Judge's Awards

JUDGE’S STATEMENT
Watching all these films made by Northwest filmmakers was exhilarating. There are so many ways to touch someone. These films made you count the ways. I picked personal favorites. This was merely a matter of taste. There was also much to praise in the films not picked; lives, wonderful performances, editing, personal conceits, sounds, and images. They were a pleasure to watch. I trust you will find so too. Here are my favorites: SAVAGES—A beautiful and surprising Ghost Dance; TRUE BELIEVERS—Makes you realize once and for all why poor Sasquatch must never be found; POINT NO POINT—A movie for waders lost in darkness at land’s end; LANDSCAPES—A hymn to the mundane things between people, the in-between times, the lovely lulls; INTO DARKNESS—A compelling adventure that takes away the need to ever pursue such a pastime oneself; MUMBLES—An abstract, heartfelt illustration of great music; CROSSINGS—Celebrates something I do all the time, going and coming—and like doing, more coming than going; MY VOYAGE TO EGYPT—, A love letter in search of a ... ?; ROBIER TALKS ABOUT LIFE—in a memorable fashion while looking for someone like Beckett or Caver or Pinget to transcribe it—finding someone with a camera instead; TWO BEDS—Demonstrates both how to survive your family and sit on your own face; DEAR PETER—The Best of the Frittering With A Vengeance Films. I hope you enjoy them all as much as I did.

GILL DENNIS
Gill Dennis is the acclaimed screenwriter of such film and television works as RETURN TO OZ (1985, with Walter Murch), HOME FIRES (1987), ON MY OWN (1992, with Antonio Tibaldi), RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE (1996), and most recently, the Academy Award-winning WALK THE LINE, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. A graduate of the AFI Conservatory’s first class in 1971—alongside fellow classmates Terrence Malick, David Lynch, and Caleb Deschanel—Dennis returned to AFI in 1997 as a Master Filmmaker-in-Residence, providing creative guidance for second-year thesis projects. He also co-founded the screenwriting program at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Dennis currently has several projects in development, including FOREVER, a dramatic thriller co-written with Tatia Pilieva, and TILDEN, based on the life of tennis legend Big Bill Tilden.

JUDGE’S AWARDS CROSSINGS / Brian Libby DEAR PETER / Orland Nutt FROG / Austin Andrews INTO DARKNESS / John Waller LANDSCAPES / Laurel Degutis MUMBLES / Rick Raxlen MY VOYAGE TO EGYPT / Ian Berry POINT NO POINT / Jennifer Campbell ROBIER TALKS ABOUT LIFE / Jim Lowry SAVAGE / Lisa Jackson THE TRUE BELIEVERS / Nathaniel Bennett TWO BEDS / Kanako Wynkoop