California Film Awards

2010 Winners

Grand Winners

Grand Jury Award: Exodus Fall - Ankush Kohli (USA)

Special Jury Prize: The Taste of Relation - Mukesh Asopa (Canada)
Special Jury Prize: Homeless in Los Angeles - Brandon James Miller (USA)
Special Jury Prize: The Darkroom - Z. Eric Yang (USA)
Special Jury Prize: Mind Games - Daniel Deason (USA)
Special Jury Prize: Darkmoon - Alexander G. Seyum (USA)
Special Jury Prize: The Gypsy - Jon Navarro (USA)

Best Narrative Film: Mud - Karlos Alastruey (Spain)
Best Feature Film: The Story - Steve Bellamy (USA)
Best Documentary Film: The Lost JFK Tapes: The Assassination - Tom Jennings (USA)
Best Narrative Short: Running Away With Blackie - Lucas Garcia (USA)
Best Dramatic Short: Liminal - Stephen Keep Mills (USA)
Best Foreign Film: Little Perfect Girls - Clement Schneider (France)
Best Foreign Short: Toby's Odyssey - Steven Forrester (United Kingdom)
Best Student Film: Year of the Faun - Chloe Chevalier (France)
Best Student Short: Grandfather - Hanjin Park (USA)
Best Animated Film: Little Gobie - Tony Tang (Hong Kong)
Best Animated Short: A Noiseless Patient Spider - Nancy Rodwan (USA)
Best Director: Atroz - Francisco Alvarez (Spain)
Best First-Time Director: Awakening Arthur - Courtney Dixon (USA)
Best Screenplay: A Cigar At The Beach - Stephen Keep Mills (USA)
Best Actor: Friends and Lovers - Ron Pike (USA)
Best Actress: Anne Jennings - Lauren Montgomery (Japan)
Best Comedy: The Other Cheek - Ivonne Contreras (USA)
Best Family Film: My Little Princess - Enzo Zelocchi (USA)
Best Drama: Behind the Eight Ball - Mike Graveline (Canada)
Best First-Time Documentary: Whats Up? - Kim Sheridan (USA)
Best California Film: The Drummond Will - Alan Butterworth (United Kingdom)
Best California Short: Two Hours In The Dark - Chip Hackler (USA)
Best Experimental Film: The Nature of Cities - Chuck Davis & Timothy Beatley (USA)
Best Music Video: Kill For You - Dawn Cobalt (USA)
Best Television Pilot: 4 Track: Sketch Comedy TV - Nicholas Morrison (USA)

Orson Welles Awards

Animated Film: Post-Nup: 'Uppers'- Katharine Woodman-Maynard
California Film: Napa - Tobey Jorré
Documentary Film: Happy World: Burma, The Dictatorship of the Absurd - Gaël Bordier
Music Video: 11:11 - Sophia Segal
Narrative Film: Unaware - Robert Cooley & Sean Bardin
Screenplay Competition: The Goddess Within written by Stavroula Kalogeras
Short Film: Rebound Girl - Joe McKernan & Mario Enriquez Jr.
Student Film: The Last to Leave - Pat Clark
Television Pilot: She Wore Silver Wings - Devin Scott

Screenplay Competition

1st Place: I'll Die Tomorrow written by John Maffucci
2nd Place: San Andreas written by Joshua Rutherford
3rd Place: Winless Winner written by Randy Hatch
4th Place: Tales of the Arranged Marriage written by Harrish Mandyam
5th Place: Death and Forgiveness written by Joe Barton

Official Finalists

Little Bighorn written by Michael Baca
Codgertown written by Robert Gately
Mission written by Jessica Ellis
Ted written by Leslie Flannery
The Manson Obsession written by Melanie Scheller
The Go Getter written by Mary Conroy
According the Surgeon General written by Benjamin Bates
Prime-7 written by Chris Renzi
Potion Man written by Mark Golik
High Sierra written by Brian Bose

Honorable Mentions

Straight-Shooter written by Stephen Settle
Bullied: The Story of the "Village Idiot" written by Donn Warr Lewis
Corporate Policy written by Robert Gately
There Are No Superheroes written by Benjamin Bates
Firewalker written by Jennifer Martin
The Bag Lady War written by Ruth Wire
Nightfreight written by John Celona
My Way written by Judah Ray Neiditch
American Feng Shui Man written by Mei Wu
Underlying Truth written by Lunda Plamann-Handford
Cosmic Roulettte written by Mick O'Brien
Army written by Lior Lederman
Cold Wake written by Guillermo Damia
The Olive Branch written by Joey Kent
Going Solo written by Robert Gately
Stations written by Michael Hemmingson
Heaven Falls written by Leslie Cook
The Voyeur written by John Bengel
Draw written by R. Dell Sanders
Jasper written by Sharon Duncan

Short Script Competition

1st Place: Happy Downloadday written by Phil Ferriere
2nd Place: Sys and Rock Star written by Jason Wallach
3rd Place: Angel Bands written by Steven Solomon

Official Finalists

…And Executioner written by Travis Opgenorth
Mom, A Pill and I written by Ye Joo Kim
Anatomy of You Saying Good-Bye written by Kevin Schwartz
Only the Heart Remembers written by Barbara Epstein
Swim Into The Unconscious written by Dexter E. Williams
Blood Trigger written by Ron Podell
Mum Goes to Mars written by J. Jeff Hillard
Tropical written by Shanti Rajini
I and the Village written by Jacob Tanenbaum
Victor Only 2 to 10 written by Barbara Epstein

Diamond Award Winners


Animated Film

The Adjustable Cosmos - Adam Duncan
Lovesick Fool - Dominic Polcino
Cubbie the Cable Car - Erik M. Nelson

California Film

Truth Be Told - Marco Bottiglieri
The Watermelon - Brad Mays
Bike-U-Mentary – Brent Pantell

Documentary Film

Viktor & I – Alexander Vesely
Where the Streets Have No Name - Vijaykumar Mirchandani
State of Aloha - Anne Misawa
Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread - Raphael Erichsen
Certain Adverse Events - Nancy Edwards
Finding the Truth - Said Sefo

Music Video

Are You Kiddin' Me - Eric Ekman
Make Change - Ernesto Sandoval
Dagnese Come Over After - Gabriel Haze
The Way It Should Be - Jennifer Podemski
Beverly – John McCarthy

Narrative Film

The Golden Ram - Alain G. Cloarec
The Dispensable - Andreas Arnstedt
Naked Horror: The Movie - Carlo Rodriguez
Sideways - Cellin Gluck
Earthwork - Chris Ordal
The Photon Effect – Dan Poole

Screenplay Competition

Too Fat To Fly South written by Anthony Amenta
Opt Out written by A.L. Dunham
Baker’s Dozen written by Bruce Notman
Links written by Christopher Canole
Halfway Home written by David Schroeder
Love and Fluids written by Benjamin Bates
Poetease written by Jeffrey Morin
The Queen's Mark written by John Culton
2084 written by John J. Maffucci
The Evangelist written by Joshua Rutherford

Short Film

A Plea to Mary - Alfonso Corral
The Fall - Alexander Moir
Caron - Pierre Zandrowicz
Blind Date - Kevin Baik
Wasted on the Young - Bo Liebman
White Knuckle - Michael Weinstein
The Initiative - Kat Moon
Dolmen - Rick Reed
Asleep in Child's Park - Heather Jones
The Ranger from Kelly Street – Jack Swanstrom

Student Film

The Complex - Alex Fjellberg Swerdlowe
The Toy Soldier - Patrick Murphy
Andre - Christopher Fernandez
Lucid - Christopher Price
The Vacation of Death - Robert Pendleton & Joel Natanauan
The Letter - Edward Heffernan
Superstitious? - David Magnier
The Good Choice - Sarah Mannering
Miracle - Pavel Serdiuk
Sofia – Shervin Kermani

Television Pilot

The Munchies! - Ellyn Daniels
Peas In A Pod - Eric M. Rusch
American Surf Design - Benjamin Scott
Forever Summer – Erni Walker

Gold Award Winners


Animated Film

Agricola & Sarah - Jason Levangie & Sydney Smith
The Lighthouse - Po Chou Chi
The Lift – Robert Kohr

California Film

OnAir - Carsten Vauth & Marco J. Riedl
The Uninvited Ghost - Heather Schmidt
All My Life – Ivan Ives

Documentary Film

I Finally Did It - Apostolos Paraskevas & Mathew Tucciarone
Driven to Race - Brian Spillane
Atlantic Crossing: a Robot's Daring Mission - Dena Seidel
Sink Faze - Grant W. Graves
Show Me Your Talent - Iola Blyth Klaire
Norman Mailer: The American – Joseph Mantegna

Music Video

Let Me In - Matthew Schutt
Live My Life - Michael Cornell
Guyz Nite Out - Michael Kurland & David Kurland
Yes - Obie Varnado
Kickstand - Pascal Cooper

Narrative Film

You People - Kelly Schwarze
Shakespeare's Cat - Malcolm Willits
The Wish - Marcel Mandu
The Russian Cowboy - Mark Laty
Body - Matt Williams
Karma Road – Mihir Pathak

Screenplay Competition

Cropping the Helix written by Adrian Moss
U-Turn written by Anup Bhatkar
Looking For Leonardo written by Dean Huh
Spotnik written by Celeste Chan Wolfe
Thirst written by John T. Frederick
Harvest written by James Hsiao
Alcoholocide written by James Rose
The UnEngagement written by L.E. Grabowski
The King's Daughters written by Cheryl Magnuson
Baghdad Rules written by Brent Spencer
Bonus Day written by Nancy Sexton & Alon Bar

Short Film

Slippage - Ryan McLaughlin
Crescendo - Pierre Terrade & Didier Woldemard
Male Order Bride - Eric Bair
Breathe - Lonny Stevens
Fighter - Benet Roman
Ice Scream - Roberto De Feo & Vito Palumbo
Near the Parenthesis - Daniel Mark Soderberg
The Hitchhikers - Kenneth Williams
The Find - Azhur Saleem
Good versus Evil – Kim Sheridan

Student Film

The Paradigm - Al Hallak
A Prayer for the Umpire - Charles W. Houle
Homeland - Juande Marfil
Superheroes vs Monster - Jong Young Park
Dear Devils - Claire Rietmann-Grout
Love - Kat Moon
Malcolm X - Jesse Rosenberg
Courage - Xiaoguang Zhen
Lukewarm - Ryan Turner
Take it Jeasy! – Tereza Nvotova & Misha Votruba

Television Pilot

You Be the Judge! - Jeff Rifkin
Secret Shoppers - Shamika Martinez & Adam Donald
History Take 2 - Jason Balas
Rehab for Rejects – Jacob Cooney

Silver Award Winners


Animated Film

Courageous Crustaceans - Dayan Paul
Red Snow - King Mugabi
Kidnap - Sijia Luo

California Film

Signs of Life - Jason Durham
A Fire in a Dovecot - Jordan Auten
Sunset to Sunset – Kent Hayward

Documentary Film

Tuesday Morning in September - James Kosior
Sounds of Beirut - Seth Koury
Death Masks - Stuart Clarke
Choctaw Code Talkers - Valerie Red-Horse
Painting Bolinas – Wendy Elkin
Sensual Massage Made Simple -

Music Video

Whitenights: Stop and Go - Daniel Bartels
The Getaway - Matthew Jensen
White Monks - Vera Freitag
Pain Killer - Woo-Hyuk (Dooboo) & Kim Greene Choi
Stay Close – Zoe Robyn

Narrative Film

Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake - Dominique De Fazio
Watch Out For Slick - Herb Linsey
Up & Down - Jonathan Carbonaro
I Am Here Now - Neil Breen
From Grace - Paul Kampf
Carnage by Angels – Y.P. Singh

Screenplay Competition

Heaven Sent written by John Leary & Alison McMahan
Under Arrest written by Alon Bar
The House That Peterbilt written by Carl B. Clark
Burnt-Out written by Christopher Brown
Riding the Rumble Strip written by Bradford Willis & Anne Dunkin
A Tale of Water written by Jason Wallach
Fat Jockey written by Jason Durham
The Almighty written by Dempsey Tillman
When Eyes Go Dark written by Annie Elizabeth Ryan
Carla written by Christoph Schinko

Short Film

Deep Sleep - Alejandro Alvarez
Red Room - David White
Bonsai - Roberto Aznar
Grandpa Isn't Fine - Brett Cramer & Ryan W. Sheppard
A Blind Man - Cedric Chabloz
My Dream - Andrew Veluz Resurreccion
The Apprentice - Patrick Creamer
Loading - Hanaa Saleh Alfassi
The Moving Town - Alberto Nacci
8:00 a.m. – Pablo Ortega

Student Film

Jessie's Tracks - Lily Erlinger
Unfaithfully Yours - Chaya Supannarat
The Illegal Way - David Sakolsky
The Love of a Mother - Gregory Harris
On the Rise - John Tupper
Anne Jennings - Hitoshi Yoshikawa
Oliver's Mind - Matthew Rosenbaum & Jacob Friedman
Singer - Robert Andersson
The Chair Carrier - Tarek Khalil
Sam Ford Jr. - Ben Koepp
Split Focus – Will Bowes

Television Pilot

Hard to Be Me - Erik Cieslewicz
Porcelain Dolls - Pamela Martin
Hopelessly Awkward - Geoffrey Rude
Kosher Pig – Moon Cho