C. Scott McCoy and Laura Jean Hocking’s full-length music documentary Antenna and Alan Spearman’s South Memphis-set short doc As I Am were double-winners at the 15th Indie Memphis Film Festival, which presented its awards at a closing ceremony Sunday night.
Antenna won Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature and a Special Jury Award for Local Significance from the Hometowner jury. As I Am took in two Hometowner awards, Best Documentary Short and the Audience Award.
The ceremony was hosted by producer Savannah Bearden and featured video clips from the local Corduroy Wednesday filmmaking group, which spoofed the upcoming presidential election with a fictional election for Indie Memphis executive director. Filmmakers G.B. Shannon, Edward Valibus Phillips, and Ben Siler portrayed challengers to “incumbent” Erik Jambor, who went above and beyond this year by overseeing the biggest and best Indie Memphis yet despite having his first child — a daughter, Simone — just two days before the festival began. (Simone made a cameo at the ceremony, in the arms of mother happy mother Robin Salant.) Helping in the expansion is primary sponsor Duncan-Williams, Inc..
“I’ve told Erik, we’re going to continue to make this bigger and better every year,” Williams himself announced at the ceremony’s outset.
Ryan Parker and G.B. Shannon picked up the first award of the night for Best Hometowner Short Film for their work Pretty Monsters, making it the consecutive wins in this category for the duo following their 2011 prize winner Fresh Skweezed.
The most memorable acceptance speech came from Kentucker Audley and Caroline White, the “stars” and co-producers of Audley’s intensely personal Open Five 2, which won the award for Best Hometowner Feature.
“I think I’m the only person on the stage that likes the movie,” Audley cracked after White was struggling for words to explain the film.
