U. S. Premieres of foreign films took the top awards at the 19th Annual Stony Brook Film Festival.  U.S. premiere of French film Paper Souls (Les âmes de papier) directed by Vincent Lannoo took the Jury Award for Best Feature, and U.S. Premiere of Dutch film Kenau directed by Maarten Treurniet won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature

Stony Brook’s ten-day festival screened films each evening at Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University. Opening night was sold out, with over 900 in the audience for Ralph Macchio’s short film, Across Grace Alley, followed by the U.S. Premiere of the German film Back on Track from Beta Cinema. Alan Inkles, founder and director of the Festival, greeted European and American filmmakers at the awards night, following the New York Premiere of Erik Poppe’s 1,000 Times Good Night starring Juliette Binoche.

The winners were:

2014 Jury Award-Best Feature
PAPER SOULS (LES ÂMES DE PAPIER)

U.S. Premiere from France/ Luxembourg/Belgium. Directed by Vincent Lannoo. Written by François Uzan.
With Stéphane Guillon, Julie Gayet, Jonathan Zaccai, Pierre Richard.
An Artémis Productions, Samsa Film and Liaison Cinémtographique Production. From Films Distribution.
In French with subtitles.

In this quirky comedy from France, a funeral speech writer, a mother and her son, a man who may be a ghost, and a neighbor, all come together in a charming story of loss and love. The writer gets a new lease on life when he meets a widow who commissions him to write a piece about the father of her eight-year-old son.

2014 Audience Choice-Best Feature
KENAU

U.S. Premiere from the Netherlands. Directed by Maarten Treurniet. Written by Marnie Blok, Darin van Holst Pellekaan.
With Monic Hendrickx, Lisa Smit, Barry Atsma, Sallie Harmsen, Eva Bartels.
A Fu Works Film. From Eye International.
In Dutch with subtitles.

A big-screen adventure based on the story of a woman folk hero who led the defense of the Dutch city of Haarlem in 1573.

2014 Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking
MAÏNA

Canada – Directed by Michel Poulette. Written by Pierre Billon.
With Roseanne Supernault, Graham Greene, Ipelie Ootoova.
In Innu/Inuit/English with subtitles.

Michel Poulette’s career is a long list of success stories with all of Quebec and Canada’s major broadcast networks. The TV programs and features he has worked on have consistently been among the highest rated. He also works for American networks Showtime and Lifetime.This award is for his direction in Maina, introducing the fascinating civilizations of the Innu and Inuit tribes living in North America six hundred years ago.

 2014 Festival Outstanding Performance
MY SWEET PEPPER LAND

N.Y. Premiere from Iraq/France/Germany.
Directed by Hiner Saleem. Written by Hiner Saleem and Antoine Lacomblez.
In Kurdish/Arabic/Turkish with subtitles.

As Govend, the teacher in My Sweet Pepper Land, Golshifteh Farahani’s performance wins special recognition. Farahani won a Best Actress award at the age of 14 for her lead in Dariush Mehrjui’s The Pear Tree and is an accomplished musician. She was the first Iranian star to act in a major Hollywood production, Body of Lies, by Ridley Scott in 2008. She is fluent in French and English and now lives in Paris.

2014 Jury Award-Best Short
SEQUESTERED

USA – A film by Lucas Spaulding

A funny and original short in which two would-be bank robbers run into trouble when each takes exception to the other’s mask.

2014 Audience Award-Best Short
LITTLE AFRICA

USA – A film by Curtis Adair Jr.

A race riot that devastated a black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 is the setting for this powerful short in which a biracial cop passing as white pleads with his black mother not to get involved in the protests. Produced by Curtis Adair Jr. while a film student at Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts, Tallahassee.

2014 Special Jury Recognition
INTO THE SILENT SEA

USA – A film by Andrej Landin

A lone cosmonaut adrift connects with a radio operator in Italy. Produced by Andrej Landin while a film student at Chapman University in California. Gravity and  Into the Silent Sea screened at the Telluride Film Festival at the same time Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity premiered.

Photo caption: Caption L to R: At the 2014 Stony Brook Film Festival Awards Reception: John Anderson, film critic and M.C.; François Uzan, screenwriter representing Paper Souls; Eva Bartels, actress representing Kenau; Michel Poulette, director, Maïna; Curtis Adair Jr., filmmaker, Little Africa;Alan Inkles, founder/director of the Stony Brook Film Festival.