The 19th Newport Beach Film Festival has announced its award winners following another successful festival on the Californian coast. There was great news for Irish films and filmmakers with a number of awards heading east.
Frank Berry’s Michael Inside added two awards to its already impressive collection winning the Jury Awards for Best Director for Berry and Best Cinematographer for Tom Comerford.
Pink Kong Studios’ Departure picked up a Festival Honor for Best Animated Short, while Forty Foot Pictures’ Earthy Encounters won Best Foreign Short Family Film. Earthy Encounters was made in the UK by Irish producer Collie McCarthy and features Irish actor Fionn O’Shea.
The Drummer and the KeeperIn the Audience Awards, Nick Kelly’s debut feature The Drummer and the Keeper picked up the prize for Best Foreign Film.
More than 50,000 avid fans attended the weeklong festival, which screened more than 350 films from 58 countries.
Jury Awards
Best Film: All Square
Best Actor: Michael Kelly, All Square
Best Actress: Rusty Schwimmer, Wild Honey
Best Director: Frank Berry, Michael Inside
Best Cinematography: Tom Comerford, Michael Inside
Best Documentary: Forever ‘B’
Best Screenwriter: Timothy Brady, All Square
Best Narrative Short Film: DeKalb Elementary
Best Documentary Short Film: The Bare Knuckle Carer
Best Animated Short Film: My Father’s Room
Best Music Video: Cold Little Heart
Festival Honors
Directing: Shana Feste, Boundaries
Acting: Maika Monroe, Shotgun, and Finn Wittrock, Locating Silver Lake
Breakout Performance: Shane Graham, Ride
Screenwriting: Will Elliott, Kirk Johnson, Nicholas Rutherford, Robert Schwartzman, The Unicorn
Foreign Film: The Best of All Worlds
Cinematography: Hunting Lands
Editing: Juveniles
Narrative Film: Meerkat Moonship and The Mad Whale
Documentary Film: Social Animals and Kiss the Joy: The Story of Joan Lind Van Blom
Short Film: Homeless
Foreign Short Film: Voice
Animated Short Film: Departure
Breakout Performance: Andre Hennicke, The Peculiar Abilities of Mr. Mahler
Short Documentary: The Girl and the Picture, Fisk ‘Untitled Portrait’ and Land of the Wind (Tierra del Viento)
Short Family Film: Bullies
Foreign Short Family Film: Earthy Encounters
Audience Awards
Feature Film: Ride
Foreign Film: The Drummer and the Keeper
Documentary: Pick of the Litter
Action Sports: Time Well Spent
Art, Architecture and Design: Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future
Culinary: Cuban Food Stories
Environmental: The Human Element
Family: A Boy Called Sailboat
Music: Up to Snuff
Short Documentary: Aloha Aina Warrior
Short Narrative: The Day of Matthew Montgomery