March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 48 F

I missed all but one of the Annapolis Film Festival award winners; so here are mine!

Photo: Jenn Triplett, treebranchDESIGN

Without a doubt, the Annapolis Film Festival is an incredible event here in town. Four solid days of thought provoking film, discussions and networking. This year more than 80 films were shown beginning on Thursday evening and continuing through Sunday night. A bevy of parties, panels, and discussions were held over donuts, coffee, beers, and bagels. The films selected this year truly brought forth the tagline for the sixth annual festival — Voices Strong, Minds Open.

Any festival-goer worth their salt will plan out their days. Comfortable shoes are a must. There’s a lot of walking and I certainly gave my Fitbit a workout. And come Monday–my feet are beat, my mind is reeling, and as I look over the awards made last night at the Best of the Fest, I realize that throughout the weekend I somehow managed to miss every single all but one award winner!

Many of these films will b releasing soon– Beirut in theaters in a few weeks, Come Sunday on Netflix in a few weeks, New Wave: Dare to be Different on Showtime, and A Crooked Somebody in theaters in September. I am sure there are others–but these are the ones I know.  So, if you missed the fest (don’t do that again) break out the Google machine and see where you can find these films and check them out.  And…save the last weekend in March 2019 for the 7th Annual Annapolis Film Festival …. guessing on the date, but it will be around there!

I wish I could tell you a bit about the movies, but other than the awards and the titles…that’s all I got!

  • Best Narrative Feature (Juried) – Mary Goes Around
  • Best Narrative Feature (Audience) – The Miracle Season
  • Best Documentary Feature (Juried) – Love Means Zero
  • Best Documentary Feature (Audience) – True Conviction
  • Best Narrative Short (Juried) – The Suitcase
  • Best Narrative Short (Audience) – Game (wait, I did see that one)
  • Best Documentary Short (Juried) – Little Potato
  • Best Documentary Short (Audience) – The Forger

So, while all these award-winning movies were playing, I was watching my own choices and don’t feel a bit of remorse about it!  So here are my winners.

  • Best Narrative Feature – Apparently all I saw was documentaries. Hmm.
  • Best Documentary Feature (4 Way Tie) – Come Sunday, Sammy Davis Jr.:I Gotta Be Me, Stumped, and New Wave: Dare to be Different
  • Best Narrative Short (2 Way Tie) – A New Home, Gridlock
  • Best Documentary Short  (2 Way Tie) – The Incredible Oyster Reef, Dear Country
  • Most Bizarre Films of the Weekend (3 way Tie) – Laboratory Conditions, Cautionary Tales, Commercial for the Queen of Meatloaf (all of which were shorts)
  • Special Mention – Butterfly Kisses because Erik Kristopher Myers (Director) was really cool and he made a great horror movie that plausible and did not involve any zombies.

We did a lot of coverage for the Annapolis Film Festival this year from pre-fest interviews, to red carpet interviews and even an audio trailer for Butterfly Kisses….and if you care to listen to them…here you go!

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