AFI Fest 2010 announced Thursday four feature audience awards and two short film jury winners. Among the audience winners, the World Cinema feature winner is Sundance entry Boy, about a young boy in 1980’s New Zealand who confronts his long-absent father when he returns home (Taika Waititi. New Zealand). (Trailer is below.) The New Auteurs feature winner is Bedevilled, about an island vacation that turns deadly (Cheol-soo Jang. South Korea). The Young Americans feature winner is Littlerock, about a Japanese student who discovers a different America than the one in her dreams (Mike Ott. USA). The Breakthrough award winner (accompanied by a $5,000 cash prize) is Hamill, inspired by the life of deaf UFC fighter, Matt Hamill (Oren Kaplan. USA).
As in previous years, the short film jury picked the awards; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes each winner as a qualifier for the annual Academy Awards:
Live Action Short Film
QUADRANGLE: An unconventional documentary about two “conventional” couples who swapped partners and lived in a group marriage in the early ‘70s. DIR Amy Grappell. USA.
Animated Short Film
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON: Voiced and written by SNL alum Jenny Slate, this short about a shell took the Internet by storm. DIR Dean Fleischer-Camp. SCR Jenny Slate, Dean Fleischer-Camp. USA .
PHOTOGRAPH OF JESUS (DIR Laurie Hill) and THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE (DIR/SCR Trevor Anderson) receive honorable mention from the Short Film Jury and will also screen again today.
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