Ava and Charles W. Fries Best of Festival Award
and
Best Narrative Feature

"Chutney Popcorn"  

Married Sarita can't have children. Sister Reena can. Obsessed with helping Perfect Sister and winning her Mom’s approval, Reena decides to have a baby. Now she must convince her commitment-phobic girlfriend to go along. Indian traditions and '90s New York City values mix in this provocative comedy that shows you can find family somewhere between the two.

1 hour 32 minutes
Filmmakers: Susan Carnival, Nisha Ganatra
Narrative Feature

Festival Theme Award
(given to the film best exemplifying
the theme "Enriching the Human Spirit Through Film")

"Running on the Sun"

Badwater, California, in Death Valley, is the hottest and lowest locale in the Western Hemisphere. Every July it hosts the "Badwater 135," a two-day, two-night, 135-mile marathon run that culminates at 8,400 feet at the Portals of Mt. Whitney. This film explains the complex motivations of a diverse group of 13 competitors from the 1999 run.

1 hour 40 minutes
Filmmakers: Mel Stuart, Leland Hammerschmitt
Documentary Feature

Best Student Film

"Heroes"

It is Christmas and Old Jimmy knows he is about to die. Before he does, he shares a story with his grandchild about a game he played when he was young. Jimmy and his older brother had pretended to be heroes. This film, about faith and fraternal love, shows that childhood experiences can transform and ennoble us.

23 minutes
Filmmaker: Eduardo Moral
Narrative Short

Best Documentary Feature

"The Last Stand of Salvador Allende"

Archival footage and exclusive interviews recount the final hours of Chile’s last great democrat, and the turmoil and coup d’etat by Pinochet. A scathing tableau of military rule. Poignant and subversive, this film shows oppressed Chileans attempting to regain their freedom. CANADA

1 hour
Filmmaker: Patricio Henriquez
Documentary Feature

Best Documentary Short

"Little Secret"

Little Secret, by Ojai-based filmmakers and narrated by Sir Anthony Hopkins, is the story of 10 kids with HIV on a rafting trip down the Salmon River in Central Idaho. The only thing they have in common is the stigma of their diagnosis, yet for teenagers, that's enough to create an instantaneous and powerful bond. By the end of the trip, they're deeply in tune with one another, the river and their hope for a healthy future.

37 minutes
Filmmakers: Robert Hudson, Bobby Houston
Documentary Short

Best Animation

"Elevator World"

A wry computer-animated essay on the spatial politics of elevator riding, proffering a world in which aesthetics serve as sanctuary to both the DOWN-trodden and the UP-wardly mobile. A conceptually rich and visually whimsical observation on postmodern life.

4 minutes
Filmmaker: Mitchell Rose
Animation

Best Narrative Short

"Gohbi and God"

A color-saturated and fairytale-like portrait of a multicultural inner-city neighborhood in Los Angeles, as seen through the eyes of two 9-year-old boys, a Sikh and his new African American friend. A positive and humorous story about understanding and acceptance of the “shaken up and stirred” world of racial diversity.

25 minutes
Filmmaker: Evangelos Maderakis
Narrative Short