“Weekend,” Andrew Haigh’s unapologetic love story about two men in a weekend affair, and “If a Tree Falls,” Marshall Curry’s profile of environmentalists driven to extremes, captured the top jury prizes at the 2011 Nashville Film Festival (NaFF). “Weekend” was awarded the Bridgestone Grand Jury Prize, the top narrative prize; “If a Tree Falls” received the Documentary Channel Grand Prize in the Documentary Competition.
2011 Nashville Film Festival Award Winners
Narrative Competition Sponsored by Bridgestone
Bridgestone Grand Jury Prize: “Weekend” (Andrew Haigh / UK)
Bridgestone Competition Honorable Mention: “Last Summer of La Boyita” (Julia Solomonoff / Argentina)
Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble: “Kinyarwanda” (Alrick Brown / Rwanda, USA)
Special Jury Prize for Exception Courage: “Dog Sweat” (Hossein Keshavarz / Iran)
Best Actor: Tom Cullen, “Weekend”
Best Actress: Guadalupe Alonso, “Last Summer of La Boyita”
Naxos Award for Best Film Music: Bootstraps, “Take Me Home”
Southwest Airlines Audience Award: TBA
Graveyard Shift Audience Award: TBA
Documentary Competition Sponsored by Documentary Channel
Documentary Channel Grand Jury Prize: “If A Tree Falls” (Marshall Curry / USA)
Documentary Channel Honorable Mention: “Fambul Tok” (Sara Terry / Sierra Leone, USA)
Special Jury Prize for Achievement Artistic Vision: “A Matter of Taste” (Sally Rowe / USA)
Documentary Channel Audience Award: TBA
Gibson Music Films/Music City Competition Sponsored by Gibson and Lightning 100
Gibson Impact of Music Award: “Ain’t In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm,” (Jacob Hatley / USA)
Honorable Mention: “Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone” (Lev Anderson, Chris Metzler / USA)
Special Jury Prize for Most Original Vision: “Broke*” (Will Gray / USA)
New Directors Competition
Grand Jury Prize: “Inuk” (Mike Magidson, Greenland/France)
Best Actor: Parker Croft, “Falling Overnight”
Best Actress: Kristýna Nováková, “Twosome”
Honorable Mention: “Twosome (Dvojka)” (Jaroslav Fuit / Czech Republic)
Special Jury Prize for Breakout Performance by an Actor: Gaba Peterson, “Inuk”
Short Film Competition
Best Narrative Short (Academy Qualifier): “Mary Last Seen” (Sean Durkin / USA)
Honorable Mention: “Darryn Exists” (Jamie Lawrence / New Zealand)
Best Animated Short (Academy Qualifier): “Something Left, Something Taken” (Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata / USA)
Honorable Mention: “Mobile” (Verena Fels / Germany)
Special Jury Prize for Imaginative Storytelling: “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore” (Brandon Oldenburg, William Joyce / USA)
Best Documentary Short: “Bye Bye Now!” (Aideen O’Sullivan / Ireland)
Honorable Mention: “Mr. Happy Man” (Matt Morris / USA)
Special Jury Prize for Social Awareness: “Save the Farm” (Michael Kuehnert / USA)
Best Experimental Short: “All Flowers in Time” (Jonathan Caouette / Canada)
Honorable Mention: “Who By Fire” (Aleisa Moussa / USA)
Honorable Mention II: “just a meaning you attribute to it” (Bernadette Anzengruber / Austria)
Vanderbilt Golden Opportunity Award: “Deeper Than Yesterday” (Ariel Kleiman / Australia)
Runner-Up: “On Leave” (Asat Saban / Isreal)
Watkins Young Filmmaker Award: Finding My Way (Emma Strebel / USA)
Additional Awards:
Ground Zero Tennessee Spirit Award for Best Feature Film: “Jess+Moss” (Clay Jeter / USA)
Ground Zero Tennessee Spirit Award for Best Short Feature Film: “Swing” (Matt Schosser & Shane Bartlett / USA)
Ground Zero Tennessee Spirit Award for Best Short Documentary Film: “Nashville Rises” (Zac Adams / USA)
Black Filmmaker Award: “Kinyarwanda” (Alrick Brown / USA, Rwanda)
NAHCC Hispanic Filmmaker Award: “My Life with Carlos” (Germán Berger-Hertz / Chile)
NAHCC Hispanic Filmmaker Award Honorable Mention: “Musica Campesina” (Alberto Fuguet / Chile, USA)
NPT Human Spirit Award: “Fambul Tok” (Sara Terry / Sierra Leone, USA)
Women in Film & TV Prize for Best Film by A Woman Director: The Last Summer of La Boyita (Julia Solomonoff / Argentina)
Film Musicians Secondary Market Fund Prize for Best Director / Composer Collaboration: “Falling Overnight”
NaFF Career Achievement Award: Kris Kristofferson
Coleman Sinking Creek Award: Monte Hellman
Mike Curb Career Achievement for Film Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Governor’s Award: Clay Jeter
Louise LeQuire Award for Screenwriting: John Patrick Shanley