'The One That Got Away', 'City of Hate' Win Top Awards at 6th Billy the Kid Film Festival

The One That Got Away directed by Pablo Federico Schmitt — The One That Got Away (Film Freeway)

The One That Got Away, City of Hate: Dallas and the Assassination, 60 Years Later, Showdown on the Brazos won top award honors at the 6th Billy the Kid Film Festival in Texas.

Top jury awards went to Pablo Federico Schmitt’s The One That Got Away for Best Narrative Feature, Quin Matthews’ City of Hate: Dallas and the Assassination, 60 Years Later won Best Documentary, and Bill Foster’s Showdown on the Brazos won Best Texas Film. Will Fitzpatrick’s The Roping Fools took the People’s Choice Award for Best Feature.

BTKFF’s Legacy Awards went to Chris Hanna’s On the Edge of Freedom (Billy the Kid Award), Johnathan Paul and Josh Gilbert’s Harsh Treatment (Barry Corbin Award), Joseph Stevens’ The Sachel (Pine Moore Studios Award), and Troy Paff’s Texas Music Revolution won the Hico Hall Award. The Ruth Buzzi Comedy Award went to Brian Russell’s SilverSizzle, and The Ruth Buzzi Music Award went to Tommy Simms and Joe Ludwig’s Top Secret Jazz.

Festival Director Luci DiGiorgio said, “In our sixth edition, the Billy the Kid Film Festival struck a wonderful balance between the locally shot and produced films we strive to celebrate, as well as some wonderful films made here and elsewhere that exemplify the BTKFF outlaw spirit. Our legacy awards, including the Pine Moore Studios Award, which comes with a free day’s film shoot at their legendary Western Town location, and the Barry Corbin and Ruth Buzzi Awards, further highlights a nod to the influential talent that sets the tone for our filmmakers and reminds us how far and wide the film community stretches here in Texas.:

BTKFF presented a series of one-of-a-kind ceramic “ballistic art” sculpture by Scott Carlson Pottery to winning films.

Two-time winners were Jakob Lancaster’s The Last Cowboy in Sanford, which won both the Jury prize for Best Foreign Film, and the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film, and Jay Haru Potaraju’s The Fork nabbed the Jury Prize and the Audience Choice Award for Best Student/High School Film.

Additional jury awards among the features went to Vic Quinton and Cynthia Garcia Kielia (Most Inspirational Film), Jason Vandygriff’s Blood Dried Hands (Best Horror Film). Jury winners in the short film categories included Danny Pineros’ Bisected (Best Narrative Short Film), Will Darbyshire’s Cycles (Best Comedy Short Film), Preston Walden’s The Hanging of William Crane (Best Outlaw Short Film), Robert Cantu’s False and Baseless (Best Texas Short Film), Anthony Parisi’s Ambush at St. Mary’s (Best Western Short Film), Smitch Sifuentes’ Lithium (Best Animation Short Film), Robin Scovill’s The Deep Rolling: Magma (Best Music Video), and Joshua Collins’ Nobody’s Perfect(Best Student Short Film). Additional Audience Choice Awards went to Austin Ford Franklin Culp’s Titty Boy (Best Local Film), and Michael Scott Payton’s Every Heart Breaks the Same (Best Music Video).

BTKFF kicked off with the film festival’s traditional screening under the stars, which included an encore screening of Lisa Belcher’s award-winning Javelina Run, which featured this year’s BTKFF Lifetime Achievement honoree Wally Welch, and Chris Hanna’s locally filmed On the Edge of Freedom.

The celebration of Pine Moore Studios, the popular western movie set again highlighted this year’s Filmmaker Awards Party and stages in Blanco, Texas with Dennis and Amanda Moore on hand. Ruth Buzzi’s husband, Kent Perkins, also presented the awards in her name and conveyed her well wishes.