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By Tyler Midkiff
Larson Newspapers
Another year and another Sedona International Film Festival have come and gone.
This year’s festival saw the tightest competition to date, according to film festival Director Patrick Schweiss — particularly in the feature and documentary categories.
On Sunday, March 2, filmmakers and fans gathered at L’Auberge de Sedona for the festival’s conclusion. Attendance was high as Schweiss announced the winning films and gave those involved the opportunity to say a few words.
Out of five possible points, all of this year’s documentaries scored in the 4.11 range or higher, according to Schweiss, but only one could win — well, actually two.
“Water Flowing Together” and “Standing Silent Nation,” both American Indian films, tied for first place this year.
Suree Towfighnia, director of “Standing Silent Nation,” dedicated her film to its subjects — a Lakota family arrested by federal agents after planting hemp, a non-psychoactive relative of marijuana, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
“Semper Fi, One Marine’s Journey,” a film about a gay Christian Marine, won the Director’s Choice for Best Documentary.
The audience’s Best Feature category was another close race which ultimately went to “The Flyboys,” a Rocco DeVilliers feature shot in Arizona and starring Tom Sizemore.
Philippe Caland’s “Ripple Effect,” a high-concept feature starring Caland, Forest Whitaker, Virginia Madsen and Minnie Driver, won the Director’s Choice Best Feature.
“Field’s of Fuel,” won Most Compelling Documentary, and The Arizona Republic’s “Bill Muller Award for Excellence in Screenwriting.”
The award, typically reserved for films outside the documentary category, is a testament to the content of “Fields of Fuel,” Director Josh Tickell said.
“Milk Bum,” a strange
8-minute film featuring a bum and a little girl, took the audience’s Best Short Film award while “Papiroflexia [Origami],” a short produced and directed by Joaquin Baldwin, won both the Director’s Choice and Audience Choice for Best Animation.
Roger Donaldson took Best Director honors for “The Bank Job,” a London bank heist flick starring Jason Statham, which will soon be released worldwide.
The existential documentary “The Human Experience,” won the Director’s Choice for Best Humanitarian Film while “The Music in Me,” a documentary about The Merry Makers, a group of handicapped performers in Australia, won Most Inspiring Documentary.
“The Music in Me” also won the inaugural Georgia Frontiere Memorial Scholarship, given in honor of the late Sedona performer, arts supporter and member of the SIFF Board of Directors, who died in January.
Anne Kenyon, producer of “The Music in Me,” traveled from Australia with several Merry Makers to accept the award. She tried to keep her feet on the ground amid all the positive feedback about the film, so winning the two awards was a surreal experience, she said.
This festival was far and away the best to date, Schweiss said — in the quality of films and participation of filmmakers, audiences and volunteers.
With 180 volunteers and help from the city, local merchants and hotels, there’s been a huge outpouring of support this year, Schweiss said.
Before he could conclude the awards ceremony, Bistro Bella Terra owner and BySynergy CEO Mike Zito stepped onto the stage to donate $120,000 to the festival to be distributed over the next two years.
“There are three kinds of people in the world,” Zito said — “those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that wonder what happened. I think we can all say that anybody connected with this wonderful festival this year, it all involves people that make things happen.”
Schweiss, caught off guard by the surprise, ruminated on years past when the festival barely had the funding to continue.
SIFF nearly went bankrupt several years ago, Schweiss said, but people who believed in what the festival could bring to Sedona bailed it out.
“Every year, we just get bigger and better,” Schweiss said. “My friends, you have floored me …. Thank you all.”
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