Clay Jeter’s JESS + MOSS was announced as the winner of the $25,000 cash prize for the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature and Anne Buford‘s ELEVATE received the $25,000 cash prize for the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2011 DALLAS International Film Festival. On receiving her award, Buford declared that the $25,000 would be donated back to the SEEDS ACADEMY, the one-of-a-kind boarding school in Senegal for basketball players.

Legendary actor, director and producer Peter Fonda presented the Target Filmmaker Awards to both the documentary and narrative feature winners.

The Narrative Feature competition jury also gave a Special Jury Prize to Dave Boyle’s SURROGATE VALENTINE for Goh Nakamura’s acting and an Honorable Mention for Darragh Byrne’s PARKED.  The documentary competition jury gave a Special Jury Prize to Joseph Mantegna’s NORMAN MAILER: THE AMERICAN.

Dallas favorite Larry Hagman flew in to present IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT with the Environmental Visions Award.  Hagman also presented the winning high school and college students with cash prizes for the TXU Energy “Light Up the Red Carpet Student Film Contest”.  Hagman also spoke of his excitement at returning to Dallas in the near future to start shooting the new pilot for DALLAS

The Steuben Crystal DALLAS Star Awards, were presented to Academy Award-nominated director Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, THE INTERRUPTERS), BAFTA-nominated writer and producer Scott Z. Burns (THE INFORMANT, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH), and posthumously to Academy Award winner Horton Foote (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, A TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL) for an incredible career that spanned over 50 years.  Foote’s daughter Hallie was on hand to accept the award in memory of her father.  The Texas Avery Animation Award presented by Reel FX Entertainment was given to Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, LILO & STITCH). 

Berndt Mader’s FIVE TIME CHAMPION was the recipient of MPS Studios’ Texas Filmmaker Award and $20,000 in cash, goods and services. Clay Liford’s WUSS received a Special Jury Prize.

The festival’s first ever $10,000 Silver Heart Award was presented to Tim Skousen’s ZERO PERCENT by Lauren Embrey of the Embrey Family Foundation for the filmmaker’s dedication to fighting injustices and creating social change for the improvement of humanity.  ZERO PERCENT had its world premiere at the festival.

Jerome Sable’s short film THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM won the Grand Jury Prize in the Shorts Competition as well as the Audience Award for Best Short. Special Mentions went to Lake Bell’s WORST ENEMY and Kazik Radwanski received a Special Mention for his directing in his film GREEN CRAYONS. The Grand Jury Prize for Student Short went to Johnny Ma’s THE ROBBERY with a Special Mention for Christopher Jarvis’s THE BIRDS UPSTAIRS. Reel FX Entertainment presented the award for Best Animated Short to Damian Nenow’s PATHS OF HATE.

Robert Kirbyson’s SNOWMEN won the Audience Award for Best Narrative, while Alex Dawson and Greg Gricus’s WILD HORSE WILD RIDE won for Best Documentary.

DALLAS IFF Artistic Director James Faust said, “2011 has been a wonderful growth year for us. The fifth year was always pivotal in our minds and I am thrilled because this year Dallas has embraced us like never before.  Ticket sales were up by 25 percent from last year throughout the festival, we have shown 169 films from 27 countries and I really think we have enjoyed much more cultural and ethnic diversity in our programming than ever before.”

Overall, the 2011 DALLAS International Film Festival showcased 85 features and 84 shorts for a total of 169 films from 27 countries.

JURY AWARDS:
Target Narrative Feature: JESS + MOSS
Dir:  Clay Jeter

Target Documentary Feature: ELEVATE
Dir: Anne Buford 

Honorable Mention: PARKED
Dir:  Darragh Byrne

Special Jury Prize, Acting: SURROGATE VALENTINE, Goh Nakamura
Dir: Dave Boyle

MPS Studios Texas Filmmaker Award: FIVE TIMES CHAMPION
Dir: Berndt Mader

Special Jury Prize: WUSS
Dir:  Clay Liford

Silver Heart Award:ZERO PERCENT
Dir:  Tim Skousen

Environmental Visons Grand Jury Prize: IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT
Dir: Marshall Curry

Grand Jury Prize Short: THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM
Dir: Jerome Sable

Special Mention Short, Directing: GREEN CRAYONS
Dir:  Kazik Radwanski

Special Mention: WORST ENEMY
Dir:  Lake Bell

Grand Jury Prize for Student Short: THE ROBBERY
Dir: Johnny Ma

Special Mention Student Short: THE BIRDS UPSTAIRS
Dir:  Christopher Jarvis 

Grand Jury Prize, Animated Short: PATHS OF HATE
Dir: Damian Nenow

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Narrative Feature: SNOWMEN
Dir: Robert Kirbyson

Documentary Feature: WILD HORSE WILD RIDE
Dir:  Alex Dawson, Greg Gricus

Short: THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM
Dir:  Jerome Sable 

TXU ENERGY “Light Up the Red Carpet” VIDEO CONTEST WINNERS FOR HIGH SCHOOLS:

$7500 prize winner – LOOKING OUT FOR TEXAS – Richardson High School
Dir: Kassidy Testut
$5000 prize winner– I WANT TO MAKE YOU HAPPY – Booker T. Washington
Dir:  Christian Vasquez.  Writer: Spencer Kenney.  Cinematographers: Amelia Mickelsen and Caryl Shiell
$2500 prize winner– THE AFTERMATH – Garland High School
Dir: Olivia Pich.  Cinematographer: Jeffrey Rivas.  Also Stafford Parrish

TXU ENERGY “Light Up the Red Carpet” VIDEO CONTEST WINNERS FOR COLLEGES:

$7500 prize winner– QUEEN KILL-A-WATT – The Art Institute of Dallas
DIR: Katherine Yarbrough.  Director of Photography: Nik Pavlov
$5000 prize winner– AFTER THE DARK – University of Texas at Arlington
Dir: Aaron Carolina
$2500 prize winner– ZEPHYR – University of North Texas
Creators: Dylan Voisard, Patrick Perkins
Music: William Naley