Mammoth Lakes, California (June 3, 2022) – The 8th Annual Mammoth Lakes Film Festival (MLFF) announced this year’s juried and audience award winners at the Closing Night Award Ceremony in Mammoth Lakes on Sunday, May 29, 2022. The festival, held from May 25-29, screened over 90 feature and short films. Over $45,000 in awards and cash prizes were presented to the winners.
“This year’s festival will not only be remembered as a gathering of amazing filmmakers with truly remarkable stories to tell but brought us back together as a community,” said Shira Dubrovner, Festival Director and Founder. “We take great pride in taking showing films other festivals might not take a chance on. This year was no different. We consciously seek these culturally significant stories that are the voices of our future.”
Films winning the top awards from the jury included “The Civil Dead,” directed by Clay Tatum, written by Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas, for Best North American Narrative Feature; and “Tel Aviv,” directed and written by Marat Parkhomovsky, for Best International Narrative Feature. “Tel Aviv” also won the Audience Award for Best International Narrative Feature. The feature length documentary winners were “A Woman on the Outside,” directed by Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville and written by Kiara C. Jones for Best North American Documentary; and“Eternal Spring,” directed by Jason Loftus, which also won the Audience Award for Best International Documentary. “The Pez Outlaw” won the Audience Award for Best N. American Documentary Feature, and “Kickin Knowledge” won the Audience Award for Best North American Narrative Feature.
The full list of Juried and Audience Awards is below:
Jury Awards
Best North American Narrative Feature: “The Civil Dead,” directed by Clay Tatum, written by Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas.
- $1,000 cash award, $10,000 Panavision Camera Rental Grant, $13,500 LightIron Postproduction Package and a Slated script and financial analysis bundle.
- Special Mention: For the Best Performance for Kit Zauhar in “Actual People”, Directed and written by Kit Zauhar.
- Special Mention for Best Cinematography in “The Noise of Engines” Directed by Phillippe Grégoire.
Best International Narrative Feature: “Tel Aviv,” Directed and written by Marat Parkhomovsky.
Best North American Documentary Feature: “A Woman on the Outside,” directed by Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville.
Bravery Award for Documentary Feature: “Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege),” directed by Abdallah Al-Khatib.
- $1,000 cash award
- Special Jury Mention for Bravery Award: “The Quiet Epidemic” directed by Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdock
Best International Documentary Feature: “Eternal Spring” directed by Jason Loftus
Best Screenplay: “Saw the Forest” by Patrick L. McConnell
- $1,000 cash award and a Slated script and financial analysis bundle
Best N. American Narrative Short: “Birds,” directed by Katherine Propper
- $500 cash award
- Special Jury Mention: “From Water Comes Melon,” directed by Micah Vassau
Best International Narrative Short: “Be Somebody,” directed by Edelawit Hussien
- $500 cash award
- Special Jury Mention: “Colony Collapse Disorder,” directed by Amos Holzman
Best Documentary Short: “Ali and His Miracle Sheep,” directed by Maythem Ridha
- $500 cash award
- Special Mention to “Kak Iraj,” directed by Jamshid Farjvand
- Special Mention to “The Doll,” directed by Elahe Esmaili
Best Animation Short: “The Fourth Wall,” directed by Mahboobeh Kalaee
- $500 cash award
- Special Mention to “Zoon,” directed by Jonathan Schwenk
- Special Mention to “Conversations With A Whale” directed by Anna Samo
Best Music Video: “Point and Kill” by Little Simz Featuring Obongjayar, directed by Ebeneza Blanche
Audience Awards
Best North American Narrative Feature: “Kickin Knowledge” directed and written by Adinan Kamanzi.
- $1,000 cash award and $5,000 Panavision Camera Rental Grant
Best International Narrative Feature: “Tel Aviv,” directed and written by Marat Parkhomovsky.
Best North American Documentary Feature: “The Pez Outlaw,” directed by Bryan Storkel and Amy Bandlien Storkel.
Best International Documentary Feature: “Eternal Spring,” directed by Jason Loftus.
The 2022 Jury Members: Allison Amon (Producer), Kimberley Browning (Tribeca Film Festival & Hollywood Shorts), Sarah Crowe (Amazon), Sarah Diamond (Slamdance), Thouly Dosios (Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles), Riley Folsom (United Talent Agency), Caleb Hammond (MovieMaker Magazine), Malin Kan (AFI), David Massey (Independent filmmaker), Scenery Samundra (Music Supervisor), Sandra Seeling-Lipski (Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival), Ana Souza (Sundance), Scott Steindorff (Producer), and Jacques Thelemaque (Filmmakers Alliance).
On Saturday, May 29, producer Scott Steindorff (Stone Village Pictures), Indican Pictures Shawn Hill, Zak Kline (Legendary Entertainment), Caleb Hammond (MovieMaker Magazine), Katie McCullough (Festival Formula) andfilmmaker David Massey participated in a panel moderated by Jacques Thelemaque (Founder of the Los Angeles Filmmakers Alliance), where they discussed “Kickstarting Your Career and Trends in Film Distribution.”
About the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival
The Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, held in the scenic and majestic setting of Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierra region of California, brings together world-class cinema, emerging filmmakers, industry veterans, and audiences from around the world to celebrate films with thought-provoking vision. The Mammoth Lakes Film Festival is a non-profit 501 (c)3 under the Eastern Sierra Arts Alliance, which has contributed to the arts and culture of the area for the last 14 years through theatre and film festival programming. Visit www.MammothLakesFilmFestival.com for moreinformation or connect on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
2022 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival Sponsors include Panavision, Tambour Foundation, LightIron, Slated,Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, Mono County, Mammoth Lakes Recreation, Visit Mammoth and more.
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