Major wins at SFFilm ceremony
John Boyega’s turn as a crusading public defender resonated with San Francisco International Film Festival audiences. So did the true stories of 20yearold Lily Hevesh, one of the world’s greatest domino topplers, and 15yearold Alex, a Cuban ballet dancer immigrating to the United States.
Chase Palmer’s “Naked Singularity,” starring “Star Wars” actor Boyega, won the audience award for best narrative film, and Jeremy Workman’s “Lily Topples the World” and Roberto Salinas’ “Cuban Dancer” shared the audience award for best documentary at the SFFilm Festival Golden Gate Awards, a prerecorded event that posted Saturday, April 17.
The festival also handed out jury awards carrying cash prizes in several categories, awarding more than $17,000 total to filmmakers. Most notably, carrying the largest prize of $3,500, was the Golden Gate new directors award, which went to Nigeria’s Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri for “This Is My Desire,” a film about a factory worker and a bartender/ hairdresser in Lagos who dream of immigrating to the West; and the McBaine Award for best documentary feature went to “Writing With Fire,” directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, about women running their own newspaper and YouTube channel in India.
SFFilm paid tribute later Saturday to actress Vanessa Kirby with the festival’s Impact Award. Previously, Bay Area filmmaker Peter Nicks was given the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award for his documentary “Homeroom,” about the Oakland High class of 2020, which
capped his Oakland trilogy; and bestowed the Persistence of Vision Award to Dash Shaw for his animated film “Cryptozoo.”
The winners:
Feature/midlength awards
Audience award, narrative: “Naked Singularity,” Chase Palmer (U.S.)
Audience award, documentary (tie): “Cuban Dancer,” Roberto Salinas (Italy); and “Lily Topples the World,” Jeremy Workman (U.S.)
Golden Gate new directors: Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, “This Is My Desire” (Nigeria) Special jury mention, new directors: Lee Ranhee “A Leave” (South Korea) McBaine documentary feature: “Writing With Fire,” Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh (India)
McBaine Bay Area documentary feature: “After Antarctica,” Tasha Van Zandt (U.S./ Canada)
Cine Mexicano critics jury award: “Nudo Mixteco,” Ángeles Cruz (U.S.)
Golden Gate midlength:
“Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma,” Topaz Jones, Jason Sondock and Simon Davis (U.S./France/Germany/Italy)
Short film awards
Audience award, best short film: “Freezerburn,” Sarah RattayMaloney (U.S.)
Narrative short: “Summer Fasting,” Abdenoure Ziane (France)
Documentary short: “Dial Home,” César Martínez Barba (U.S./Mexico)
Animated short: “In the Shadow of the Pines,” Anne Koizumi (Canada)
New Visions short: “Here, Here,” Joanne Cesario (Philippines)
Bay Area short first prize: “Since you arrived, my heart stopped belonging to me,” Erin Semine Kökdil (U.S.)
Bay Area short second prize: “Wavelengths,” Jessie Zinn (U.S.)
Family film prize: “To: Gerard,” Taylor Meacham (U.S.)
Family film special jury mention: “A Concerto Is a Conversation,” Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot (U.S.)
Youth works prize: “Through Their Eyes,” Alisha Heng (U.S.)
Youth works special jury mention: “Music for the End of the World,” Emmanuel Li (U.K.)