DALLAS --

The 2012 Dallas International Film Festival announced and honored award winners at its annual gala, The Dallas Film Society Honors, this past Friday (4/20).

Kristina Nikolova’s Bulgarian film Faith, Love & Whiskey won the Grand Jury honor in the Narrative category, and Bill and Turner Ross’ Tchoupitoulas earned Grand Jury distinction in the Documentary competition, each receiving a $10,000 prize. The Narrative competition jury also gave a Special Mention for Breakout Performance to Michael Rainey Jr. for Luv and a Special Mention for Acting for Kim Kold in Teddy Bear.  
    Ya’ke Smith’s much-talked-about directorial debut Wolf was awarded the $30,000 camera package courtesy of Panavision. The jury also gave a Special Mention to David Zellner’s Kid-Thing.

  Two years to the day since Deepwater Horizon exploded and oil poured into the Gulf, Bryan D. Hopkins accepted the Environmental Visions Grand Jury Prize for his documentary Dirty Energy, a personal look into the trials of the citizens directly affected by this disaster.  With only $200 in his bank account and on food stamps, Hopkins traveled to Louisiana to highlight these ongoing personal struggles that have since been forgotten in the mainstream news cycle.

  For the second year running, Lauren Embrey presented the $10,000 Silver Heart Award courtesy of the Embrey Family Foundation. Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War won the award as it most represented a filmmaker’s dedication to fighting injustices and creating social change for the improvement of humanity.

  Dana O’Keefe’s Aaron Burr, Part 2 won the Grand Jury Prize in the Shorts Competition.  A Special Mention went to Brent Hoff’s The Love Competition and a Special Mention for Unique Storytelling in the Student Shorts went to Afarin Eghbal’s Grandmothers.  The Grand Jury Prize winner of the Student Shorts was Justin Tipping’s Nani, which also walked away with the overall Audience Award for Best Short.  Reel FX presented the award for Best Animated Short to Grant Orchard’s A Morning Stroll, produced by Studio AKA, London, which also handless Orchard for commercials.

In the year that the International Spotlight focused on South Korea, it seemed especially fitting that the Audience Award for Best Narrative went to Kang Je-kyu’s epic My Way. Closer to home, Bess Kargman’s family-friendly First Position won the Audience Award for Best Documentary.

Cash grants for the TXU Energy “Light Up the Red Carpet” Student Film Contest were handed out to students from both high schools and colleges.  Abelardo Gonzalez’s film No Blackout won the $7,500 award for Vidal M. Trevino Magnet School, Christian Vasquez’s A Spark took the $5,000 prize for Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and Carolina Trevino’s The Energy Police won the $2,500 award for The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), Houston.  For colleges, the prize money was split between the winners and their schools. Dillon White and North Lake College will share the $7,500 award for Zap!, Edgar Cortes of The Art Institute of Dallas will share the $5,000 award for Domi Cile, and Wojciech Stypko of the University of North Texas will share the $2,500 award for Man Power.

The film awards were interspersed through the evening with touching tributes to men and women in the film industry who have each made a significant contribution to modern cinema. The Texas Avery Animation Award presented by Reel FX was given to the animator Glen Keane who is known for creating the hero and/or heroine in much-loved animated classics, including Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. Presenting sponsor Arthur E. Benjamin highlighted the tireless work that film industry veteran Eric Pleskow has undertaken in his career as CEO of both United Artists and Orion Pictures.

Three-time Oscar nominee Laura Linney (You Can Count On Me, The Savages, Kinsey) accepted her Dallas Star Award with grace and humility and commented on the positive effect film festivals can have on people’s lives. On receiving her Dallas Shining Star Award, Academy Award Nominee Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) expressed how special it was to be in a room with students who are practicing their art and how in awe she is of their bravery to do what they love.  Linney and Sidibe co-star in the Showtime series The Big C.

And Bernie Pollack, a legend in costume design, was presented a Dallas Star Award complete with two very personal tributes from Robert Redford and Harrison Ford, recorded especially for Pollack’s recognition in Dallas. In receiving the award, Pollack quipped “I look at this speech as a costume designer, I want to keep it long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep it interesting!”

“This year’s Dallas Film Society Honors paid tribute to both the indie filmmaker and the film industry veteran,” said James Faust, artistic director of the Dallas Film Society. “From Ya’ke Smith with his directorial debut to Eric Pleskow who has scores of films under his belt, from acknowledging Gabourey Sidibe’s rising star to Laura Linney’s expansive career, we want to applaud the new visionaries alongside those who have the breadth of experience that most can only dream about.  This Honors event is our way of giving back to those who have impacted and continue to impact the face of cinema.”

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