Brian Kohne receives the Best Comedy Honor from emcee Norman Wagner at the Detroit-Windsor International Film Festival.
Photo by Lars Hjelmroth
Tom Moore, manager at Lefty’s had his pizza maestros Brian Rymiszewski and Alicia Priehs doing double duty. Pies were coming fast and furious for the assembled cinema crowd as they mingled and celebrated the features and shorts that were honored.
The feel-good factor was after the full house awards announcements at Prichard Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State University. Emcee Norman Wagner presented the DWIFF feature awards and recipient Kohne paraphrased contemporary author Steven Pressfield in accepting the top comic prize. With passion Kohne said, “If you do the work you are a pro. He was well received when he added, “I salute you, you professionals.”
The best feature was presented to “In the Woods” about a camping trip with plenty of twists. Director Vilma Zenelaj had enough surprises to hold audience interest. The local docu-drama “Fordson – Faith, Fasting, Football” by director Rashid Ghazi sold out their performance. “What a nice problem to have,” said DWIFF’s Suzanne Janik. “We couldn’t get one more person in for that showing.”
In its fourth year, the DWIFF has two components, feature films in five categories and a student short division sponsored by the Wayne State University Moving Media project. There was also a 48 Hour Film Challenge. Shane Sevo and Judyth Slayton presented awards and moved the packed program along The auditorium was full of students, family and cinema buffs. There were nine feature films and more than 60 juried short films entered. The festival also included the presenting of documentaries in another sub-festival entitled “Detroit Docs”. It was the ninth year for that endeavor.
Best of Show in the Moving Media was Anna Fleury’s, “Love Succinctly”. She is now directing one of this summers Michigan Creative Film Alliance endeavors. The MCFA is a cinema collaboration of Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University.
Jil Szewski got top editing honors for “One.of.Five”. The experienced director was able to showcase her project with so many cuts and highlighted angle changes.
Two interesting shorts that did not get a laurel but had uniqueness were Angeline Piotrowski’s, “Xingu” which had a surprise lesson and Scott Galeski and Joe Johnson story of hope, “PROTANGELINE”.
Another Michigan premiere was “Corner Store” directed by Detroiter Joe Doughrity, which follows the comedic antics in a party store. “Everyday Sunshine- The Story of Fishbone” and directed by Christopher Metzler got best documentary. If you like the musical sound of funk this is a not to miss docu-drama.
Famed cinema editor, Richard Chew opened the festival with a keynote address and Matthew Seeger, Interim Dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State made a pleasant ambassadorial welcome.
The industry Tech-Fair had a wide avenue of topics to enrich anyone interested in the film business. Frank Collins of Wayne State put together an ambitious enrichment schedule. He complimented the energetic efforts of the volunteers and interns. Well received presentations at the Tech-Fair was that of experienced film festival veteran, Robert Joseph Butler, who gave a spirited presentation on the pitfalls and politics of film festivals and Wayne McLean’s’ talk on tweaking scripts.
Kelly Gottesman of WSU-TV highlighted the artwork of David Sherban. Sherban designed the dynamic Tech-Fair poster that was seen all over campus and the New Center areas.
DETROIT-WINDSOR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Best Feature – “In the Woods”, Director- Vilma Zenelaj
Best Comedy – “Get A Job”, Director- Brian Kohne
Best Documentary – “Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone”, Director- Christopher Metzler
Best Children’s – “My Friend Peter”, Director- Steve Kopera
Best Short Drama – “After You Left”, Director- Jef Taylor
Best Short Comedy – “Two Men, Two Cows, Two Guns”, Director- Pardis Parker
Best International – “Lavan”, Director- Guilhad Emilio Schenker
Best Animation – “Under the Bed”, Director- Patrick Mallek
Best Detroit-Windsor Feature – “The Bicyclist”, Directors- John Wilberding and Oren Goldenberg
Best Detroit-Windsor Comedy – “Cornerstore”, Director- Joe Doughrity
Best Detroit-Windsor Documentary – “Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football”, Director- Rashid Ghazi
Best Cross Category – “The Dancer”, Director- Seth Stark
Best Detroit-Windsor Short Drama – “The Spirit of Isabel”, Directors- Robert Joseph Butler
Best Detroit-Windsor Short Comedy – “Bullies on Vacation”, Director- Devon Gummersall
Director’s Choice – “Certain Essential Elements”, Director- Jeffery T. Schultz
The 48 Hour Film Challenge
Best Film- Scallywag Entertainment, “The Paper Man”
Best Cinematography- Korean Bath House, “Even in Death”
Best Original Screenplay– Trollvision, “The Clown of Torment”
Best Editing- The Untitled Gary Busey Project, “One.Of.Five.”
Honorable Mention- LB Entertainment, “Real Hits”
Audience Choice Award- Captive8 Productions, “All Along”
Best of Show – Moving Media
Anna Fleury, “Love Succinctly”