Schnabel and Oswalt Take Top Acting Prizes at Method Fest

Rose Byrne and Hugh Dancy in "Adam," which took the Jury Award for Best Picture at the 2009 Method Fest. Photo courtesy of Method Fest.

Stella Schnabel won the “Time Warner Cable Geraldine Page Award for Best Actress” in a feature film for her performance in “You Won’t Miss Me,” and Patton Oswalt took home the “City of Calabasas John Garfield Award for Best Actor” for his role in “Big Fan,” as the 11th annual The Method Fest independent film festival announced its winners Thursday night at the Calabasas Civic Center, in Calabasas, CA. Method Fest focuses on the actor’s craft, “celebrating breakout acting performances in story driven independent films.”

“The depth of great performances this year made it extremely hard for the judges to determine Best Actor until they witnessed, on screen, Patton Oswalt starring in ‘Big Fan,’ on the closing night of the festival,” commented Don Franken, Executive Director of The Method Fest in a statement. “This is as fine a performance by a male lead as any I have seen anywhere this year,” he added. “Schnabel was also impressive in the leading role in ‘You Won’t Miss Me,’ and these performers have huge things to come.”

The Mercedes-Benz of Calabasas Jury Award for Best Picture was presented to “Adam,” directed by Max Mayer and starring Hugh Dancy, while the festival’s “Christie Digital Audience Award for Best Picture” was presented to “16 to Life,” directed by Becky Smith.

Other Method Fest winners:

The LA.com Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film - Theresa Russell, “16 to Life”

The Stockholm Krystal Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film - Colm Meaney, “A Deal is a Deal”

Modern VideoFilm Award for Best Director of a Feature Film - Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, “Sugar”

The Daily News Award for Best Screenplay - John Scoular, “Lunatics, Lovers and Poets”

The Charter Communications Award for Best Ensemble Cast - Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Mike Beaver, Dave Foley, Peter Keleghan and Dylan Everett, “Cooper’s Camera”

The Barefoot Winery Maverick Award for High Quality in Low Budget Filmmaking - Mark Hug and May Charters, “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” and Savvy Lorestani, “My Sixteenth Summer”

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The SAGIndie Award for Best Short – Tristram Shapeero, “Sidney Turtlebaum” The Stella Artois Award for Best Foreign Film – Jonathan Gershfield, “A Deal is a Deal” The Creative Handbook Award for Best Actor in a Short – Brendan Bradley, “September 12th” The FilmFinders Award for Best Actress in a Short – Laura Heisler, “Coverage” The Sound 100.3 Award for Best Student Short – Nick Palmer, “Dockweiler” The Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Audience Award for Best Short Film - Chris Jones, “Gone Fishing” The Valley of the Stars Festival Director’s Award for Excellence – Dave Rodriguez, “Anytown” The Regency Theaters Award for Breakout Acting – Elena Hudgins Lyle, “Only” Auteur Director Award - Peter Bogdanovich Performer to Watch Award - Tanna Frederick Sony Future Filmmakers Award for Best Picture – Sabrina Jaglom, “First Date” Final Draft Future Filmmakers Award for Best Screenplay – tie: Cristian Rojas, “Hand to Hand” and Katie Fleeman, “The Magic Bindle Stick” Indieprinting.com Future Filmmakers Award for Best Acting – Dakota Bailey, “First Date” and Terry Young, “Etiolate” Login to recommend this article » posted on April 3, 2009 Films to Snag Login to Leave a Comment »