BendFilm

  • BendFilm Festival 2020 Winners – WARRIOR WOMEN, FREELAND and SAPELA Win Top Awards

    Warrior Women directed by Christina D. King and Elizabeth A. Castle
    Warrior Women directed by Christina D. King and Elizabeth A. Castle

    BendFilm Festival announced the 27 films and filmmakers awarded jury prizes and more than $12,000 at the 17th Annual Festival with the top prize – Best of Show going to Warrior Women directed by Christina D. King and Elizabeth A. Castle. Other winners include Best Narrative Feature going to Freeland directed by Mario Furlon, Kate McLean; and Best Documentary Feature went to Sapelo directed by Nick Brandestini. Sapela also won the awards for Best Directing along with Special Jury Award for Documentary Cinematography for Nick Brandestini.

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  • LIYANNA Wins Top Prizes – Best of Show and Audience Awards at 2017 BendFilm Festival

    [caption id="attachment_25121" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Liyana, directed by Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp Liyana[/caption] Liyana, directed by Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp won the top prizes – Best of Show and Audience Awards at the 2017 BendFilm Festival. In total, the festival awarded 14 films and filmmakers with jury recognized and audience voted prizes. Todd Looby, Director of BendFilm said, “I want to thank everyone who came to contribute to the creative culture of the 14th annual BendFilm Festival.  […] I know the conversations sparked by these films will live on well past these 4 days.” Erik Jambor, Festival Programmer for BendFilm said, “This year’s Festival was one of BendFilm’s funniest, deepest, most adventurous and most heartfelt programs to date. Though the awards could only go to a few, we are honored to have been able to screen and share all 105 with the our festival audience. Through dialogue and sharing stories together we strengthen our sense of community locally and around the world.”

    2017 BendFilm Festival Jury Award Winners

    Best of Show Liyana – directed by Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp Five orphaned children in Swaziland collaborate to tell a breath-takingly beautiful story of perseverance drawn from their darkest memories and brightest dreams. Their fictional character’s journey to rescue her young twin brothers is interwoven with poetic and observational documentary scenes to create a genre-defying celebration of collective storytelling. Best Director Bomb City – directed by Jamie Brooks Based on the true story of Brian Deneke, Bomb City is an intense and illuminating crime-drama about the cultural aversion of teenage punks and artists in a conservative Texas town. Their ongoing battle with a rival, more-affluent group of jocks leads to a controversial hate crime that questions the morality of American justice–especially relevant today. Best Cinematography Relationtrip – directed by Renée Felice Smith and C.A. Gabriel At an age when everyone around them is settling down and finding love, Beck and Liam are self-proclaimed loners. After bonding over their mutual disinterest in relationships, they decide to go away together on a ‘friend’ trip. And that’s when things get weird. Really, surreally weird. Best Narrative Feature Mr. Roosevelt – directed by Noël Wells After an auspicious death in her family, struggling LA-based comedian Emily Martin (Noel Wells, Master of None and SNL) returns to Austin. There she finds herself in the awkward position of staying with her ex and his new girlfriend until the funeral while trying to close old doors from her past. Best Documentary Feature  Forever ‘B’ – directed by Skye Borgman In 1974, in the quiet town of Pocatello, Idaho, 12-year-old Jan Broberg was kidnapped by her family’s best friend and neighbor. 18 months later, out on bail and awaiting trial for kidnapping, Robert Berchtold abducted Jan a second time, triggering a nationwide FBI manhunt. Special Documentary Jury Award for Most Lovable Character Big Sonia – Directed by Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday When Sonia Warshawski (90) is served an eviction notice for her iconic tailor shop (in a dead Seattle mall), she’s confronted with an agonizing decision: either open up a new shop or retire. For a woman who admits she stays busy “to keep the dark parts away,” facing retirement dredges up fears she’d long forgot she had, and her horrific past resurfaces. Special Short Film Jury Award A Shepherd – directed by Vern Moen A young shepherd in Oregon’s Willamette Valley struggles with the life and death circle of his ancient job in a modern era. Special Short Film Jury Award Homegrown – directed by Quentin Hamberham Francis learns that what is right for himself may not be best for his son. Special Short Film Jury Award Mixtape Marauders – directed by Peter Edlund Two young burnouts live in a world of mindless day jobs, petty drug deals, and wildly unconventional musical tastes. Best Student Short  How Far She Went – directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir Adapted from the Flannery O’Connor Award-winning short story by Mary Hood, How Far She Went takes an unflinching look at family, personal sacrifice, and the lengths we will go for those we love. Best Documentary Short  The Last Honey Hunter – directed by Ben Knight Maule Dhan Rai is the last man in the remote Nepal village of Saadi who has been visited in a dream by a spirit called Rongkemi. If no one else in the village has the dream, a generations-old tradition may die. Best Animated Short Pittari – directed by Patrick Smith A horned creature’s destructive rampage is halted by a stubborn adversary. Best Narrative Short Emergency – directed by Carey Williams Faced with an emergency, a group of young Black and Latino friends carefully weigh the pros and cons of calling the police. Best of the Northwest Short  Running Eagle – directed by Konrad Tho Fiedler An American Indian girl escapes from captivity in the oil fields of North Dakota and hitchhikes back to her home in Blackfeet country, Montana. 2017 BendFilm Katie Merritt Audience Award Liyana – directed by Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp Five orphaned children in Swaziland collaborate to tell a breath-takingly beautiful story of perseverance drawn from their darkest memories and brightest dreams. Their fictional character’s journey to rescue her young twin brothers is interwoven with poetic and observational documentary scenes to create a genre-defying celebration of collective storytelling.

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  • 2013 BendFilm Festival Winners; HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES Sweeps Major Awards

    HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES directed by Daniel Patrick CarboneHIDE YOUR SMILING FACES directed by Daniel Patrick Carbone

    The feature film, HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES directed by Daniel Patrick Carbone, swept the 2013 BendFilm Festival, capturing numerous awards, including the “Best of Show” and the “Best Narrative Feature.”  Hide Your Smiling Faces depicts the young lives of two brothers as they abruptly come of age through the experience of a friend’s mysterious death. 

    2013 Award Winners

    Best of Show 
    HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES

    Best Narrative Screenplay 
    BUOY

    Best Directing 
    Daniel Patrick Carbone, HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES

    Best Narrative Feature
    HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES

    Best Documentary Feature 
    BEFORE THE SPRING, AFTER THE FALL

    Best Short 
    THE BOY SCOUT

    Special Mention for Documentary Short: 
    HERD IN ICELAND

    Best Student Short 
    SILK

    Best Short Screenplay 
    Cody Blue Snider, Shane Snider; FOOLS DAY

    Best Cinematography 
    HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES

    Best Actor 
    Andrea Suarez Paz, STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS

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  • Oregon’s BendFilm Announces First Films; Opens with “THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL”

    THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUELTHE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL

    BendFilm, in Bend, Oregon, announced the first of the films selected for the fest’s ten year celebration. The 10th annual Festival will open with THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL (previously known as EMANUEL AND THE TRUTH ABOUT FISHES). Written and directed by Francesca Gregorini, the character-driven, psychological, drama/thriller follows Emanuel (Kaya Scoledario) who becomes obsessed with her new, mysterious neighbor Linda (Jessica Biel). Emanuel offers to babysit Linda’s new baby and unwittingly enters her fragile world. But Emanuel will have to go to a place that she herself has never dared to enter to truly save Linda. Also stars Frances O’Connor and Alfred Molina. The short narrative A HOUSE, A HOME will precede EMANUEL on opening night. In Daniel Fickle’s film, a love, a death, and another death are reconciled in a subterranean world.

    The festival released the name of three other narrative films selected, including the west coast premiere of THE COLD LANDS, written and directed by Tom Gilroy. When young Atticus (Silas Yelich)’s mother (Lili Taylor) dies unexpectedly, he flees into New York’s Catskill Mountains. Wandering the dense woods in shock, Atticus’ grasp on reality wears thin. When he meets Carter (Peter Scanavino), a scruffy drifter, they form a wary alliance, but both are unsure that depending on the other is the right decision.

    BendFilm will feature the west coast premiere of Neil LaBute’s tense two-person drama SOME VELVET MORNING, starring Alice Eve and Stanley Tucci. Ex-lover Fred, whom Velvet has not seen in four years, unexpectedly surprises her at her apartment. With suitcase in tow, he enters with great expectation. As Fred unloads the reason for his resurfacing, the history and nature of their relationship is revealed. The weight of their reconnection becomes clear as tension mounts and their chemistry reaches its climax.

    The three feature documentaries announced include BENDING STEEL, making its west coast premiere at BendFilm. Dave Carroll’s intimate documentary exploring the lost art of the old-time strongman and one man’s struggle to overcome limitations of body and mind follows the endearing and unassuming Chris Schoeck. While preparing to perform amazing and unique feats of strength publicly, Chris also struggles to overcome crippling fears and inhibitions. What unfolds is one man’s remarkable journey to find his place in the world.

    Nicholas D. Wrathall writes and directs GORE VIDAL: THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA in its west coast premiere. It showcases Vidal’s rapier wit, keen intellect and well-known and eloquently expressed opinions, namely, his position that the radical right has triumphed over “traditional” humanist liberal values. In excerpts from Vidal’s many interviews made and clips acquired over half a century in the public eye, Vidal issues a chilling, cautionary warning to the America we’ve idealized and the other America we are becoming.

    Inspired by a visit to the “World’s Oldest Man” Walter Breuning (who died in 2011 at 115 years of age), director Hunter Weeks and his wife, producer Sarah Elizabeth Hall, set out to meet the world’s oldest people–some of the last people born in the 1800s—in WALTER. Capturing the extraordinary lives of people 110 years or older, WALTER sheds light on what’s truly important in life. The film explores the stories of several living supercentenarians and connects with the inspiring lives of our elders and their lessons for living life right. WALTER is making its world premiere at BendFilm. Weeks says of his inclusion in the Festival: “Bend is the perfect place to launch WALTER for its world premiere. The people of Bend seem to have the right idea for living life well.” Weeks and Hall will appear in person at the premiere.

    BendFilm has also announced its 2013 jury. “We’re continuing a traditional of excellence and breadth in our jury,” Schwartz says. “We’re ten times lucky in having had such terrific students, teachers, professionals and connoisseurs of film honor the best in BendFilm’s.” Selecting award-winning films this year will be: Neal Block; Miriam Cutler; Franklin Leonard; Darryl MacDonald; Maggie Mackay and Lisa Schwartzbaum.

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