ALL THAT I AM directed by Carlos Puga is the winner of the Grand Jury Award at the 2013 New Hampshire Film Festival which took place October 17 to 20, 2013 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. GOODBYE WORLD directed Denis Henry Hennely took the award for Best Feature and THE CRASH REEL directed by Lucy Walker won the award for Best Documentary.
Grand Prize Screenplay Writers
George Guthridge and Deborah Schildt
Best Student Film – IF WE WERE ADULTS
Directed by Michael Fitzgerald
Starring: Suziey Block and Zach Alden
When Mitch and Izzy learn of their best friend’s engagement, they become the last unmarried couple. Out of spite and a little booze, they decide to take the plunge, and what they find is downright frightening.
Best Short Comedy – ALIVE FEELING LIKE A BUCK SEVENTY FIVE
Directed by Michael Neithardt
1999. I was somebody. Then she broke my heart. Can’t forget. Don’t want to remember. Amanda came into my life like a goddamn freight train. Why’d we ever meet? Everything was fine. It’s years later. Still feel empty. I’m nobody. For months, you know what, almost a whole year I was somebody. But I’d give it all back to avoid this empty, bleeding feeling. Because nobody deserves that. Never.
Best Short Drama – PALIMPSEST
Directed by Michael Tyburski
A successful house tuner provides clients a unique form of therapy that examines subtle details in their living spaces.
Best Short Documentary – HIGH AND HALLOWED: EVEREST 1963
Directed by David Morton, Jake Norton, Jim Aikman
High and Hallowed: Everest 1963 is the deeper story of the greatest Himalayan climb in American mountaineering history. Profiling the bold and visionary efforts of the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition, the film examines the sheer commitment, step-by-step struggle and lasting impact of the first American ascent of Mt. Everest and the pioneering first ascent of the West Ridge by Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld. Five decades later, High and Hallowed journeys back to Everest to discover if the essence of risk, adventure and the unknown that drew the first Americans to the summit still exists on Everest today.
Best Animated Film – THE MISSING SCARF
Directed by Eoin Duffy
Albert the Squirrel makes a startling discovery … an empty space where once his favorite scarf lay. He heads off into the forest only to find everyone else is preoccupied with worries of their own. He helps whomever he can before moving on but never seems to get any closer to his goal. Ultimately, Albert’s problem is put in perspective by the friends he helped and the problems they faced and overcame together.
Audience Choice Documentary – LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM
Directed by Sean and Andrea Fine
One family’s courageous fight to save their only son from a rare and fatal disease, progeria. The average age of death from progeria is 13, there is no treatment and no cure. Dr. Leslie Gordon and Dr. Scott Berns are set on changing this. Their son, Sam, was diagnosed with progeria at age two and they were told to enjoy what time they had. They refused to believe this was the answer. Sam is now 16. In less than a decade, their advances have led to the discovery of the gene at fault, creating the first drug trials for treatment, and revealing the amazing discovery that progeria is linked to the aging process in all of us.
Audience Choice Feature – SANATORIUM
Directed by Brant Sersen
Starring: Kate Wood, Megan Neuringer, Don Fanelli, DJ Hazard.
On a bitterly cold December night, a paranormal investigations team has set their sights on the bloody Hillcrest Sanatorium to answer the age old question: Is there life after death? With rumors of hauntings and local children gone missing, they may just get their answer the hard way when members of the team mysteriously disappear, leaving behind unnerving evidence…
Best Documentary – THE CRASH REEL
Directed by Lucy Walker
Starring: Kevin Pearce, Shaun White and Mason Aguirre
Fifteen years of vérité footage show the epic rivalry between snowboarding half-pipe legends Shaun White and Kevin Pearce. These childhood friends became number one and two in the world leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, pushing one another to ever more dangerous tricks, until Kevin crashed on a Park City half-pipe, barely surviving. As Kevin recovers from his injury, Shaun wins Gold. Now all Kevin wants to do is get on his snowboard again, even though medics and family fear this could kill him. We also celebrate Sarah Burke who crashed in Park City and died January 19, 2012.
Best Feature – GOODBYE WORLD
Director Denis Henry Hennely (pictured above)
Starring: Adrian Grenier, Gaby Hoffmann, Ben McKenzie, Mark Webber, Kerry Bishé, Scott Mescudi and Caroline Dhavernas
James and Lily live off the grid, raising their young daughter in a cocoon of comfort and sustainability. When a mysterious mass text ripples its way across the country, triggering a crippling, apocalyptic cyber attack, their home transitions from sheltered modern oasis to a fortress for the estranged old friends that show up at their door for protection and community. The unexpected reunion—abundant with revelry and remembrances, generously enhanced by organic wine and weed—is quickly undermined by the slights of the past, the spark of lingering flirtations and the threat of a locally grown new world order.
Grand Jury Award – ALL THAT I AM
Directed by Carlos Puga
Starring: Christopher Abbott, Gaby Hoffmann, Chris McCann and Dan Bittner
When Dr. Lynn abandoned his terminally ill wife on her deathbed, he left his three children—Susan, Christian and Win—essentially orphaned. Almost a decade later, on the eve of their annual family reunion, Dr. Lynn unexpectedly shows up at Christian’s door claiming he can justify his nine-year absence. Drug-addled and emotionally vulnerable, Christian reluctantly agrees to escort his father to the reunion, sending an already volatile family environment reeling.
