2007 Outfest Los Angeles

These are the winners in the 2007 Outfest Film Competition, plus some information about the jurors.

Outstanding American Narrative Feature: 25 CENT PREVIEW directed by Cyrus Amini
Outstanding International Narrative Feature: TULI directed by Auraeus Solito
Outstanding Documentary Feature: JERUSALEM IS PROUD TO PRESENT directed by Nitzan Gilady
Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film: Merlin Gaspers and Dorian Brockington in 25 CENT PREVIEW
Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film: Michelle Ehlen in BUTCH JAMIE
Outstanding Screenwriting: Casper Andreas and Jesse Archer for A FOUR LETTER WORD
Outstanding Dramatic Short: PARIAH directed by Dee Rees
Outstanding Documentary Short: LEGACY directed by Inge Blackman

Special Programming Awards

Freedom Award: THROUGH THICK AND THIN directed by Sebastian Cordoba
Outstanding Emerging: Dominique Cardona and Laurie Colbert, directors, FINN’S GIRL
Outstanding Artistic Achievement: Angelina Maccarone, director, VIVERE

Audience Awards

HBO Outstanding First Dramatic Feature: SHELTER directed by Jonah Markowitz
Outstanding Dramatic Feature: THE BUBBLE directed by Eytan Fox
Outstanding Documentary Feature: FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO directed by Daniel Karslake
Outstanding Dramatic Short: PARIAH directed by Dee Rees
Outstanding Documentary Short: FREEHELD directed by Cynthia Wade
Outstanding Soundtrack: Michele Mulroney and Micah Schraft for SUNNY AND SHARE LOVE YOU

FILM COMPETITION JURORS

U.S. DRAMATIC FEATURES COMPETITION

JENNI OLSON
Jenni Olson, director of e-commerce at WolfeVideo.com, is a leading expert on LGBT cinema history. She is a curator and archivist, has established PlanetOut. com’s massive queer movie database, PopcornQ, serves on the advisory board for Outfest’s Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation and is launching the new Wolfe Vintage Collection. Also a filmmaker, Jenni’s debut feature, THE JOY OF LIFE, won the Outfest Award for OUTStanding Artistic Achievement in 2005. She is in development on a new feature, GET ME GUINEVERE TURNER.

BARRY SANDLER
Barry Sandler is the screenwriter of CRIMES OF PASSION, THE MIRROR CRACK’D, EVIL UNDER THE SUN, GABLE AND LOMBARD, THE KANSAS CITY BOMBER, and the groundbreaking MAKING LOVE. He is the recipient of the GLAAD Media Award and the Outfest 2002 Gay Pioneer Award for Courage and Artistry, and was named by The Advocate as one of the most influential gay artists in America. Sandler also serves as Artistic Director of the Outfest Screenwriting Lab, and teaches screenwriting at the University of Central Florida School of Film and Digital Media.

DARRYL STEPHENS
Darryl Stephens studied acting while attending UC Berkeley and was part of the university-based theater troupe, Sassymouth. His television roles include MTV’s “Undressed,” CBS’ “That’s Life” and VH1’s “Red Eye.” Stephens studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse prior to joining the cast of “Noah’s Arc” in the leading role of Noah. Stephens can be seen in two feature films, Q. Allan Brocka’s BOY CULTURE and in a supporting role in Todd Stephens’ ANOTHER GAY MOVIE. His other feature film credits include SEAMLESS, CIRCUIT, and the independent feature NOT QUITE RIGHT.

INTERNATIONAL DRAMATIC FEATURES COMPETITION

ALONSO DURALDE
Alonso Duralde is the author of 101 Must- See Movies For Gay Men (Alyson Books) and vice president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. He was the Arts & Entertainment Editor at The Advocate and Artistic Director of the USA Film Festival/Dallas. He is featured in the documentaries FABULOUS! THE STORY OF QUEER CINEMA and HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, BOY and on the DVDs of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. He is currently at work on his next book.

EVE OISHI
Eve Oishi is Associate Professor of Cultural Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Her research specialities include Asian American, queer and experimental cinema and transnational media culture. Her book, The Memory Village: Fakeness and the Forging of Family in Asian American Literature and Film, is forthcoming from Duke University Press. She has curated film and video programs for film festivals in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia and served as international features consultant for the Sundance Film Festival.

CARLOS GARZA
Carlos Garza began his programming career at the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival while he was studying at the University of Texas in Austin. In 2003, he became a founding member of the Morelia International Film Festival, which has emerged as one of Mexico’s premiere film events. Garza has been a freelance journalist, editor, and publicist, coordinator of the World Cinema Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, and nominator for the Media Arts Fellowship program for Mexican film and video artists administered by Renew Media and established by the Rockefeller Foundation.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES COMPETITION

BILLY LUTHER
Billy Luther studied film at Hampshire College and worked for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian-Native American Film and Video Festival. A past honoree of Film Independent’s Project: Involve, Luther was recently selected for the Tribeca Institute’s All Access Program, the 2006 Sundance Ford Fellowship and FIND’s FastTrack with his feature documentary MISS NAVAJO, which screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. He is in development on the UNTITLED INDIAN MARCHING BAND PROJECT and Nanobah Becker’s FULL. Luther belongs to the Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo Tribes.

MEENA NANJI
Meena Nanji has been working in experimental and documentary film/video for the last twelve years. Her films VIEW FROM A GRAIN OF SAND, VOICES OF THE MORNING, LIVING IN COLOUR, and IT IS A CRIME have been recognized by the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Paul Robeson Fund, The American Film Institute, and NAATA. Meena has curated various film/ video festivals and screenings in Los Angeles and San Francisco, been a juror on grant-giving organizations and film festivals, and guest lectures at universities and conferences around the world.

LAURA NIX
Laura Nix began her documentary career in the early nineties in Boston, and has since produced and directed over 50 presentations for DVD and television, including the feature documentary on the creative evolution of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, titled WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT: THE STORY OF HEDWIG. She also wrote and directed the fiction feature THE POLITICS OF FUR, which won numerous awards during its appearance at 70 film festivals worldwide including the Grand Jury Prize for Best American Narrative and Best Actress Award at Outfest 2002.

SHORT FILMS COMPETITION

DIANE GAIDRY
Diane Gaidry is the Executive Director and co-founder of Filmmakers Alliance. She co-produced the feature film, THE DOGWALKER, and has overseen the production of numerous shorts made through FA. Diane has played lead roles in several independent features, including LOVING ANNABELLE (Best Actress Outfest 2006), NEED, THE DOGWALKER and AMERICA SO BEAUTIFUL. She is currently in pre-production on an omnibus film, RED WHITE AND BLUE, which was developed with 10 FA writer/directors.

ROBERTA MARIE MUNROE
Roberta Marie Munroe is the Program Director at the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. She was a short film programmer at the Sundance Film Festival from 2001-2006, and is the author of the upcoming book, How Not To Make A Film: Confessions Of A Sundance Programmer. Her short film DANI & ALICE has screened at over 70 film festivals and won the Planet Out Best Drama Award. In 2005, Roberta was named one of the 10 Amazing Gay Women in Hollywood by POWER UP.

CAMERON YATES
Cameron Yates is the Short Film Programmer for NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Film Festival. He has also worked for Sundance, the New York Film Festival, Albert Maysles, and Zeitgeist Films. As a documentary filmmaker, Cameron’s first film 14 AND PAYROLLED, a portrait of teenagers working for the Virginia House of Delegates, premiered on PBS in 2003. He is currently working on a feature documentary about a New Orleans Madam and her family.