The Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) announced the winners of the 19th edition, which ran April 3 to 10, 2014. The Jury awarded LIFE INSIDE OUT directed by Jill D’Agnencia the prize for Best Feature Film, and FABERGÉ: A LIFE OF ITS OWN directed by Patrick Mark received the award for Best Documentary Feature. The audience voted CATHEDRAL CANYON directed by Paul Davis, winner of Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film and LION ARK directed by Tim Phillips grabbing the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature.
JURIED
Best Feature Film
LIFE INSIDE OUT
Directed by Jill D’Agnencia
Laura is a devoted mother of three teenage boys. The twins are confident and outgoing, while the youngest son, Shane, is the family misfit, and a disappointment to his father. At 15, he is sullen and withdrawn, earbuds perpetually in his ears. When Laura impulsively decides to sing at her first open-mic night, she drags Shane along, and it becomes an experience that opens his eyes and shakes his earbuds loose. Soon, he discovers musical gifts of his own.Together, through the power of music, they are able to make sense of a world they’ve felt so lost in.
Best Documentary Feature
FABERGÉ: A LIFE OF ITS OWN
Directed by Patrick Mark
This feature-doc tells the epic story of the Faberge name, from Imperial Russia until the present-day, spanning one hundred and fifty years of turbulent history, romance, artistic development and commercial exploitation. From the bejewel led Easter eggs of the Romanov Tsarinas to the 1970s allure of ‘Brut by Faberge’ aftershave, and from the Russian revolution to today’s high-fashion glitz in New York and London, the film explores a multi-faceted world that began with one man: the prodigiously talented Peter Carl Faberge, Court Jeweler of St Petersburg. Shot at locations across Russia, Europe and USA (including the collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II), the film features interview contributions from the world’s foremost Faberge authorities, as well as personal reminiscences from Faberge family members.
Best Short Film
BRIGHTON
Directed by Pierre Stefanos
‘Brighton’ follows the journey of Edward as he ventures to the famed English south coastal resort for a day on the town. The reason for his trip is unclear, at first, as we watch him paste photographs of himself as a young boy at famed monuments around Brighton, all the while ignoring phone calls that come in to his mobile throughout the day from his boss and his boyfriend.After breaking up a moment of schoolboy bullying, Edward’s demeanor changes. Upon meeting, and then flirting with, a Canadian tourist named Ben, Edward becomes more resolute to resist the man’s charms, making his way to the Brighton seafront in the dark of night. Ben discovers Edward on the beach at a bonfire, burning items from his duffel bag. Ben uncovers Edward’s mysterious reasons for visiting Brighton, which leads to a physical and emotional confrontation that leads to a mutually life-changing moment for both men.’Brighton’ is the follow-up to the acclaimed short film ‘Bedfellows,’ and the second in a planned trilogy of films called The Shakespeare Trilogy. ‘Bedfellows’ screened at over 140 films festivals in 40 countries during a 23-straight-month festival run, won over 30 jury and audience awards, is commercially available in a dozen North American and European countries. Its trailers have received over 1,000,000 hits on YouTube alone.
Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film
CATHEDRAL CANYON
Directed by Paul Davis
A story set in both sprawling modern Phoenix and the fringe, rural polygamist communities of Northern Arizona, this film presents a hidden connection between these two very different worlds that permits the shocking acts of these cults to continue.
Best Documentary Feature
LION ARK
Directed by Tim Phillips
More action adventure than traditional documentary, Lion Ark follows the world’s most ambitious and daring animal rescue, with a narrative compiled from film, interviews, conversations and reactions as events unfolded. Following a shocking expos” Bolivia bans animal circuses. But the circuses defy the law and the team behind the investigation returns to track them down and save the animals. Stunning cinematography captures the confrontations, heartache and risks, before a joyous finale sees 25 lions airlifted to freedom. A story of bravery, compassion, a country that said ‘no’ to cruelty and how attitudes to animals changed across a continent.
Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film
TOBACCO BURN
Directed by Justin Liberman
Based on an oral history from the W.P.A. Writers, Tobacco Burn is set thirty-five years before the Civil War at the height of American slavery. When two of the enslaved weigh the complexities of killing their overseer, each develop a different understanding towards violence, acting on which could cost all of them their lives.
Honorable Mention
GOD’S SLAVE (ESCLAVO DE DIOS)
Directed by Joel Novoa
Inspired by true events, “God’s Slave” is the story of Ahmed and David, two extremist characters, one Islamic and the other Jewish, who cross their paths while being in the opposite side of the conflict in the A.M.I.A bombings that took place in 1994 in Buenos Aires. Written By Isabel Meneses Motivated by personal tragedies, two obsessive characters on either side of the Arab-Israeli conflict are set on a collision course in GOD”S SLAVE, an adrenaline-rushing drama set against the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina. Stationed in Caracas and operating undercover as a doctor and family man, Ahmed Al Hassama (Mohammed Al-Khaldi) is a young Kuwaiti Muslim militant who is slated to execute a terrorist attack. Dispatched to Buenos Aires to diffuse the elusive but imminent threat, David Goldberg (Vando Villamil) is a cold-blooded and embittered Israeli Mossad agent who will stop at nothing to terminate the terrorist sleeper cell. In the wake of the AMIA bombing that leaves scores dead, the race is on to prevent another attack in the name of radical Islam. Both men embark on parallel paths of martyrdom, blinded by hatred born of childhood trauma and prepared to sacrifice everything for their beliefs.
Descriptions via Palm Beach International Film Festival
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