"Christmas" & "Better This World" Take Top Sarasota Film Festival Prizes

Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega's "Better This World."

Radu Muntean's "Tuesday After Christmas" received the Narrative Feature jury prize, while "Better This World" by director Katie Galloway was the Documentary Jury Prize winner at the 2011 Sarasota Film Festival. "Without" by director Mark Jackson won the festival's juried award for Independent Vision.

"As the Sarasota Film Festival continues to grow, we are very gratified by the response of our jurors and audiences to our programs," commented Artistic Director Tom Hall in a statement. "We congratulate all of our filmmakers for their tremendous work and are so pleased to see such a rewarding response to the film program."

The 2011 Sarasota Film Festival took place April 7 - 17.

The 2011 Sarasota Film Festival winners with information provided by the festival:

Narrative Feature Competition Winner:
"Tuesday After Christmas," directed by Radu Muntean

Special Jury Prize:
"Old Cats," directed by Pedro Peirano and Sebastian Silva

Documentary Feature Competition:
"Better This World," directed by Katie Galloway

Special Jury Prize
"Position Among Stars," directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich

Audience Awards:

Best Documentary Feature
"To Be Heard," directed by Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer

Best Short Film
"Fatakra," directed by Soham Mehta

Best Narrative Feature
"to.get.her," directed by Erica Dunton

Best In World Cinema
"Trollhunter," directed by Andre Ovredal

youthFEST Best Family Film
"The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Lion," directed by Alois Di Leo

youthFEST Best Short Film
"The Auction," directed by Gloria Kim

Independent Vision Prize Winner
"Without," directed by Mark Jackson

Independent Vision Prize, Special Jury Prize
"The Oregonian," directed by Calvin Lee Reeder

The Sarasota Film Festival Master Of Cinema: Christopher Plummer