Portland, OR. The Northwest Film Center announced this year’s Audience Award winners. Throughout the Festival, attendees were given the opportunity to register their opinions on each of the 88 features and 48 shorts screened at the 41st Portland International Film Festival.
Earning top audience accolades for Best Narrative Feature is Ice Mother (Czech Republic) directed by Bohdan Sláma. Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster’sScience Fair (United States) took the Best Documentary Feature award. DirectorRyôta Nakano is the winner of this year’s Best New Director award for his debut feature, Her Love Boils Bathwater (Japan). Tehran Taboo (Austria/Germany) director Ali Soozandeh takes home the Audience Award for Best Animated Feature. This year’s Best International Short Film Award goes to director Britt Raes for her film Catherine (Belgium). Portland-based director Dawn Jones Redstone’s film We Have Our Ways is the recipient of the Best Oregon Short Film Award.
Best Narrative Feature
1. Ice Mother / Czech Republic/France/Slovakia / dir. Bohdan Sláma *winner Best Narrative Feature
2. A Taxi Driver / South Korea / dir. Hun Jang
3. Foxtrot / Israel/Switzerland/Germany/France / dir. Samuel Maoz
Best Documentary Feature
1. Science Fair / United States / dir. Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster *winner Best Documentary Feature
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? / United States / dir. Morgan Neville
3. Soufra / Lebanon/United States/Singapore / dir. Thomas A. Morgan
Best New Director
1. Her Love Boils Bathwater / Japan / dir. Ryôta Nakano *winner Best New Director
2. Bad Genius / Thailand / dir. Nattawut Poonpiriya
3. The Rider / United States / dir. Chloé Zhao
Best Animated Feature
1. Tehran Taboo / Austria/Germany / dir. Ali Soozandeh *winner Best Animated Feature
2. The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales / France / dir. Benjamin Renner, Patrick Imbert
3. Big Fish & Begonia / China / dir. Xuan Liang, Chun Zhan
Best International Short Film
1. Catherine / Belgium / dir. Britt Raes *winner Best International Short Film
2. World of Tomorrow Episode Two / United States / dir. Don Hertzfeldt
3. Edith & Eddie / United States / dir. Laura Checkoway
Best Oregon Short Film
1. We Have Our Ways / Portland, OR / dir. Dawn Jones Redstone *winner Best Oregon Short Film
2. Lovely Legs / Portland, OR / dir. Abby Thompson
3. Two Balloons / Portland, OR / dir. Mark Smith
Best of Masters sidebar
On Body and Soul / Hungary / dir. Ildikó Enyedi
Best of PIFF After Dark sidebar
Bodied / United States / dir. Joseph Kahn
Best of Ways of Seeing sidebar
The Nothing Factory / Portugal / dir. Pedro Pinho
Best of Films for Families sidebar
Science Fair / United States / dir. Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster
Best of Global Panorama sidebar
A Taxi Driver / South Korea / dir. Hun Jang
The 41st Portland International Film Festival is sponsored by LAIKA, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, The Henry Lea Hillman Jr. Foundation, Willamette Week, Pat and Trudy Ritz, The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Organization, The Lamb Baldwin Foundation, BankPurely, Oregon Public Broadcasting, KINK FM, All Classical Portland, XRAY.FM, 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.
