‘Supermen of Malegaon,’ a film by MediaCorp Pte Limited, Caldecott Productions International, Singapore, has been selected Best of Festival-Documentary by the <a href="www.filmfestawards.com.>U.S. International Film & Video Festival.
The film tells the story of an Indian town and the residents’ efforts to improve their dreary lives as their tiny film industry takes on a production of Superman. The film was Faiza Ahmad Khan’s first effort at directing a documentary.
“This film reminds me of why I am in this business,” wrote one member of the judging team from the International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers. “‘Supermen of Malegaon‘ so utterly catches the reason to exist for all filmmakers.” The IQ panel, coordinated by Vern Oakley, CEO of Tribe Pictures, Chatham, N.J., reviewed 16 nominees from which to choose the Best awards in four production types.
Best of Festival-Corporate, which had seven nominees, was won by ‘Salamanca, Ciudad del Español’ created by VideoOn, Madrid, Spain. The film promotes Salamanca as the best place to learn Spanish.
Two works tied for Best of Festival-Education. They are ‘Selma,’ created by Forster Film LLC, Winterthur, Switzerland, and ‘Stop That Pickle!’ and ‘Chicks and Salsa; Episode 803 Between the Lions’, a PBS show from WGBH, Boston, Mass., Sirius Thinking Ltd., New York, N.Y., and Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Jackson, Miss. Judges said they awarded the tie because the films “were both outstanding and at completely opposite ends of the educational spectrum.”
‘Selma!’ was mandated by Geneva-based World Association for the School as an Instrument of Peace (EIP) to create interest in human rights among teen-agers in developed countries. It features a 16-year-old experiencing the usual trials of growing up when she begins to relate her frustrations to the Declaration of Human Rights after she is asked to read that document at school.
‘Stop That Pickle!’ uses live action and animation to help youngsters learn to read with an emphasis on children in high-poverty communities. The Between the Lions series is funded by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready To Learn grant, and by the Barksdale Reading Institute.
The winner of Best of Festival-Entertainment was ‘Nigella Express’, produced by Pacific Television, London, United Kingdom, for Food Network USA. The film supported the launch of Nigella Lawson’s new cookbook on fast and simple recipes.
Clips from the winners and nominees and information on other winners in the 2009 film festival can be viewed at www.filmfestawards.com. The festival received more than 1,000+ entries in all production types from 22 countries. <a href="www.filmfestawards.com.>U.S. International Film & Video Festival was founded in 1967.
