It always happens this way, doesn't it. You bust your tail at a film festival seeing as many movies as a human being could endure, then when the awards are handed out at the end of the festival, you haven't seen any of the movies. At least that's how I feel looking over the newly released list of Tribeca's jury award winners. I've seen one film on the list, sure, but that's not making me feel like an less of a film festival failure.
The Best Narrative Feature prize went to About Elly, an Iranian film that the jury praised for "the universality of the characters and themes, and the directors riveting grasp of this story." Winning the Documentary Feature prize was the one film I've actually seen, Marshall Curry's Racing Dreams, about kids racing go-karts in hopes of making it to NASCAR some day. The jury noted, "we reacted with unanimous, unquestioned affection for Racing Dreams, and found it a completely compelling, entertaining film of incredible quality.” Yeah, jury, clearly you teared up a little, just like I did.
Also worth noting are the winners of acting prizes-- Ciaran Hinds for The Eclipse (which I also saw, and props to him for a great performance) and Zoe Kazan for The Exploding Girl (which I haven't seen, but everyone loves Kazan in everything she does, so not a huge surprise). Check out the list below for the rest of the winners, and if you're in New York, you can catch screenings of all these movies on Sunday.
The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – About Elly (Darbareye Elly)
Best New Narrative Filmmaker – Rune Denstad Langlo for North (Nord)
Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Ciarán Hinds in The Eclipse
Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Zoe Kazan in The Exploding Girl
Best Documentary Feature – Racing Dreams
Special Jury Mention: Defamation (Hashmatsa)
Best New Documentary Filmmaker – Ian Olds for Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi
Best New York Narrative – Here and There (Tamo i ovde)
Best New York Documentary – Partly Private
