The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has announced its award recipients for 2011. Sixty-six documentaries screened in the NEW DOCS Program were eligible. Juries and Full Frame audiences selected nine titles as winners for 11 awards, including a special jury award and an honorable mention. How to Die in Oregon and Pit No. 8 (Auk nr 8) were each given two awards. The former was directed by Peter D. Richardson, who helms spots and branded content via Food Chain Films, Portland, Ore.
At Full Frame, Richardson’s documentary How To Die In Oregon earned The Center For Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award as well as The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights. Sponsored by the Julian Price Family Foundation, The latter is presented to a film that addresses a significant human rights issue in the U.S. while Duke University’s Center For Documentary Studies honor recognizes a documentary artist whose work is a potential catalyst for education and change.
How to Die In Oregon tells the stories of terminally ill Oregonians as they decide whether and when to end their lives under the state’s Death With Dignity Law. The Full Frame awards are the latest garnered by the film which earlier this year won the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury U.S. Documentary Prize.
Pit No. 8 , directed by Marianna Kaat, was awarded the Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award and the Nicholas School Environmental Award. The film profiles Yura and his sisters who escaped their alcoholic parents and mine for coal in abandoned pits near his Ukrainian hometown to pay the bills. Provided by the Charles E. Guggenheim family, this Emerging Artist Award honors a first-time documentary feature director. Meanwhile this is the inaugural year of the Environmental Award, which honors the film that best depicts the conflict between our drive to improve living standards through development and modernization, and the imperative to preserve both the natural environment that sustains us and the heritages that define us.
Awards rundown
Here’s a rundown of the rest of the Full Frame honorees:
o The Anne Dellinger Grand Jury Award was presented to Scenes of a Crime, directed by Grover Babcock and Blue Hadaegh. The film captures the mystery of a controversial videotaped confession of a New York man who still claims he is innocent of killing his child. This award is sponsored by Physcient, Inc. and Alpha Cine Labs, Seattle.
o The Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short was given to One Night in Kernersville, directed by Rodrigo Dorfman. In this well-paced recording session documentary, the film captures Jazz bassist John Brown and his band. The Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short is provided by Drs. Andrew and Barbra Rothschild.
o Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl, received the Full Frame Audience Award. The film profiles famed horse whisperer Buck Brannaman who “helps horses with people problems” by invoking the healing magic of the human-animal bond. Sponsored by Merge Records, the Audience Award is determined by counting audience ballots filled out during the festival.
o The Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award Jury presented a Special Jury Award to The Interrupters, directed by Steve James (whose spotmaking home is Nonfiction Unlimited). The film profiles three brave “interrupters” from Chicago’s CeaseFire organization who take on inner-city violence with a dangerous form of intervention.
o We Still Live Here–Âs Nutayuneân, directed by Anne Makepeace, received the Full Frame Inspiration Award. The film captures the quest of the Wampanoag Indians to reclaim the forgotten language of their people. Sponsored by the Hartley Film Foundation, this award is presented to the film that best exemplifies the value and relevance of world religions and spirituality.
o The Full Frame President’s Awards was presented to the Caretaker for the Lord, directed by Jane McAllister. The film profiles the experience of an affable Scottish church maintenance man and the church’s aging congregation who face irrelevance together. Sponsored by Duke University and aimed at recognizing up-and-coming filmmakers, this prize is awarded to the best student film.
o And The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights Jury also presented an Honorable Mention to The Last Mountain, directed by Bill Haney. The film captures the fight for Coal River Mountain as residents face off with Massey Energy over the controversial effects of mountaintop removal mining.
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival was held April 14-17 in downtown Durham with Duke University as the presenting sponsor. Ninety-nine films representing 23 countries were shown from morning to midnight, many with panel discussions following the screening.
