2008 Mammoth Film Festival Winners!
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on November 23, 2008 under Mammoth Film Festival | 
The 2008 Mammoth Film Festival has wrapped! Congratulations to this year’s winners:
Best Picture - Leaving Barstow
Growing up in small-town Barstow, CA, high school senior Andrew dreams of college, but feels torn. He and his single mother Sandra share a tight-knit devotion to each other. Andrew’s strong sense of responsibility for Sandra, combined with his fear of the unknown, make him hesitate to pursue his ambitions.
When Andrew meets Jenny, caught in Barstow on her way to LA, his reasons for staying grow stronger, but his bond with Sandra begins to fray. In spite of encouragement from friend Carlos and mentor Mr. Johns, Andrew finds inertia all too easy to rationalize. As Andrew’s loyalties become confused, his opportunities seem to fade until he realizes he must choose between those who need him and starting his own life elsewhere. [via]
Best Short - Struck
On his way to work one day, Joel (Bodhi Elfman) is impaled through the chest by a three-foot arrow. But it doesn’t harm him. And it won’t come out. So Joel has to learn to deal - both with his newfound protrusion, and his own painful loneliness. He tries to go to work, to date women, but no one seems ready to accept his strange flaw. Little does he know, his life is about to change forever…
Best Foreign - Vanaja
Vanaja, the 15 year old daughter of a financially troubled fisherman goes to work in the local landlady’s house in hopes of learning Kuchipudi dance. She does well, but when the landlady’s son returns from the US, what begins as innocent sexual chemistry turns ugly, ending in a rape - a rape of a minor. Set in rural South India, a place where social barriers are built stronger than ancient fort walls, the film explores the chasm that divides classes as a young girl struggles to come of age.
Best Documentary - The Unwinking Gaze
The Unwinking Gaze is an observational portrait of the Dalai Lama as he tries to engage the Chinese government into accepting the need for a negotiated settlement on the future of Tibet.
A modern day biblical epic, this film takes you inside the Dalai Lama’s inner circle showing the titanic struggle of one of the most significant global figures of our time, leading his people through non-violence, in his efforts to engage China, perhaps for the final time.
Best Drama - Leaving Barstow (see above)
Best Comedy/Musical - Courting Condi
This is a documentary like none you have seen before: A musical docu-tragi-comedy. Courting Condi follows a love-struck soul’s hilarious, emotionally engaging quest to woo Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A spin on the Rapunzel fairy-tale, this unique romantic/political/biographic feature follows musician Devin Ratray as he travels across America to win her heart. On Devin’s journey to meet and court her, he discovers stories that he, and most viewers, never knew about Condi - including some shockingly dark revelations about how she has changed all our lives. Throughout his odyssey, the biggest question remains: Can one man with a dream win the heart of the world’s most powerful woman?