Cinequest Presents the 2009 Award Winners

The 2009 Cinequest Juries were put to the task of selecting winners from over 150 films from 34 countries. What they discovered were myriad worlds that challenged, excited and surprised. Their job to find the top films was certainly not an easy one, and reaching a unanimous vote was nearly impossible because the films truly affected them in many ways and heated debates were sparked because of the passion each felt for the stories that were revealed.

Maverick Competition

MAVERICK SPIRIT AWARD
Firaaq
Director: Nandita Das

BEST FIRST FEATURE
The Friend (Der Freund)
Director: Micha Lewinsky

SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR NARRATIVE FEATURE
The Tour (Turneja)
Director: Goran Markovic

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Heart of Stone
Director: Beth Toni Kruvant

SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
Director: Mark Hopkins

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
Glory at Sea
Director: Benh Zeitlin

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Slaves
Director: Hanna Heilborn, David Aronowitsch

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Life for a Child
Director: Edward Lachman

BEST STUDENT SHORT
Thanksgiving
Directors: Anja Marquardt

KAISER PERMANENTE THRIVE AWARD
Heart of Stone
Directors: Beth Toni Kruvant

Director's Awards

NEW VISIONS AWARD
Why Am I Doing This?
Directors: Tom Huang

GLOBAL VISION AWARD
Historias Extraordinarias
Director: Mariano Llinas

Audience Awards

AUDIENCE AWARD: BEST FEATURE (tie)
All About Dad
Director: Mark Tran

For My Father
Director: Dror Zahavi

AUDIENCE AWARD: BEST DOCUMENTARY
Witch Hunt
Director: Dana Nachman, Don Hardy
Executive Producer: Sean Penn

AUDIENCE AWARD: SHORT FILM
X to Y
Director: Matt Sobel

Screenplay Competition Contest

FIRST PLACE
Ora
Writer: Frederica Bailey

SECOND PLACE
Feed the Monster
Writer: Rob Rex

THIRD PLACE
The Juno Incident
Writer: Cody Yarbrough

Maverick Spirit Awards

The following individuals received a Maverick Spirit Award during the 2009 festival: Kevin Pollak, Louis Gossett Jr. and Diablo Cody.

For the list of Cinequest Film Festival 18 Award Winners, please click here.

For the list of Cinequest Film Festival 17 Award Winners, please click here.

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