Congratulations to our Grand Jury Prize Winners! More difficult than selecting which films to invite to the festival is choosing which will win the Grand Jury Prizes. The Jury deliberated, and after much discussion and debate, selected the following works:
Grand Jury Prize
Narrative Feature Film
WEST VIRGINIA STORIES
(88 minutes)
Three stories examining what it means to live, find connection, deal with trauma, and do more than just exist, in the rural landscape of small mining town in West Virginia.
Written & Directed by Preston Peterson & Jason Boesch
Produced by Colleen Kelly, Isabel Junie Hildebrandt, Richard Moon
Starring: Peter Van Norden, John T. Woods, William Thomas
Grand Jury Prize
Narrative Feature Film
ARTIFICE
(104 minutes)
Following an actor’s preparation for a terrifying role. As reality and fantasy blurs, he finds himself lost between both worlds.
Directed by Steven Doxey
Written by Steven Doxey & Brandon Sean Pearson
Produced by Steven Doxey & Brandon Sean Pearson & Michael Doxey
Starring: Brandon Sean Pearson, Kent Hadfield, Chris Persky, Jane Noble, Julia Fae, Benjamin Horatio Garvis, Elena Scarlett Murray
Grand Jury Prize
Narrative Short Film
THE CATCHER
(18 minutes)
Based on a true story: 1930’s professional ball player, Moe Berg, is recruited by the burgeoning U.S. intelligence department known as the O.S.S. and sent on a mission that would impact the greatest war the world has ever seen.
Written & Directed by Jamie Brindle
Produced by John Houston, Michael Curylo, Regan A. Young, Jamie Brindle
Starring Keith Edie, David Carey Foster, John Houston
Grand Jury Prize
Narrative Short Film
THE PAST INSIDE THE PRESENT
(12 minutes)
An allegorical tale of a couple who attempt to renew their dying relationship by plugging directly into recordings of their memories
Written & Directed by James Siewert
Produced by Chris Skotchdopole
Starring: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Schuyler Helford
Grand Jury Prize
Narrative Short Film
HOW TO BUILD A FORT
(15 minutes)
Two people struggle to hold on to a life long love in a world represented by the building of a fort.
Directed by Adam Bowman
Written by Jennifer Webster
Produced by Adam Bowman, Jennifer Webster
Starring: Brian Johnson, Aidan Grimm, Zoe Reynolds, Megan Kinney, Matt Gardner, Jennifer Webster, Jonathan Fredrick, Carol Holstead, and James Ortlieb
Grand Jury Prize
Documentary Film
GOODWOMAN
(34 minutes)
Wrongfully arrested for filming the police during a benign incident with a homeless person, Debra Goodman takes on the NYPD and city of New York in an attempt to enshrine a person’s legal right to film the police.
Directed and Produced by Chris Fiore
Grand Jury Prize
Documentary Film
JULIAN PRICE
(33 minutes)
Driven by the beauty of its landscape and the potential in its vacant Art Deco architecture, Julian Price searches Asheville for the brave, hardworking dreamers, and provides them with a miracle — capital for expansion in exchange for improving downtown with their presence.
Directed by Erin Derham
Executive Produced by Rachel Price, Meg MacLeod
Produced by Scott Campbell
Grand Jury Prize
Screenplay (unproduced)
HARRY’S FILE
Written by Jude Gerard Prest
The story of an alienated, bitter man whose life gets turned completely upside down when he is forced to relive seemingly random moments of his past after an angel accidentally drops his file, scattering and re-ordering the events of his life.
