AFI Fest Announces Award Winners

Today is the final day of this year's AFI Fest--and this afternoon a luncheon was held to announce and honor the winning films. FishbowlLA went to nearly every day of the festival and caught at least eight films. But, sadly, we only managed to see one one of the big winners--Kinyarwanda by Alrick Brown, which co-won this year's World Cinema Section category along with Jiro Dreams of Sushi by David Gelb. With Every Heartbeat by Alexandra-Therese Keining won the Audience Award while Bullhead by Michaël R. Roskam won the New Auteur prize. AFI Fest is screening the majority of its winning films today. So if you happened to miss out, like we did, better get over to Hollywood soon. Full list of winners, via press release, after the jump. AUDIENCE AWARDS Breakthrough Section (award accompanied by a $5,000 cash prize) WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT by Alexandra-Therese Keining New Auteurs Section BULLHEAD by Michaël R. Roskam World Cinema Section A tie: JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI by David Gelb and KINYARWANDA by Alrick Brown Young Americans Section WUSS by Clay Liford LIVE ACTION AND ANIMATED SHORT FILM SECTION JURY AWARDS As in previous years, a jury determines the AFI FEST 2011 Live Action and Animated Short Film Section Awards. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recognizes each winner as a qualifier for the annual Academy Awards®. The Short Film Jury — comprised of filmmakers Barry Jenkins and Gerardo Naranjo (AFI Conservatory Class of 2001) and festival programmer Kim Yutani — announced the awards with their statements. Live Action Short Film Section Grand Jury Prize: FROZEN STORIES from Grzegorz Jaroszuk "for its world of meta-reality suffused with enough context to rend a beautifully nuanced story for the most heightened elements." Honorable Mention: BABYLAND by Marc Fratello "for its assured direction, stunning lead performance and the ability to balance humor and pathos all the way up to its shocking conclusion." Animated Short Film Section Grand Jury Prize: THE EAGLEMAN STAG by Michael Please "for its ambitious and elegant storytelling, both narrative and aesthetically, in which the bigness of life and the concept of time are deftly unpacked in a moving nine minutes." Honorable Mention: THE VOYAGERS by Penny Lane "for its skillful juxtaposition of archival footage and personal narrative to tell a moving story of exploration, romance and space travel." NEW AUTEURS SECTION CRITIC'S PRIZE This year AFI FEST debuts its New Auteurs Critic's Prize selected by an esteemed panel of international critics: Justin Chang (Variety), Mike Goodridge (Screen International), Mark Olsen (The Los Angeles Times) and Jean Oppenheimer (American Cinematographer). Grand Jury Prize: THE LONELIEST PLANET by Julia Loktev "for its bold exploration of societal structures and gender roles, set against a landscape that conveys both profound beauty and profound alienation." Special Jury Prize: ATTENBERG by Athina Rachel Tsangari "for its wit, distinct voice and playful sense of storytelling." Acting Award Prize: BULLHEAD's Matthias Schoenaerts "for his nuanced and intensely physical embodiment of bruised masculinity."

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AFI Fest Announces Award Winners

Matthew Fleischer

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Matthew Fleischer