for Best Documentary Feature: Abduction: The Megumi Yakota Story, directed by Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim.

• The Spirit of Slamdance Award for Best Gallery Short: Hiro, directed by Matthew Swanson.

• Sparky Award for Global Anarchy: My Mom and Dad, directed by Andrew Brotzman.

Posted by dwhudson at January 29, 2006 4:07 AM