Maui Film Festival：《 THE 2009 MAUI FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL WINNERS 》
THE 2009 MAUI FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL WINNERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE 2009 MAUI FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL WINNERS
(500) Days of Summer Receives Audience Award Dramatic Feature and Best Director
Wailea, HI (June 23, 2009) – The 2009 Annual Maui Film Festival at Wailea held from June 17-21, 2009 announced its Festival winners. Approximately 20,000 people attended this year’s Maui Film Festival at Wailea and voted on their favorite films. The scenic views of Maui served as a backdrop to some of the best American independent films and world cinema. The Festival also featured cultural events, tributes and filmmakers panels.
This year’s award winners were:
Audience Award - Dramatic Feature: (500) Days of Summer
Audience Award - Best Director: Marc Webb (500) Days of Summer
2009 Maui Film Festival Nova Award honoree, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in this post-modern love story that is never what we expect it to be. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t. Its twisted journey of highs and lows doesn’t quite go where we think it will, it takes us where we want any good, even-not-quite-love story to end, leaving us satisfied, enlightened and believing in the ultimate power of love.
Audience Award - Comedy Feature: Paper Heart
Combining elements of documentary and traditional storytelling, reality and fantasy, this film brings a fresh perspective to the modern romance, redefining the classic love story as director Charlyne Yi, who claims not to believe in love, or at the very least, fairy-tale love, or the Hollywood mythology of love, meets a boy, Juno’s Michael Cera, after her own heart.
Audience Award – Feature Documentary: The Cove
The amazing true story of filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, dolphin trainer Richard O’Barry, and an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers who embarked on a covert mission to penetrate a hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The mysteries they uncovered were only the tip of the iceberg.
Audience Award - Family Friendly Feature: More Than a Game
Led by future NBA superstar and 2009 Most Valuable Player, LeBron James, and a charismatic yet inexperienced player’s father, five talented young basketball players form Akron, OH star in this remarkable true-life coming-of-age story about friendship and loyalty, which leads them from a decrepit inner-city gym to the doorstep of a national high school championship. This is far more than an inspirational and exciting sports film. It is a spiritual experience, which is also major league heartfelt filmmaking.
Audience Award - Documentary Vision: Rock Prophecies
Rock Prophecies: Honolulu-born photographer Robert Knight takes us right into the presence - actual footage! - of the planet’s most iconic guitar heroes, including Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, BB King, Eric Clapton, Slash and, among many others, phenom blues guitarist Tyler Del Bryant.
Audience Award –‘Green’ Documentary Feature: Dirt! The Movie
We survive on the fertile power of fresh water and dirt. All other measurements of wealth are illusions. It is a living, breathing skin that thinly coats the most hospitable parts of planet Earth, and it teems with life. There are tens of billions of microorganisms in a single handful of the stuff. In the biblical book Genesis, God grabs a handful of dirt and breathes life into it. The result is a man called Adam whose name means dirt or clay. No matter what your religion might be, this particular poetic image is universally valid.
.Audience Award – Spirit in Cinema Documentary Feature:
Saint Misbehavin’ The Wavy Gravy Movie
Beat poet, Merry Prankster, friend of Bob Dylan, opening act for Coltrane and Monk, member of the Hog Farm Commune and much more, Wavy Gravy, who started life as Hugh Romney, is an activist and artist extraordinaire. That said, don’t imagine that this film is just a flashback for old hippies. Wavy Gravy is more relevant than ever - a courageous survivor who has given his life to the cause of joy and laughter, sanity and love. He is truly a genius and, yes, a saint.
Audience Award - ‘ChangeMaker’ Documentary Feature: Cash Crop
Marijuana is the number one cash crop in 12 of the United States, and is among the top three cash crops of 30 states. The “industry” is worth about $35 billion a year. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently suggested considering marijuana growing as a legalized farming activity to potentially raise more than a billion dollars in annual tax revenue for the state. Cash Crop is an even-handed excursion into the so-called Emerald Triangle of Northern California.
Audience Award - Ensemble Cast: Splinterheads
When an irreverent comedy starts out with its 20-something lead character falling head over heels in lust with a beautiful carnie con artist immediately after attending a family gathering where a call from the Guinness Book of World Records informed them that his 116-year-old grandfather (who shortly thereafter becomes a side show attraction at the very same carnival) had just become “the newest oldest world’s man” - you know it’s time to butter the popcorn and settle in for a ride to remember!
Audience Award - World Cinema Drama: Departures
Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan, as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. This is a story of love, of discovery, of revelation and of the transcending human spirit that will linger in your heart and mind long after viewing.
Audience Award - World Cinema Documentary: One Peace at a Time
“There’s nothing magical about change. It’s about getting up off your ass.” Director Turk Pipkin literally travels the Earth to look at the worst problems, and he asks the same question every time: What can be done to fix it? This is a film about solutions, not hopeless dead ends, which includes Maverick Award recipient Willie Nelson making a delightful appearance, riding up on a horse, playing a sizzling chess game, and telling one of the best jokes you will have heard in a long time.
Audience Award - Documentary Short: Rwanda Gorilla Special
On a trip to Rwanda, explore had the opportunity to visit four families of wild mountain gorillas, a species with only 720 remaining members. Their guide is Craig Sholley, who has been intimately involved in the preservation of African wildlife for more than 30 years. The team's thrilling interaction with these peaceful animals - who share 98.6% of their genetic makeup with humans - is a startling reminder of their own humanity.
Audience Award - World Cinema Short: Mustang: A Journey of Transformation
Miracles do happen. In the tiny kingdom of Mustang (pronounced “moose-TONG”) farmers were taught the art of mural restoration. In the process of bringing long-weathered and nearly-gone murals back to life, they also brought the monasteries back to their climactic beauty and a vivid revival of Tibetan Buddhist practices.
Audience Award – “Best Hawai’I Film : Hawai'i: A Voice for Sovereignty
An exploration of the culture and spirituality of the native Hawaiian People and its connection to the land. This modern epic documentary contains rare interviews with Native Hawaiians in their homes, at sacred sites, rain forests, and mountains. The movement for cultural, environmental, and economic sustainability, since the takeover in 1893, is spoken in the voice of the Kanaka Maoli.
Audience Award - World Cinema Animation: My Date from Hell
If you think the devil has to be an evil, sinister and scary guy, you will surely change your mind after you have joined him on his search for the girl of his dreams. Because when it comes down to love even the Devil has a soul!
Audience Award – Comedy Short: Spleenectomy
After passionately auditioning for a role in a local community theater production, A mom, played by Anna Farris, is cast aside by a pretentious theater director. Lucky for her, she gets another unbelievable chance to nail her dream role.
Audience Award - Animated Short: Gerald's Last Day
Gerald the dog has been scheduled for termination at the Dog Pound at 5:00, can he seduce an adopter before his time runs out?
Audience Award - Experimental Short: Photograph of Jesus
Looking for photographs of Jesus, yetis, and Hitler in 1948? Help is at hand with this documentary-fantasy based on true stories of requests for impossible images. Real-life archives become the stage where fact and fiction collide, belief runs amok and unruly images have a life of their own.
AWARDS
Festival honored Willie Nelson with the Maverick Award for having the courage of his convictions, a willingness to speak his mind and the backbone to withstand the heat from those who take issue with his vigorous expression of our collective constitutional right to the freedom of artistic and political expression. Zooey Deschanel received the Nova Award, which honors a film artist whose stunningly original and seamless performances consistently infuse each character they play with unique insight and wisdom.
The 2009 Maui Film Festival sponsors are Premier Sponsor Starz; Official Sponsors explore, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hawaiian Springs Water, Stella Artois; Major Sponsors Destination Resorts, Four Seasons Resort Maui, Fairmont Kea Lani, Grand Wailea, Hotel Wailea, Starwood Capital Group / Kobayashi Group, The Shops At Wailea, Wailea Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, Wailea Golf Club, Wailea Beach Villas; Industry Sponsors BWR Public Relations, Dolby, Fotokem, Getty Images, Hawaii Film Office, Reel Maui - Maui Film Office, Picture Mill, PSAV, The Friedman Group, Variety; Sponsorship Ohana Alexander and Baldwin, Capische, Mala Wailea, Mana Foods, Maui Economic Development Board, Ocean Vodka, Rivers To The Sea, Seawatch Restaurant, Tommy Bahama; Kama'aina Ohana 808 Deli, Art & Culture, County Of Maui, Cirque Polynesia, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, HIluxury, Hawaii Modern Luxury, Honolulu Coffee Company, KAOI Radio Group, Letarte Swimwear, Medi Spa Maui, MVP Hawaii, Queen Ka'ahumanu Center, Randy Jay Braun Photography, Rising Sun Solar, Roberts Hawaii, Spectracolor, The Studio Maui, The Works, This Week Maui, Sit Means Sit Dog Training.
For additional information, call the Film Festival Headquarters at (808) 572-3456 or visit www.mauifilmfestival.com.
# # #
Media Contact:
Steven Wilson
B|W|R Public Relations
310-550-7776
swilson@bwr-la.com
Ellen Peterson
Maui Film Festival
808-280-5096
ellenonmaui@gmail.com
THE 2009 MAUI FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL WINNERS
(500) Days of Summer Receives Audience Award Dramatic Feature and Best Director
Wailea, HI (June 23, 2009) – The 2009 Annual Maui Film Festival at Wailea held from June 17-21, 2009 announced its Festival winners. Approximately 20,000 people attended this year’s Maui Film Festival at Wailea and voted on their favorite films. The scenic views of Maui served as a backdrop to some of the best American independent films and world cinema. The Festival also featured cultural events, tributes and filmmakers panels.
This year’s award winners were:
Audience Award - Dramatic Feature: (500) Days of Summer
Audience Award - Best Director: Marc Webb (500) Days of Summer
2009 Maui Film Festival Nova Award honoree, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in this post-modern love story that is never what we expect it to be. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t. Its twisted journey of highs and lows doesn’t quite go where we think it will, it takes us where we want any good, even-not-quite-love story to end, leaving us satisfied, enlightened and believing in the ultimate power of love.
Audience Award - Comedy Feature: Paper Heart
Combining elements of documentary and traditional storytelling, reality and fantasy, this film brings a fresh perspective to the modern romance, redefining the classic love story as director Charlyne Yi, who claims not to believe in love, or at the very least, fairy-tale love, or the Hollywood mythology of love, meets a boy, Juno’s Michael Cera, after her own heart.
Audience Award – Feature Documentary: The Cove
The amazing true story of filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, dolphin trainer Richard O’Barry, and an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers who embarked on a covert mission to penetrate a hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The mysteries they uncovered were only the tip of the iceberg.
Audience Award - Family Friendly Feature: More Than a Game
Led by future NBA superstar and 2009 Most Valuable Player, LeBron James, and a charismatic yet inexperienced player’s father, five talented young basketball players form Akron, OH star in this remarkable true-life coming-of-age story about friendship and loyalty, which leads them from a decrepit inner-city gym to the doorstep of a national high school championship. This is far more than an inspirational and exciting sports film. It is a spiritual experience, which is also major league heartfelt filmmaking.
Audience Award - Documentary Vision: Rock Prophecies
Rock Prophecies: Honolulu-born photographer Robert Knight takes us right into the presence - actual footage! - of the planet’s most iconic guitar heroes, including Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, BB King, Eric Clapton, Slash and, among many others, phenom blues guitarist Tyler Del Bryant.
Audience Award –‘Green’ Documentary Feature: Dirt! The Movie
We survive on the fertile power of fresh water and dirt. All other measurements of wealth are illusions. It is a living, breathing skin that thinly coats the most hospitable parts of planet Earth, and it teems with life. There are tens of billions of microorganisms in a single handful of the stuff. In the biblical book Genesis, God grabs a handful of dirt and breathes life into it. The result is a man called Adam whose name means dirt or clay. No matter what your religion might be, this particular poetic image is universally valid.
.Audience Award – Spirit in Cinema Documentary Feature:
Saint Misbehavin’ The Wavy Gravy Movie
Beat poet, Merry Prankster, friend of Bob Dylan, opening act for Coltrane and Monk, member of the Hog Farm Commune and much more, Wavy Gravy, who started life as Hugh Romney, is an activist and artist extraordinaire. That said, don’t imagine that this film is just a flashback for old hippies. Wavy Gravy is more relevant than ever - a courageous survivor who has given his life to the cause of joy and laughter, sanity and love. He is truly a genius and, yes, a saint.
Audience Award - ‘ChangeMaker’ Documentary Feature: Cash Crop
Marijuana is the number one cash crop in 12 of the United States, and is among the top three cash crops of 30 states. The “industry” is worth about $35 billion a year. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently suggested considering marijuana growing as a legalized farming activity to potentially raise more than a billion dollars in annual tax revenue for the state. Cash Crop is an even-handed excursion into the so-called Emerald Triangle of Northern California.
Audience Award - Ensemble Cast: Splinterheads
When an irreverent comedy starts out with its 20-something lead character falling head over heels in lust with a beautiful carnie con artist immediately after attending a family gathering where a call from the Guinness Book of World Records informed them that his 116-year-old grandfather (who shortly thereafter becomes a side show attraction at the very same carnival) had just become “the newest oldest world’s man” - you know it’s time to butter the popcorn and settle in for a ride to remember!
Audience Award - World Cinema Drama: Departures
Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan, as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. This is a story of love, of discovery, of revelation and of the transcending human spirit that will linger in your heart and mind long after viewing.
Audience Award - World Cinema Documentary: One Peace at a Time
“There’s nothing magical about change. It’s about getting up off your ass.” Director Turk Pipkin literally travels the Earth to look at the worst problems, and he asks the same question every time: What can be done to fix it? This is a film about solutions, not hopeless dead ends, which includes Maverick Award recipient Willie Nelson making a delightful appearance, riding up on a horse, playing a sizzling chess game, and telling one of the best jokes you will have heard in a long time.
Audience Award - Documentary Short: Rwanda Gorilla Special
On a trip to Rwanda, explore had the opportunity to visit four families of wild mountain gorillas, a species with only 720 remaining members. Their guide is Craig Sholley, who has been intimately involved in the preservation of African wildlife for more than 30 years. The team's thrilling interaction with these peaceful animals - who share 98.6% of their genetic makeup with humans - is a startling reminder of their own humanity.
Audience Award - World Cinema Short: Mustang: A Journey of Transformation
Miracles do happen. In the tiny kingdom of Mustang (pronounced “moose-TONG”) farmers were taught the art of mural restoration. In the process of bringing long-weathered and nearly-gone murals back to life, they also brought the monasteries back to their climactic beauty and a vivid revival of Tibetan Buddhist practices.
Audience Award – “Best Hawai’I Film : Hawai'i: A Voice for Sovereignty
An exploration of the culture and spirituality of the native Hawaiian People and its connection to the land. This modern epic documentary contains rare interviews with Native Hawaiians in their homes, at sacred sites, rain forests, and mountains. The movement for cultural, environmental, and economic sustainability, since the takeover in 1893, is spoken in the voice of the Kanaka Maoli.
Audience Award - World Cinema Animation: My Date from Hell
If you think the devil has to be an evil, sinister and scary guy, you will surely change your mind after you have joined him on his search for the girl of his dreams. Because when it comes down to love even the Devil has a soul!
Audience Award – Comedy Short: Spleenectomy
After passionately auditioning for a role in a local community theater production, A mom, played by Anna Farris, is cast aside by a pretentious theater director. Lucky for her, she gets another unbelievable chance to nail her dream role.
Audience Award - Animated Short: Gerald's Last Day
Gerald the dog has been scheduled for termination at the Dog Pound at 5:00, can he seduce an adopter before his time runs out?
Audience Award - Experimental Short: Photograph of Jesus
Looking for photographs of Jesus, yetis, and Hitler in 1948? Help is at hand with this documentary-fantasy based on true stories of requests for impossible images. Real-life archives become the stage where fact and fiction collide, belief runs amok and unruly images have a life of their own.
AWARDS
Festival honored Willie Nelson with the Maverick Award for having the courage of his convictions, a willingness to speak his mind and the backbone to withstand the heat from those who take issue with his vigorous expression of our collective constitutional right to the freedom of artistic and political expression. Zooey Deschanel received the Nova Award, which honors a film artist whose stunningly original and seamless performances consistently infuse each character they play with unique insight and wisdom.
The 2009 Maui Film Festival sponsors are Premier Sponsor Starz; Official Sponsors explore, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hawaiian Springs Water, Stella Artois; Major Sponsors Destination Resorts, Four Seasons Resort Maui, Fairmont Kea Lani, Grand Wailea, Hotel Wailea, Starwood Capital Group / Kobayashi Group, The Shops At Wailea, Wailea Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, Wailea Golf Club, Wailea Beach Villas; Industry Sponsors BWR Public Relations, Dolby, Fotokem, Getty Images, Hawaii Film Office, Reel Maui - Maui Film Office, Picture Mill, PSAV, The Friedman Group, Variety; Sponsorship Ohana Alexander and Baldwin, Capische, Mala Wailea, Mana Foods, Maui Economic Development Board, Ocean Vodka, Rivers To The Sea, Seawatch Restaurant, Tommy Bahama; Kama'aina Ohana 808 Deli, Art & Culture, County Of Maui, Cirque Polynesia, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, HIluxury, Hawaii Modern Luxury, Honolulu Coffee Company, KAOI Radio Group, Letarte Swimwear, Medi Spa Maui, MVP Hawaii, Queen Ka'ahumanu Center, Randy Jay Braun Photography, Rising Sun Solar, Roberts Hawaii, Spectracolor, The Studio Maui, The Works, This Week Maui, Sit Means Sit Dog Training.
For additional information, call the Film Festival Headquarters at (808) 572-3456 or visit www.mauifilmfestival.com.
# # #
Media Contact:
Steven Wilson
B|W|R Public Relations
310-550-7776
swilson@bwr-la.com
Ellen Peterson
Maui Film Festival
808-280-5096
ellenonmaui@gmail.com
