Congratulations to the 2019 Washington West Award Recipients!
The jurors for the 2019 Feature Narrative Competition were: alum Devin Landin (Producer, Saints Rest), Joe Amodei (Founder & Distributor, Virgil Films & Entertainment), Kimberly Skyrme (Casting Director, Producer, Writer & Director), alum Laura Somers (Director, Rich Kids), and alum Michael Gallagher (Director, Funny Story).
Jury Award Best Feature Narrative: Burden
Jury Award Best Feature Narrative Director: Bora Kim, House of Hummingbird
The jurors for the 2019 Feature Documentary Competition were: Dana Flor (Director & Producer), alum Josh Hansbrough (Director & Cinematographer, Peace of Heart), alum Matt Maude (Director, Producer, Writer & Cinematographer, General Magic), alum Priscilla Torres (Executive Producer, They Call Us Warriors), alum Samantha Smith (Director, 1-800-Give-Us-Your-Kidney), Sara Barger (Fellow, Docs In Progress), and Tiffany Fisher-Love (Producer, United Skates).
Jury Award Best Feature Documentary: 17 Blocks
Jury Award Best Feature Documentary Director: Davy Rothbart, 17 Blocks
The jurors for the 2019 Short Film Competition were: alum Gerardo Velasquez (Actor, Rich Kids), Gina Daddario (Media & Communications Professor and Chair, Shenandoah University), John Douglass (School of Communication Associate Professor, American University), alum Kyle Morrison (Director & 2018 Best Documentary Short Film award winner, Mott Haven), alum Verner Maldonado (Director & Producer, Swim).
Jury Award Best Short Documentary: R.A.W. Tuba
Jury Award Best Short Narrative: The Neighbors’ Window
Jury Award Best Short Film Director: Marshall Curry, The Neighbors’ Window
Audience Award Best Short Film: Apocalypse
Audience Award Best Feature Narrative: Standing Up, Falling Down
Audience Award Best Feature Documentary: Campesino
Outstanding Directorial Debut: Michal Pietrzyk, All on a Mardi Gras Day
Lifetime Achievement Award: Anthony Daniels
We passionately believe in and revere examples of people who not only tell incredible stories on screen, but do so in everyday life off screen. The Sun City Storyteller Of Hope Award honors an individual who embodies the ethos of our festival, someone who truly lives our core philosophy: Story Can Change The World. The annual Sun City Storyteller Of Hope Award is named after the Washington West Film Festival’s inaugural Closing Night Film in 2011, Sun City Picture House, made by Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director David Darg, and produced by Olivia Wilde and Bryn Mooser.
Sun City Storyteller of Hope Award: Carol Dysinger, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you’re a girl)
Carol Dysinger is the recipient of the David Payne Carter award for excellence in teaching at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has developed an innovative curriculum combining documentary and narrative as well as combining AR and VR with cinematic storytelling techniques. Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you’re a girl) has been described as, “A revelatory tale of how skateboarding can fuel the future of dignified resistance to gender oppression in war torn Afghanistan. Told through the innocent confessions of young girls and the steadfast dedication of their headstrong female instructors, this film shines an uncompromising and ultimately uplifting light onto righting injustice.” She has screened at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and continues to highlight stories that offer a counter-narrative to traditional stories of conflict.
Congratulations to our award winners and a big thank you to our jury!