Yoav Potash’s documentary film, ‘Crime After Crime’, won the top Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival. The documentary film on the legal battle to free Debbie Peagler, a woman imprisoned for over a quarter century due to her connection to the murder of the man who abused her, received a $25,000 cash prize.

The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival ran April 21 – May 5, 2011 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre, New People and SFMOMA in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley.

Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature Winners

Investigative Documentary Feature: 

Crime After Crime, Yoav Potash (USA 2011)

· Winner receives $25,000 cash prize

Documentary Feature: 

Better This World, Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway (USA 2011)

· Winner receives $20,000 cash prize

Bay Area Documentary Feature: 

Better This World, Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway (USA 2011)

· Winner receives $15,000 cash prize and $2000 laboratory services from EFILM Digital Laboratories.

New Directors Award: 

The Journals of Musan, Park Jung-bum (South Korea 2010)

· Winner receives $15,000 cash prize

FIPRESCI Prize: 

The Salesman, Sébastien Pilote (Canada 2011)

Golden Gate Award Short Film Winners

Narrative Short: Blokes, Marialy Rivas (Chile 2010)

· Winner receives $5,000 cash prize

Documentary Short: Into the Middle of Nowhere, Anna Frances Ewert (Scotland, England 2010)

· Winner receives $5,000 cash prize

Animated Short: The External World, David O’Reilly (Ireland 2010)

· Winner receives $2,000 cash prize and Maya animation software provided by Auto Desk

Bay Area Short, First Prize: Tourist Trap, Skye Thorstenson (USA 2010)

· Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

Bay Area Short, Second Prize: Young Dracula, Alfred Seccombe (USA 2010)

· Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

New Visions: Lost Lake, Zackary Drucker (USA 2010)

· Winner receives $1,500 cash prize and 1,000 feet of Kodak film stock

Work for Kids and Families: Specky Four Eyes, Jean-Claude Rozec (France 2010)

· Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

Youth Work: Z-Man, Nat Talbot (USA 2010)

· Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

Youth Work Honorable Mention: The Snowman Kelly Wilson, Neil Wrischnik (USA 2010)

Youth Work Honorable Mention: The Math Test, Sam Rubin (USA 2010)