39th Portland International Film Festival Winners include WAR

Opening night of the PIFF

Portland, March 5th, 2016. The Northwest Film Center is announcing this year’s Audience Award winners. Throughout the Festival, the 38,000 attendees were given the opportunity to register their opinions on each of the 97 features and 62 shorts screened at the 39^th Portland International Film Festival.

Earning top audience accolades for Best Narrative Feature is A WAR (Denmark) directed by Tobias Lindholm. SONITA (Iran) directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami and LANDFILL HARMONIC (United States) directed by Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley tied for the Best Documentary Feature award. LIZA THE FOX-FAIRY (Hungary) director Károly Ujj Mészáros takes home the audience award for Best New Director Award. This year’s Best Short Film Award goes to director Dawn Jones Redstone for her film SISTA IN THE BROTHERHOOD (Portland). Redstone’s film is also the recipient of the Oregon Short Film Award.

Narrative Features

1. A WAR / Denmark / Tobias Lindholm *best narrative feature

2. THE FENCER / Finland / Klaus Härö

3. LIZA THE FOX-FAIRY / Hungary / Károly Ujj Mészáros

4. RAMS / Iceland / Grímur Hákonarson

5. THE JUDGMENT / Bulgaria / Stephan Komandorev

6. LET THEM COME / Algeria / Salem Brahimi

7. LAST CAB TO DARWIN / Australia / Jeremy Sims

8. THE THIN YELLOW LINE / Mexico / Celso García

9. DHEEPAN / France / Jacques Audiard

10. MARSHLAND / Spain / Alberto Rodríguez

Documentary Features

1. SONITA / Iran / Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

(tied with) LANDFILL HARMONIC / United States / Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley *best documentary feature

2. A GOOD AMERICAN / Austria, US / Friedrich Moser

2. OPEN YOUR EYES / Portland / Irene Taylor Brodsky

4. ROBERT BLY: A THOUSAND YEARS OF JOY / US / Haydn Reiss

5. 50 FEET FROM SYRIA / Portland / Skye Fitzgerald

6. FOR GRACE / US / Kevin Pang and Mark Helenowski

7. THE PEARL BUTTON / Chile / Patricio Guzmán

8. IRAQI ODYSSEY / Switzerland / Samir

9. THRU YOU PRINCESS / Israel / Ido Haar

Best New Directors

1. LIZA THE FOX-FAIRY / Hungary / Károly Ujj Mészáros *best new director

2. THE THIN YELLOW LINE / Mexico / Celso García

3. FOR GRACE / US / Kevin Pang and Mark Helenowski

Shorts

1. SISTA IN THE BROTHERHOOD / Portland / Dawn Jones Redstone *best short film

2. HOW I DIDN’T BECOME A PIANO PLAYER / UK / Tommaso Pitta

3. ROAD TRIP / Germany / Xaver Xylophon

Oregon Shorts

1. SISTA IN THE BROTHERHOOD / Portland / Dawn Jones Redstone *best Oregon short film

2. ONE WEEK / Portland / Rollyn Stafford

3. PEACE IN THE VALLEY / Portland / Donal Mosher and Michael Palmieri.

Drawing an audience of 38,000, the Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) is the biggest film event in Oregon, premiering more than 140 international shorts and feature films to Portland audiences each February. Audiences experience a variety of parties, visiting artists, and plenty of festival adventure taking in this feast of cinematic fare.

Film critic Mark Mohan, Northwest Film Center’s Nick Bruno, author/film critic Shawn Levy and author Chelsea Cain.

Michou Jardini and Byron Beck (front) with Bill Foster, Northwest Film Center Director.

Filmmakers Richard Wilhelm and Sue Arbuthnot with Tim Williams, Executive Director of Oregon Film.

Here’s a link to the schedule and tickets:

http://festivals.nwfilm.org/piff39/schedule/

The festival kicked off with Klaus Härö’s Finnish thriller, The Fencer. Here’s a trailer:

The film, SUNSET SONG screens on Monday, February 15 at 6pm at the Moreland Theater.

GLOBAL CLASSROOM		Festival Highlights: The Festival’s Global Classroom program serves as a point of introduction for the next generation of cinema lovers by enriching the high school classroom experience and broadening young people’s understanding of our world through film. With the support of the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, Hillman Family Foundation, Lamb Baldwin Foundation, Anne A. Berni Foundation, and Chipotle, the Festival will screen five of this year’s Festival selections for students and teachers at special weekday screenings at the Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. Contact Mia Ferm at 503-221-1156 x25 or mia@nwfilm.org for more information.

MADE IN OREGON		Join a hand-selected group of Oregon filmmakers for OUR MADE IN OREGON shorts program in the Whitsell Auditorium, followed by a Q&A facilitated by Ben Popp, NWFC’s Filmmaker Services Manager and a hosted reception just down the block at the Film Center offices (934 SW Salmon Street) Sponsored by Sierra Nevada, Elk Cove Winery and Montinore Estate.

PIFF AFTER DARK		A late-night series—for the nocturnally inclined whose cinematic tastes are adventurous—offers special treats for devotees of genre films that push boundaries. All of the screenings take place at CINEMA 21.

The 39^th Portland International Film Festival is sponsored by the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, Delta Airlines, LAIKA, Willamette Week, Regal Entertainment Group, Travel Portland, Umpqua Bank, The Autzen Foundation, Amtrak Cascades, The Lamb-Baldwin Foundation, Hotel deLuxe, Hotel Eastund, Voodoo Doughnut, TV5Monde, and many others.

The Northwest Film Center is a regional media arts organization offering a variety of exhibition, education programs, and artist services throughout the region. The Center presents a program of foreign, classic, experimental, and independent works year-round at the Whitsell Auditorium, located in the Portland Art Museum. For more information, visit www.nwfilm.org.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.