Urbanworld Announces 2011 Winnersby Wilson Morales
September 19, 2011
On Sunday, September 18, the 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, presented by BET Networks, announced the winners of the narrative feature, documentary feature, narrative short, documentary short, screenplay, teleplay and audience award categories. The five-day festival was held September 14-18 and concluded yesterday with an awards brunch at Tribeca Grill Loft hosted by Liris Crosse & Vibe Magazine’s Datwon Thomas.
The list of winners is as follows:
Best Narrative Feature
MAMITAS
Written and Directed by Nicholas Ozeki, Produced by Adam Renehan, Andrew Daniel Wells
Mamitas is a coming- of-age film about a young man, his choices, and decisions to break away from the challenges of the East L.A.. Beautifully shot against Los Angeles’ downtown skyline, this sensitive story revolves around a young Latino player whose budding relationship with a bookish tomboy propels him to find out who he really is.
Honorable Mention:
Make a Movie Like Spike (Written and Directed by Jamil Walker Smith)
Restless City (for Cinematography – Bradford Young; Directed by Andrew Dosunmu)
Best Narrative Short
THE WAKE
Directed by Bree Newsome; Produced by Valerie Champagne, Bree Newsome
Honorable Mention:
Counterfeit (Written and Directed by Geoff Bailey)
The Man in the Glass Case (Written and Directed by Maxwell Addae)
Best Documentary Feature
ZERO PERCENT
Directed by Tim Skousen; Produced by Robert Fernandez, Tom Skousen
Zero Percent highlights the Hudson Link college program, which is credited with transforming the lives of more than 100 men at the maximum security state prison.
Best Documentary Short
LOVE LOCKDOWN
Directed by Nadia Hallgren; Produced by Jamie-James Medina
Love Lockdown is a short documentary inspired by the impassioned phone calls and shout-outs made to prisoners on Lockdown Love, a popular late-night radio show in New York City. The film tells the story of Shoshanna, a young mother from the Bronx as she waits to learn the fate of Felix, the father of her children, who is incarcerated and faces a 10 year sentence. Dialing tirelessly, waiting hours on hold, Shoshanna’s phone calls tell an unconventional story of love and commitment, as she works to realize a life with or without the man she loves.
Honorable Mention:
Common Ground (for cinematography – Eduard Jakaj, Stephen Dwight; Directed by Hollie Fifer)
Best Screenplay
AFTER THE STORM
Written by Cole Wiley
Deserted by his father hours before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, a young boy must overcome the loss of his home and family in order to avoid a disastrous fate.
Honorable Mention:
Blackbird (Written by David Polk)
The Divide (Written by Rashmi Singh)
Best Teleplay
WHITEHALL
Written by Dawn M. Green & Aliza Pearl Kennerly
Audience Award
LIFE, LOVE, SOUL
Written and Directed by Noel Calloway; Produced by Allen J. West, Benny Pough, Dedra N. Tate
Life, Love Soul is about a young mans struggle to regain control of his life after he suffers the loss of his mother and brother and becomes reunited with his estranged father.
Audience Award Honorable Mention
BROOKLYN BOHEME
Directed by Diane Paragas and Nelson George
Urbanworld closed its 15th film festival on Saturday, September 17 with the NYC premiere of the Sundance World Cinema Audience Award film Kinyarwanda, directed by Alrick Brown and starring Cassandra Freeman. The packed theater gave the film a standing ovation, followed by a Q&A (with Brown, Freeman and producer Darren Dean) moderated by noted journalist Lola Ogunnaike.
Actress Zoe Kravitz was also in attendance to promote her role in the film Yelling to the Sky, directed by Victoria Mahoney and starring Gabourey Sidibe, Yolonda Ross and Sonequa Martin.
Additional screenings last night included ‘Life Love Soul,’ directed by Noel Calloway and starring Jamie Hector, Terri J. Vaughn, Chad Coleman, Egypt Sherrod, Tamara Fay, Allen West and Robbie Tate-Brickle; ‘Make a Movie Like Spike,’ directed by and starring Jamil Walker Smith; ‘The Start of Dreams,’ directed by the Horne Brothers and starring Kenny Leon, Samuel L. Jackson and Denzel Washington; and Vh1 Rock Docs’ ‘Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation,’ narrated and executive produced by Ice-T.
Among the short films shown included Carl Seaton‘s Karim, Jerry Lamothe‘s The Tombs, Phyllis Toben Bancroft‘s Burned, Geoff Bailey‘s Counterfeit, and Jacolby Percy‘s A Higher Power.
