The 2024 edition of the Indie Memphis Film Festival, which began Thursday, November 14th, and concluded with encore screenings on Tuesday, November 26th, announced its award winners for its 27th session. This year, the audience served as the jury, filling out online ballots to grade the more than 100 films on offer from A to F.
Boys Go To Jupiter by Pittsburgh-based animator Julian Glander won Best Narrative Feature. It is the first animated film to win the honor in the 27-year history of Indie Memphis.
Best Hometowner Feature went to Jasmine Blue for Big Time, the portrait of her grandfather Sylvester Ford Jr., a Memphis educator, coach, and Civil Rights activist.
Union, co-directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing, won Best Documentary Feature. The film follows the successful efforts to unionize the 8,000 workers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center at JFK Airport in New York City.
In the Sounds category, which includes music-based films, Dory Previn: On My Way to Where, directed by Julia Greenberg and Dianna Dilworth, took home the top honor.
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, won Best Departures Feature. The category is dedicated to experimental, horror, and sci-fi films.
The Hometowner Narrative Short Film award went to “Freedom’s Village” directed by Kristen Hill. The short film is based on the story of a tent city that sprang up in Fayette County, Tennessee, when Black farmers were pushed off their land in the wake of a voter registration drive during the 1960s.
The Hometowner Documentary Short winner is John Beder’s “How to Sue the Klan,” which details a long-running legal effort to cripple the white supremacist militia.
Best Hometowner Music Video went to “A Spike Lee Joint” by Blvck Hippie, directed by Lawrence Shaw. This is Shaw and Blvck Hippie’s second consecutive music video win.
The National Narrative Short award went to Marissa Losoya’s “Beyond Failure.” The National Documentary Short award went to Hao Zhou’s “Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way.”
The annual IndieGrant program, which awards $15,000 in cash and in-kind donations to two Memphis-area filmmakers, announced the winners, which were determined by a jury of filmmakers and producers and based on proposals submitted by Memphis filmmakers: Jacob Simmons’ “The End of the Song” and Ashley Ave’s “Voices of Faith: The Salem Harmonizer’s Story.” Both films are expected to to premiere at the Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2025.
