SEATTLE – SIFF closed out its 48th Seattle International Film Festival today, announcing the winners of the 2022 Golden Space Needle Audience and Juried Competition Awards. The awards were presented at a ceremony and brunch held at Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Seattle on April 24.
The 11-day festival, which began April 14, screened 263 films, including 28 world premieres (15 features/13 short films), 24 North American premieres (17 features/seven short films), and nine U.S. premieres (four features/five short films). Some 60 percent of films were created by first- or second-time filmmakers; nearly half (43 percent) were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; and roughly two-thirds (59 percent) currently have no U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States. The festival also made more than 100 feature films and shorts packages available for at-home streaming on the SIFF Channel.
“As we celebrated our first in-person festival in three years, we were so thrilled to bring great films and new voices from across the globe,” said Beth Barrett, SIFF Artistic Director. “Creating those experiences that bring audiences around film, both in cinema and hybrid, allowed us all to connect, to learn, and to make our own world a little bigger. We are consistently impressed with filmmakers’ abilities to tell their stories, even under stressful conditions, and to find and meet their audiences.”
The festival holds two forms of competitions during its run. Juried competitions evaluate films selected by festival programmers and represent the best in their category from all over the world. Winners are chosen by a carefully selected jury of industry professionals and film lovers. The winner in each feature category is awarded $5,000 in cash, and $2,500 in each short film category.
SIFF holds five feature juried competition categories: The Official Competition, the New American Cinema Competition, the New Directors Competition, the Ibero-American Competition, and the Documentary Competition. The short film categories are: Live Action, Animation, and Documentary.
In addition to juried competitions, SIFF also hosts the Golden Space Needle Awards (GSNA). Films evaluated through the GSNAs are selected by all audience members through post-screening ballots. Categories for the GSNAs are Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Performance and Best Short Film. This year, over 20,000 ballots were submitted.
The 2022 Golden Space Needle award was made by artist Piper O’Neill, designer of the 2013–2019 Golden Space Needle Awards and Principal & Creative Director of Idlewild Union, where each award is forged in glass by a team of artisan glassblowers. Inspired by the metamorphic process of a crystal formation, the design celebrates the creative cycle in its most innate and organic form.
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GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD WINNERS
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST FILM
Know Your Place, directed by Zia Mohajerjasbi (USA)
First runner-up: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp (USA)
Second runner-up: I Love My Dad, directed by James Morosini (USA)
Third runner-up: I’ll Show You Mine, directed by Megan Griffiths (USA)
Fourth runner-up: The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, directed by Teemu Nikki (Finland/Italy)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Territory, directed by Alex Pritz (Brazil/Denmark/USA)
First runner-up: Sweetheart Deal, directed by Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller (USA)
Second runner-up: Kaepernick & America, directed by Tommy Walker and Ross Hockrow (USA)
Third runner-up: Skate Dreams, directed by Jessica Edwards (USA)
Fourth runner-up: Daughter of a Lost Bird, directed by Brooke Pepion Swaney (USA)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST DIRECTOR
Horacio Gomez Alcalà, Finlandia (Spain/Mexico)
First runner-up: Maryna Er Gorbach, Klondike (Ukraine/Turkey)
Second runner-up: James Morosini, I Love My Dad (USA)
Third runner-up: Dean Fleischer-Camp, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (USA)
Fourth runner-up: Zhang Yimou, One Second (China)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST PERFORMANCE
Dale Dickey, A Love Song (USA)
First runner-up: Patton Oswalt, I Love My Dad (USA)
Second runner-up: Javier Bardem, The Good Boss (Spain)
Third runner-up: Oxana Cherkashyna, Klondike (Ukraine/Turkey)
Fourth runner-up: Petri Poikolainen, The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic (Finland/Italy)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST SHORT FILM
Long Line of Ladies, directed by Reyka Zehtabchi, Shaandiin Tome (USA 2022)
First runner-up: Tank Fairy, directed by Erich Rettstadt (Taiwan 2021)
Second runner-up: Battery Daddy, directed by Seung-bae Jeon (South Korea 2021)
Third runner-up: The Ref, directed by Peter Edlund (USA 2021)
Fourth runner-up: Mimine, directed by Simon Laganière (Canada (Quebec) 2021)
LENA SHARPE AWARD FOR PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Presented by Women in Film Seattle
Sweetheart Deal, directed by Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller (USA)
This award is given to the female director’s film that receives the most votes in public balloting at the Festival. Lena Sharpe was co-founder and managing director of Seattle’s Festival of Films by Women Directors and a KCTS-TV associate who died in a plane crash while on assignment. As a tribute to her efforts in bringing the work of women filmmakers to prominence, SIFF created this special award and asked Women in Film Seattle to bestow it.
SIFF 2022 COMPETITION AWARDS
SIFF confers five juried competition awards: SIFF Official Competition, Ibero-American Competition, New Directors Competition, New American Cinema Competition, and Documentary Competition. The winners in each juried competition receive $5,000 in cash.
SIFF 2022 OFFICIAL COMPETITION WINNER
Juried by a team of international industry members, the Official Competition recognizes distinct and resonant voices in filmmaking from around the world. The SIFF Official Competition Jury members were Angel An (Senior Director of Acquisitions at Roadside Attractions), David Ansen (Lead Programmer at Palm Springs International Film Festival), and Matthew Campbell (Artistic Director of Denver Film Society and the Denver Film Festival).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Klondike | dir. Maryna Er Gorbach (Ukraine, Turkey)
JURY STATEMENT: For a work both tragically prophetic and universal in its impact, a ferocious and formalist vision of war that fuses humanism, black comedy and horror into a searing and original vision, we award the Grand Jury Prize to Maryna Er Gorbach’s Klondike.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Navalny | dir. Daniel Roher (USA, Russia, Germany)
JURY STATEMENT: For its heart-stopping portrait of political courage the jury would like to give a Special Mention to Navalny.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Fire of Love | dir. Sara Dosa (USA, Canada)
JURY STATEMENT: For its tender, inventive and playful portrait of love and lava the jury would like to give a Special Mention to Fire of Love.
2022 Entries:
Fire of Love (d: Sara Dosa, USA/Canada 2022)
Flux Gourmet (d: Peter Strickland, United Kingdom/USA/Hungary 2022, North American Premiere)
Invisible Demons (d: Rahul Jain, India/Finland/Germany 2021)
Klondike (d. Maryna Er Gorbach, Ukraine/Turkey 2022)
Navalny (d: Daniel Roher USA, Russia/Germany 2022)
So Damn Easy Going (d: Christoffer Sandler, Sweden 2022, North American Premiere)
Talking About the Weather (d: Annika Pinske, Germany 2022, North American Premiere)
The Territory (d: Alex Pritz Brazil, Denmark/USA 2022)
Wildhood (d: Bretten Hannam (Mi’kmaw), Canada 2021)
SIFF 2022 IBERO-AMERICAN COMPETITION
The Ibero-American Competition selects eight outstanding films from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal to highlight the increasing power, creativity, and influence of storytelling in the region. To be eligible, films must be without U.S. distribution at the time of their selection. The SIFF Ibero-American Competition Jury members were Carlos Aguilar (journalist, film critic), Alvaro Delgado Aparicio (film director, Retablo), and Jasmine Jaisinghani (Co-Founder of Global CINEMATHEQUE and Program Head at Ojalá Ignition Lab).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Sublime | dir. Mariano Biasin (Argentina)
JURY STATEMENT: For its nuanced depiction of adolescent self-discovery, delicately crafted performances, and use of music to broaden our perspective on the characters, the jury awards the grand jury prize for Ibero-American film to Sublime by Mariano Biasin.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FOR ORIGINALITY OF VISION
The Sacred Spirit |dir. Chema García Ibarra (Spain/France/Turkey/United Kingdom)
JURY STATEMENT: For its deadpan humor, philosophical insight, and intriguingly complex writing the jury would like to award a Special Mention for Originality of Vision to The Sacred Spirit.
2022 entries:
An Elephant on a Spider Web (d: Rolando Diáz, Spain 2022, World Premiere)
Finlandia (d: Horacio Alcalà, Spain/Mexico 2021)
Lullaby (d: Alauda Ruiz De Azúa, Spain 2022, North American Premiere)
Parsley (d: José María Cabral, Dominican Republic 2022)
Phantom Project (d: Roberto Doveris, Chile 2022, North American Premiere)
The Red Tree (d: Joan Gómez Endara, Colombia/Panama/France 2021, North American Premiere)
The Sacred Spirit (d: Chema García Ibarra, Spain/France/Turkey/UK 2021)
Sublime (d: Mariano Biasin, Argentina 2022)
SIFF 2022 NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION
Be at the cutting edge of world cinema and take a little risk in your viewing. This year, eight new international voices have been selected for SIFF’s New Directors Competition. To qualify, the films must be dramatic features, a director’s debut or second feature, and without U.S. distribution at the time of SIFF selection. The films are chosen for their original scripts, innovative cinematography, and unique insights into people, places, and story. The SIFF New Directors Jury members were Effie Brown (Producer & CEO of Gamechanger Films), Drea Clark (Producer & Curator at Bentonville Film Festival, Programmer at Sundance Film Festival), and Grainne Humphreys (Artistic Director of Dublin International Film Festival).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Lonely Voices | dir. Andrea Brusa, Marco Scotuzzi (Italy)
JURY STATEMENT: In crafting elaborate world building through deft filmmaking choices, showcasing technology as both savior and savager, and – ultimately – presenting a happy marriage between two true partners, Lonely Voices took external limitations and turned them into storytelling blessings.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Moneyboys | dir. C.B. Yi (Austria/France/Belgium/Taiwan)
JURY STATEMENT: A precisely told story that integrates cultural oppression and personal repression, Moneyboys stood out for its consistently empathetic perspective of an emotionally constricted protagonist.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Tug of War | dir. Amil Shivji (Tanzania/South Africa/Germany/Qatar)
JURY STATEMENT: Portraying a time and place that is rarely afforded a cinematic spotlight, Tug of War shone in its sumptuously filmed characters, united in their individual quests for liberation and crackling with chemistry.
2022 entries:
Lonely Voices (d: Andrea Brusa, Marco Scotuzzi, Italy 2022, World Premiere)
Maya Nilo (Laura) (d: Lovisa Sirén, Sweden/Finland/Belgium 2022, North American Premiere)
Moneyboys (d: C.B. Yi, Austria/France/Belgium/Taiwan 2021)
Softie (d: Samuel Theis, France 2021, US Premiere)
The Staffroom (d: Sonja Tarokić, Croatia 2021, US Premiere)
Tug of War (d: Amil Shivji, Tanzania/South Africa/Germany/Qatar 2021)
Zero Fucks Given (d: Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre, Belgium/France 2021)
SIFF 2022 NEW AMERICAN CINEMA COMPETITION
When we begin our programming selection process in the fall, the team looks in awe at the sheer volume of films by independent American filmmakers, a category that fields the largest number of submissions by far. We can only select a fraction to take to the finals, but the heavy competition leads to a truly remarkable collective output of U.S. independents. The SIFF New American Cinema Jury members were Thelma Adams (author, film critic), Andrew Carlin (Director, Theatrical Distribution & Sales at Oscilloscope Laboratories), Bill Guentzler (Senior Director of Acquisitions at Gravitas Ventures).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Know Your Place | dir. Zia Mohajerjasbi (USA)
JURY STATEMENT: This drama is a deep dive into a Seattle subculture that has rarely if ever been shown before with such intimacy. Character-driven and of the moment, it takes us on an unexpected journey of discovery, and reminds us of the daily hardships of living on the margins in America. Know Your Place merits the New American Cinema Jury Award.
2022 Entries:
Are We Lost (d: Jenny Gage, Tom Betterton, USA 2022, World Premiere)
Hannah Ha Ha (d: Jordan Tetewsky, Joshua Pikovsky, USA 2022)
Know Your Place (d: Zia Mohajerjasbi, USA 2022, World Premiere)
Linoleum (d: Colin West, USA 2022)
Warm Blood (d: Rick Charnoski, USA 2022, World Premiere)
SIFF 2022 DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
There are stories to be told all throughout our living world, providing documentarians endless source material for compelling projects. Music, dance, art, politics, sports, social injustices, and nature itself all offer new perspectives and challenge our preconceived notions. These films broaden our horizons and invigorate our understanding of the planet, including the people and creatures with whom we share it. The SIFF Documentary Jury members were Kimberley Browning (Festival Director & Producer of Hollywood Shorts Film Festival), Marie Therese Guirgis (Executive Producer, Summer of Soul), Ania Trzebiatowska (Programmer at Sundance Film Festival and Festival Director of Sands International Film Festival).
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Radiograph of a Family | dir. Firouzeh Khosrovani (Iran/Norway/Switzerland)
JURY STATEMENT: For its unique perspective, consistent vision, and ability to be both extremely intimate and universally moving, the jury decided to award the grand jury prize to the filmmaker whose unconventional way of examining her own incredibly complex family story shifted our notions of female empowerment and fulfillment.
The Grand Jury Prize goes to Firouzeh Khosrovani for her impressive Radiograph of a Family.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FOR CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dark Red Forest | dir. Jin Huaqing (China)
JURY STATEMENT: The jury was captivated by the way in which the camera elevated fundamental vérité filmmaking techniques and allowed us access to seldom seen sacred spaces. Special mention for cinematography goes to Jin Huaqing for his Dark Red Forest.
2022 Entries:
Children of the Mist (d: Hà Lệ Diễm, Vietnam 2021)
Dark Red Forest (d: Jin Huaqing, China 2021)
Kaepernick & America (d: Tommy Walker, Ross Hockrow, USA 2022, World Premiere)
The Last Shelter (d: Ousmane Samassekou, France/Mali/South Africa/Solomon Islands 2021)
Outta the Muck (d: Bhawin Suchak, Ira Mckinley, USA 2022)
Radiograph of a Family (d: Firouzeh Khosrovani, Iran/Norway/Switzerland 2020)
Riotsville, USA (d: Sierra Pettengill, USA 2022)
Sweetheart Deal (d: Elisa Levine, Gabriel Miller, USA 2022, World Premiere)
WAVEMAKER AWARD (GRAND JURY PRIZE) The winner of the Wavemaker Award will be awarded a $1000 scholarship to the 2022 Prodigy Camp.
“She” | dir. Eva Li
Jury Statement: ‘She’ directed by Chinese filmmaker Eva Li, is a deeply emotional and wordless story of love, friendship and heartache that every young girl needs to see. The opening scene is intriguing, beautiful and stylized in the frivolity and excess of Marie Antoinette, leading us to believe that the story itself will be just as fated. And the one drop of lipstick (or blood?) that marks the title sequence is a haunting suggestion of that. The film unfolds with remarkable depth in such a short runtime, allowing the viewer to fully experience the many different types of love and sisterhood that come with young adolescence. A jury favorite!
SIFF 2022 SHORT FILM JURY AWARDS
Every short film in the Seattle International Film Festival is eligible for both the Golden Space Needle Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize. Our Shorts Competition jurors will choose winners in the Narrative, Animation, and Documentary categories. Each Grand Jury Prize winner will receive $2,500; winners may also qualify to enter their respective films in the Short Film category of the Academy Awards® for the concurrent season without a theatrical run.
The SIFF Short Film Juries were:
Live Action: Inga Diev (Ouat Media), Michael Fukushima (producer), Celine Roustan (Films Grand Huit)
Documentary / Animation: Missy Laney (Adult Swim), Meghan Oretsky (Vimeo), Farihah Zaman (filmmaker/critic/curator)
LIVE ACTION SHORT
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Rachels Don’t Run | dir. Joanny Causse
Jury Statement: By cleverly reversing the conventional concept of AI attempting to reproduce human behavior, the film is a raw and deeply moving portrait of what makes us human: empathy, loneliness and grief. The short live action jury prize goes to Rachels Don’t Run, by Joanny Causse.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
El Carrito | dir. Zahida Pirani
Jury Statement: Great performances and heartfelt empathy in a story about the hardness needed to survive. Nelly’s hardness seems unbreakable, but she is transformed through human kindnesses, which is something we should all be allowed. A special jury mention goes to El Carrito, by Zahida Pirani.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Tank Fairy | dir. Erich Rettstadt
Jury Statement: A short film that takes us on an uplifting journey of self-acceptance bursting with music, colour, dance numbers and pride, with an extra dash of glitz and sparkle added on top. A special jury mention goes to Tank Fairy, by Erich Rettstadt.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Long Line of Ladies | dir. Rayka Zehtabchi, Shaandiin Tome
Jury Statement: This entrancing coming of age story shows that tradition can be called on to honor and support women, that we can acknowledge the hardships in our communities and still leave space for beauty, and that there is resilience in tenderness. The film felt both intimate, delving into the lives of subjects at a difficult turning point with humor and grace, and grand, with its stunning cinematography and profound cultural resonance.
We are thrilled to award the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Short to the brilliant women who directed Long Line Of Ladies, Shaandiin Tome and Rayka Zehtabchi
ANIMATED SHORT
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Love, Dad | dir. Diana Cam Van Nguyen
Jury Statement: The grand jury prize goes to a powerfully raw and tender short, one which skillfully and compassionately explores complex family dynamics by artfully combining an array of animation and live action techniques. On behalf of the jury, congratulations to dir. Diana Cam Van Nguyen and the filmmaking team of Love, Dad.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTING
Wet | dir. Marianne Bergeonneau, Lauriane Montppert, Mélina Mandon, Cloé Peyrebrune, Elvira Taussac
Jury Statement: We’re proud to extend a special jury mention to the directors of a curvaceously charming CG film whose craft perfectly compliments its sexy and funny story. We loved this cheeky comedy, and will be on the lookout for future work by each talented student who created it. Bravo and congratulations to the creators of Wet – Marianne Bergeonneau, Lauriane Montppert, Mélina Mandon, Cloé Peyrebrune and Elvira Taussac!
About SIFF: SIFF is known for our international festival that takes place in the late spring each year. For more than 47 years, SIFF has delighted moviegoers with films from all regions of the world and all genres of film. In addition, SIFF offers year-round arthouse screenings, curated mini-festivals, cinema events, and education opportunities – to keep up with them, visit Siff.net.
Contact: Jaclyn Graham
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National Press Contact
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