California Film Awards

2012 Winners

Grand Winners

Grand Jury Award: Wampler's Ascent - Elizabeth Wampler (USA)

Special Jury Prize: Uprising - Fredrik Stanton (Egypt, USA)
Special Jury Prize: Eternity - Alex Galvin (New Zealand, Hong Kong)
Special Jury Prize: End of the Road: How Money Became Worthless - Tim Delmastro (Australia)
Special Jury Prize: Dance of Love - Wilco de Groot (Netherlands)
Special Jury Prize: Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia - Robert Lemelson (USA)

Best Narrative Feature : 180º - Fernando Kalife (Mexico)
Best Documentary Feature: American Songwriter - Michael Altman (USA)
Best Narrative Short: Fight Night Legacy - Hisonni Johnson and Michael Sarnoski (USA)
Best Documentary Short: Beyond Superman - Alexander Hadden (USA)
Best Foreign Feature: Siberia, Monamour - Slava Ross (Russia)
Best Foreign Short: Passage 2011 - Sisy Boat, Thomas Huber, Wolfgang Aichner, & Matthias Fuchs (Germany)
Best Student Feature: Life Without - Franz Erian (USA)
Best Student Short: Ave Rats Lost Downtown - Christopher Schlumpf (USA)
Best Animation: Trid an Stoirm - Fred Burdy (Ireland)
Best Animated Short: Vengeance + Vengeance - Mark Chavez
Best Director: Mossadegh - Roozbeh Dadvand (USA)
Best Screenplay: 35 South - John Morton (USA)
Best Actor: Dio Johnson of Fight Night Legacy - Hisonni Johnson and Michael Sarnoski (USA)
Best Actress: Amber Kent in CiviliTEA - Johnnie Hector (USA)
Best Supporting Actor: Tomas Boykin of Elegy for a Revolutionary - Paul van Zyl (South Africa, USA)
Best Supporting Actress: Bari Hyman of Damaged Goods - Michael Miceli (USA)
Best California Feature: Bank Roll - Doug Maguire (USA)
Best California Short: The Body Bag - Dean Whitney (USA)
Best Experimental Film: Counterfeiters - Bryce Hirschberg (USA)
Best Music Video: Super Bass Man (The Fishing Song) - Greg Zajac and Simon L. Baker (Canada)
Best Television Pilot: Mevuasim (Busted) - Asaf Yecheskel (Israel)
Best Comedy: Spaghetti Fur Zwei - Matthias Rosenberger (Germany)
Best Family Film: Small Market, Big Heart - Tobin Halsey (USA)
Best First-time Director: RGB - Kailas Prasannan (Australia)
Best First-time Documentary: American Autumn: an Occudoc - Dennie Trainor Jr. (USA)
Best Dramatic Film: A Drop of Love - Golam Mustofa (Canada)
Best Television Commercial: LAZR - Xiao Zheng (USA)

Orson Welles Awards

Animated Film: Devils, Angels & Dating - Michael Cawood (United Kingdom, USA)
California Film: From the Fields: An American Journey - Carolyn E. Brown (USA)
Documentary Film: Caravan of Hope - Alejandro Pereira (Canada)
Music Video: Sadder by Nik Day - Tucker Dansie (USA)
Narrative Film: The Three Way - Julian Renner (USA)
Screenplay: Resilience - Lena Slachmuijlder (USA)
Short Film: CiviliTEA - Johnnie Hector (USA)
Student Film: Skeleton Canyon - Kenneth Oefelein (USA)
Television Pilot: Holt & Randy - Russell Griffith (USA)

Screenplay Competition

1st Place: Pearl written by Lyvia A. Martinez
2nd Place: Squiddy, Sedona, and Me written by Steven M. Hirohama
3rd Place: How I Became a Hot Chick With Average Breast Size written by Dong Won Kang
4th Place: Marriagehood written by John Harris
5th Place: Worm written by Keir Burrows

Official Finalists

Land of The Free, Home of The Slave written by Cliff Zimowski
The Last Exodus written by Michael Baley
Taking The Last Shot written by Randy Hatch
Detective Force written by Randall Sawka
The City of Burning Bridges written by Ivana Dolic
My Mother's Eyes written by Matthew Paris
Rethinking Rhea written by Bradford Willis & Anne Dunkin
Forgive Not Their Trespasses written by John J. Maffucci
The Lord's Lie written by Randy Hatch
Getting the Business written by Haik Hakobian

Honorable Mentions

The Helping Stone written by Robert Tolz
Old Habits Die Hard written by Michael Cox
Letters From Wolfie written by James Christopher
Committed written by Jeff Sussman
Turning the Right Way written by Jose Olivier
Complaisant 1 written by Tiffany Jaide Hightower
Love Interrupted written by Rewa Fyles
Original Sin written by Charles Conrad Laulette
Neversleep written by Giles Daoust
Out of the Wetlands written by Bruce Golde

Short Script Competition

1st Place: Disabled Parking written by Alon Bar
2nd Place: Shopping Mall Santa written by John Harris
3rd Place: Silent Partner written by Philip Henson
4th Place: Twin Graves written by Paul Ellington
5th Place: Small Potatoes written by Charles Laulette

Official Finalists

Zombeo & Juliecula written by Richard Moon, Colleen Kelly, and Isabel J Hildebrandt
You Bet written by Sky Wang
Dating Alfie written by Paul Ellington
The Things My Father Never Taught Me written by Burleigh Smith

Diamond Awards

 

Animated Film Competition

The Ghostwriter directed by Joey Agbayani
Boss Man directed Ian Hamilton
Old Angel directed by Dony Chiang
Big Bio directed Eileen Reynolds
Night Island directed by Salvador Maldonado

California Film Competition

Horror House directed by Evan Marlowe
Ginger directed by Blake Brewer
Time Out of Mind directed by Addie Manis
Chemo directed by Cooper Stimson
Mule Days directed by Joseph Peeler

Documentary Film Competition

Trusting Todd directed by Kevin Welch
Earth Meets Wind directed Kevin Robertson and Stuart Cameron
Things Fall Apart: An Arctic Story directed by Miko Nincic
Open directed by Ivalo Frank
Rape For Profit directed by Eric Esau and Jason Pamer
The White Picket Fence Project directed by Maria Altschuler and Tamarin Kaplan
My Glass Odyssey directed by John Waterman

Narrative Feature Competition

Rumblestrips directed by John Adams and Toby Poser
Fuzz Track City directed by Steve Hicks
Artificial Turf: Harvard Croquet vs. The 21st Century directed by Eric Brewster
5 Hour Friends directed by Ron Jackson
Lost Summer directed by Anna Chi
Abram's Hand directed by James Christopher
A.L.F directed by Jérôme Lescure
Confine directed by Tobias Tobbell
Spinning Kite directed by Satoshi Kase
Crossway directed by Timur Safiullin

Music Video Competition

Vimy Ridge by Lizzy Hoyt directed by Lucho Soldevilla and A Special Person
Vaseline performed and directed by Funk Bros.

Screenplay Competition

The Devil's Gun written by James Christopher
Lady Smoke written by John Celona
Redemption of the Exile written by Justin Elias
Together written by Christopher Dockens
Deadline written by Chris Tasara
Shake The Lake written by Zachary Ryan Block and Machi Block
Read it in the Stars written by Ellen Mac Lennan
Loveband written by Nicola Pedrozzi
Suicide Party written by Gini Graham Scott
Ironwood written by James Valko

Short Film Competition

Delivery directed by Princeton Holt
Heads Up directed by Alex Merkin and Ben Carlin
Fucked directed by Adrian Svircic
Help Me directed by Lu Liu
Hath No Man directed by Linus Koh
Peer to Fear directed by Duke Jackson and Michael J. Lynch
Voices directed by Hussain Al-Riffaei
Prelude to Bedlam directed by Tychicus Vazquez
Sedan De Villain directed by Bryan Levitt and Rod Lopez

Student Film Competition

Hidden Agendas directed by Quinton Mack
Limbo directed by Michael Nader
The New Silent Generation directed by Sabrina Van Keuren and Eric Lopez
Vein of Love directed by Armando Hermosilla
Hadley TK-421 directed by Jonathan Reid-Edwards
Graceland Girls directed by Jordan Salvatoriello
BE directed by Vlad Feier
Ayana directed by Joana Lima Martins
I Am Rupert Caldwell directed by Lesley Brander, Apo Welatparez, and Riccardo Febbrari
My Friend Erhan directed by Khurrum M. Sultan

Television Productions Competition

Wall Geek directed by Erik Mueller
Beyond the Search directed by Kyle Portbury

Gold Awards

 

Animated Film Competition

Sinsis directed by Carmen Lloret
Forever Mankind directed by Howard Cook
ATOM directed by Klayton Stainer
California Film Competition
Loneliness and Melody directed by Everth Sotelo 
Speak directed by Cole Gibson 
Finessing the Wave directed by Mary Piller

Documentary Film Competition

Hells Front Yard directed by Jeanet Rostgaard Hansen
The Irrigationist directed by Dustin Veneman
The Glamorous Lie directed by YaVaughnie Wilkins
INORI: Prayer - Conversation with Something Great directed by Tetsu Shiratori
The Way to Kevin directed by Nathan Edmondson and Erin Marie Davis
Pink Struggle directed by Manuela Bastian
Love Stairs directed by Qing Long
Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch directed by Angela Sun

Music Video Competition

The Same Old Dead directed by Milton Ramirez Malave
The Hardest Day directed by Gilbert Orozco

Narrative Film Competition

Turkey Day directed by James Christopher
Anyone Out There directed by Tiaraju Aronovich
When Time Becomes A Woman directed by Ahmad Alyaseer
Study directed by Paolo Benetazzo
Deadline directed by Chris Tasara
Model Behavior directed by Nathan Hill

Screenplay Competition

Time and Space written by Steven Prowse
Freedom at Midnight written by Jeffrey Ryback
The Transcenders written by Paul Dupree
Wombs Discovering the next Dimension written by Cliff Paris
The Shades of Dogma written by Anne Bradford
Hope's Nocturnal written by David Sabbath
Risk101 written by Hannah Leskosky
Mother written by Jan Hendrik Verstraten
Parachute written by Jeff Sussman
Scarlett Sunshine written by Faith Brody Patane

Short Film Competition

Fairytale directed by Andy Collier
Nowhere Road directed by Benjamin Dynice
The Miracles on Honey Bee Hill directed by Bob Pondillo
Dr. Fuchs directed by Jay Dockendorf
Witness My Journey directed by Steve Rogers
The Lucky One directed by Bala Balakrishnan
Last Ditch Therapy directed by Marianna Ladas
Life in the Bowl directed by Daisuke Okamoto
Church Road directed by Nicole Yuhas
Escape Me directed by Alex Michael Harris

Student Film Competition

Revenge Flame of Hayabusa directed by Petong Sakulchai
Ananymous directed by Andres Delzo
Christmas Bone Us directed by John Taschner
Reconciliation directed by Lance Oppenheim
Hanging by a Thread directed by Chloe Cerami
Adam's Gift directed by Zheng Liu
23 Hours directed by Kati Russo
Distance directed by Sang Joon Kim
Sonburn directed by Ella Carey
Motorbike Midwife directed by Masumi Higashi

Television Productions Competition

"What?" directed by Stav Koznitz
The Adventures of Loop & Rhett directed by Michael Su

Silver Awards

 

Animated Film Competition

Stop It directed by Vatt Pictures
Fossil Tears directed by Nahomi Maki

California Film Competition

Dreaming Alaska directed by Emanuele Valla
Remains directed by Riley Leung

Documentary Film Competition

God Has Arrived directed by John Urich-Sass
War on Health, FDA's Cult of Tyranny directed by Gary Null
Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra directed by Firas Sameer
Why in the World are They Spraying? directed by Michael J. Murphy
A Place in the World directed by Adam Maurer and William Silva Reddington

Music Video Competition

Borrowed Time by Jack Castellaw

Narrative Film Competition

The Astronaut directed by Adam Lemmey
Little Saigon directed by Sean Delgado
Haunting Love directed by Ting Liang
Abduction directed by Michael Atwill

Screenplay Competition

A Perfect Gentleman written by Jan Hadwen Hubbell
An App for Everything written by Freda Casey
The Black Grail written by Keith Russell
Nekropolis written by Kevin Walker
Unconditional Loss written by Oliver W. Ottley III
Psalm written by Daniel Stephenson
FAT written by Donn Warr Lewis
Besa written by Michael Miceli
See Me written by Noga Brienes
Stuffed written by Donald Lorincz

Short Film Competition

Anniversary Dinner directed by Jessi Gotta
Achele (Sister) directed by Clara Kraft Isono
Chapter XIV: The Duel directed by Taras Bambaev
Fish Bones directed by Valentina Bove
Serial Dater directed by Rene Ashton
Pauline, Etienne directed by Frederic Niolle and Anne Gilles
Brotherhood directed by Di Wu
Legacy directed by Ejaz Khan
The Story of a Mother directed by Alessandro De Vivo and Ivano Di Natale
Celestial Guard directed by Johnny Haskins

Student Film Competition

Goose Family directed by Seung Yeob Lee
Chicago Confessional directed by Bryan Gibel
Coach directed by Brandon Kelley
Ascoltami directed by Bianca Garimani
Lucid Dream directed by Grace Lee
Thumb Snatchers From the Moon Cocoon directed by Brad Schaffer
Inventory directed by Kevin Carr
Night Sights directed by Matt Thompson
I Was Warned directed by Huseyin Sari
Edge of Destruction directed by Fei Xiang

Television Productions Competition

Olympia directed by Hisonni Johnson and Michael Sarnoski
Sperm Donor directed by Terry Cunningham