AFI DALLAS Daily News: 04/02/07

Complete Archive: Daily News Print Editions

Contents of the AFI DALLAS Daily News print editions, circulated to venues and theatres throughout the city:

Complete Archive: Daily Email Newsletters

Daily email newsletters for the 2007 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury

The AFI DALLAS International Film Festival presented its 2007 film awards at a Closing Night ceremony March 31, 2007. Several awards were determined by jury.

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION JURY: The Narrative Feature Competition set out to discover the best of today's filmmaking, presenting 11 groundbreaking feature films, which will compete for a $25,000 Target Filmmaker Award. Jury members included:

Elvis Mitchell (journalist and film critic)
C. Thomas Howell (actor)
Cynthia Hargrave (producer)

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION JURY: The Documentary Competition set out to discover the best and brightest of today's creative voices, presenting 10 groundbreaking documentaries, which will compete for a $25,000 Target Filmmaker Award. Jury members included:

L.M. Kit Carson (writer, director and producer)
Christian Gaines (AFI Festivals Director).

TEXAS COMPETITION JURY: The Texas Competition sought to encourage and promote Texas filmmaking by showing both short and feature films produced and shot in Texas. Jury members included:

Tim McCanlies (director and writer)
Robert Loggia (actor)
Tom Huckabee (writer and producer)

ANIMATION COMPETITION JURY: The Animation Competition featured films that explore the many potential avenues and media utilized in film animation today. Jury members included:

Reel FX Studios
Paul Maxwell (artist)

STUDENT COMPETITION JURY: The Student Competition showcased the best from up-and-coming filmmakers across the world, including both short and feature length films created by high school and college students. Jury members included:

Rick Worland (Associate Professor and Chair, Division of Cinema-Television, SMU)
Carolyn Macartney (Assistant Professor, SMU)
Kevin Heffernan (Associate Professor, SMU)
Greg Mansur (Instructor of Radio-TV-Film, TCU)
David Whillock (Professor of Film, TCU)

SHORTS COMPETITION JURY: The Shorts Competition presented the most innovative films from around the world that push the edge of traditional storytelling in 30 minutes or less. Jury members included:

Jeremy Coon (producer)
Lane Kneedler (AFI FEST Programmer).

indieWIRE: Awards at AFI DALLAS

From the April 1, 2007, indieWIRE:

Stephen Agro's "Shut Up And Shoot Me" won the $25,000 Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature at the inaugural AFI DALLAS International Film Festival and Socheata Poeuv's "New Year Baby" won the $25,000 Target Filmmaker Award for Best Documentary (with Grace Phan's "Where The Sun Rises" receiving a special mention) as the film festival came to a close in Texas this weekend.

Rob Stewart's documentary "Sharkwater" won the HDNet Award for the best feature shot in HD, including a $10,000 cash prize. Eric Chaikin's "A Lawyer Walks Into A Bar" won the Texas Competition and Alyson Shelton's "Eye of Understanding" won a special jury award, Alex Weil's "One Rat Short" won the animation competition and Calvin Reeder's "Little Farm" won in the shorts category, with a special mention for Lilah Vandenburgh's "Bitch."

The festival concluded on Saturday with the closing night gala screening of Sarah Polley's "Away From Her" and Polley received the Dallas Star Award. [Eugene Hernandez]