22-year-old, first-time director Phoebe Driscoll won the Indie Memphis Hometowner Feature award for her Memphis dance documentary Pharaohs Of Memphis at a gala awards ceremony on Saturday night of the 4-day festival that brought top film talent and big crowds to Overton Square.
PHARAOHS OF MEMPHIS director Phoebe Driscoll.
Nathan Silver’s Uncertain Terms was the unanimous favorite of the jury, taking home both the Best Narrative Feature and Duncan Williams Best Screenplay awards. The Documentary Feature award winner was Debra Granik’s character study Stray Dog. Canadian director Fraser Mundon’s short film “The Chaperone 3D” won both the Best Documentary Short and Best Animated Film prizes. Best Experimental Film went to “Unity” by Tobias Stretch.
The Hometowner Shorts Awards went to Will Bryson’s “Snack TIme” and Nan Hackman and Robert Allen Parker’s documentary “Jim Dickinson: The Man Behind The Console”. The jury awarded Best Narrative Short Film to Harris Doran’s “The Story Of Milo And Annie”.
THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY
The Soul Of Southern Film Award for the best film from the South went to Dan Ressier’s Bigfoot film Stomping Ground. The Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmaker Award went to Josephine Decker for her debut feature Thou Wast Mild And Lovely. The Ron Tibbits Excellence In FIlmmaking Award went to Alexis and Bodine Boling’s sci fi drama Movement + Location.
Four Memphis filmmakers were given grants as part of the new Indiegrants program. Sarah Fleming, G.B Shannon, Joseph Carr, and Dindle Donelson will use their grants to produce new works which will screen at the 2015 festival.