The Festival, based in the Orlando, Florida area, wrapped on Sunday night, April 5, after providing 10 days of screenings and special events, a total of 162 films (including independent movies from all over the world), retrospective films and special sidebar features.
The American Independent Competition
The American Independent Competition winners for the Festival include narrative feature films and documentary features, plus a special prize for best international feature. The Competition also awarded prizes for best short films in several categories. Each competing film vied for up for three different awards: a Grand Jury Award for best film in that category; a Special Jury Award given at the jury’s discretion for exceptional achievement; and an Audience Award determined by audience votes.
American Independent Competition Winners – Narrative Features
Poundcake
- Florida Film Festival winner of the Special Jury Award for Original Screenplay (written by Troy Hall and Kevin Logie) and winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.
- A dysfunctional family completely falls apart on the night before Thanksgiving in 1980s Buffalo, New York.
- Director: Raphael Monserrate
- Run Time: 101 minutes
- Southeast Premiere
- Additional Information: The cast includes Jay O’Sanders, Kathleen Quinlan, Troy Hall, Deshja Driggs-Hall.
Prince of Broadway
- Florida Film Festival winner of the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature.
- Cultures collide in lower Manhattan when an illegal immigrant from Ghana finds out he’s a father.
- Director: Sean Baker
- Run Time: 100 minutes
- Regional Premiere
- Additional Information: Winner of the Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Los Angeles and Woodstock Film Festivals, Prince of Broadway’s cast includes Prince Adu, Karren Karagulian, Aiden Noesi, Keyali Mayaga.
American Independent Competition Winners – Documentary Features
The Garden
- Florida Film Festival winner of the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature and winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.
- Politicians and gardeners argue about the fate of a 13-acre garden – the nation’s largest urban farm – in South Central Los Angeles.
- Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
- Run Time: 100 minutes
- Florida Premiere
- Additional Information: This film was a 2009 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature.
Prodigal Sons
- Florida Film Festival winner of the Special Jury Award for Fearless Filmmaking.
- Kim returns home to Helena, Montana, for her 20th high school reunion bracing herself for the inevitable conflicts surrounding her sex change, her father’s death, and her disabled brother.
- Director: Kimberly Reed
- Run Time: 86 minutes
- Southeast Premiere
- Additional Information: The movie’s tagline: “A brotherly rivalry between a man and a woman…and Orson Welles.”
Neil Young: Don’t Be Denied
- Florida Film Festival winner of the Audience Award for Best International Feature.
- This tour of Neil Young’s extensive musical career includes interviews and archival footage.
- Director: Ben Whalley (UK)
- Run Time: 60 minutes
- North American Premiere
- Additional Information: This film was presented in a special free screening during the Festival.
For more information about the 2009 Florida Film Festival, visit the official website.
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