originally published: 05/08/2016
(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- The Montclair Film Festival (MFF) took place April 29 through May 8th. The festival’s 2016 Award winners were announced at a ceremony on May 8 at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ.
Babak Anvari’s UNDER THE SHADOW took home the Narrative Feature Jury prize. The Narrative Competition jury also awarded Special Jury Prize for Direction to Sophia Takal for ALWAYS SHINE.
CAMERAPERSON, directed by Kirsten Johnson, took home the Bruce Sinofsky Prize in the festival’s Documentary Feature competition. The Documentary Competition jury also awarded Special Jury Prize for Narrative Innovation to TOWER, directed by Keith Maitland.
Anna Rose Holmer was awarded with the Future/Now prize for THE FITS, honoring emerging low-budget American independent filmmaking. Kris Avedisian was awarded for his performance in DONALD CRIED.
Josie Swantek Heitz & Dave Adams’ THE WRONG LIGHT took home the New Jersey Films Award, which honors a selected group of films made by New Jersey artists. Jason Cohen’s SILICON COWBOYS was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Archival Storytelling in the New Jersey Film Competition category.
The festival also announced the festival’s 2016 Audience Award winners, with Taika Waititi’s HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE taking top honors in the Narrative Feature category, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s NORMAN LEAR: JUST ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU winning the Documentary Feature category, Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s SONITA winning the audience prize for World Cinema, and Kahane Cooperman’s JOE’S VIOLIN taking the award in the Short Film category.
Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s WEINER took home the David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking, which honors a film, selected by the festival, that utilizes journalistic techniques to explore important contemporary subjects.
The MFF’s Junior Jury prize, given by a thirteen-member jury comprised of area high school students, went to GLEASON, directed by Clay Tweel. A special Jury Prize for Social Justice was awarded to SONITA, directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami.
“We are deeply honored by the fact that so many incredible filmmakers chose to share their work with the festival and our audiences. We thank every one of our filmmakers for their overwhelming generosity,” said MFF Executive Director Tom Hall. “These awards are the festival’s way of honoring work that challenges and inspires us, and we hope they offer further encouragement to the filmmakers to continue making great work.”
Here is the complete list of 2016 winners at The Montclair Film Festival:
Narrative Feature Competition Winner
UNDER THE SHADOW
Director – Babak Anvari
Narrative Feature Competition
Special Jury Prize for Directing
Sophia Takal, ALWAYS SHINE
Bruce Sinofsky Prize for Documentary Feature Competition Winner
CAMERAPERSON
Director – Kirsten Johnson
Documentary Feature Competition
Special Jury Prize for Narrative Innovation
TOWER
Director- Keith Maitland
Future/Now Competition Winner
THE FITS
Director – Anna Rose Holmer
Future/Now Competition
Special Jury Prize for Acting
Kris Avedisian for his performance in DONALD CRIED
New Jersey Films Competition Winner
THE WRONG LIGHT
Director – Josie Swantek Heitz & Dave Adams
New Jersey Films Competition
Special Jury Prize for Archival Storytelling
SILICON COWBOYS
Director- Jason Cohen
Audience Award Winner Narrative Feature
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE
Directed by Taika Waititi
Audience Award Winner Documentary Feature
NORMAN LEAR: JUST ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU
Directed by Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady
Audience Award Winner World Cinema
SONITA
Directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Audience Award Winner Short Film
JOE’S VIOLIN
Directed by Kahane Cooperman
David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking
WEINER
Directors – Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
Junior Jury
Special Jury Prize for Social Justice
SONITA
Director – Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Junior Jury Winner
GLEASON
Director- Clay Tweel
JURIES
Narrative Feature Competition
Dagmara Dominczyk – Actress and author
Matthew Jacobs – Entertainment reporter at the Huffington Post
Christopher Rosen – Editor at EW.com
Documentary Feature Competition
Addie Morfoot – Entertainment reporter at Crain’s New York Business
Bilge Ebiri – Film critic at the Village Voice
Jake Coyle – Film critic and writer for the Associated Press
Future/Now
Christopher Mason Wells – Director of Repertory Programming for the Quad Cinema
Eric Kohn – Senior Film Critic at Indiewire
Julie La’Bassiere – CEO of BAFTA New York
New Jersey Films Competition
Darren Dean – Writer, Director, Producer
Jill Sands – Casting Director
Gwen Orel – Arts Editor at the Montclair Times
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