2014 Winners
IMAGES FROM BIFF 2014
Best Feature Film:
The One Who Loves You
Directed by Katharyn Grant, Denver CO.
Synopsis: It's 1974. Gloria Bethune faces a bleak existence after failing as a singer in New York. She retreats to her small hometown where she falls for a grifter, who claims to be the former manager of a famous Country singer. Through this flawed man's faith in her, Gloria's passion for singing is reborn, but she is pushed into uncharted territory.
Best Documentary:
AKA: Doc Pomus
Directed by William Hechter and Peter Miller, Ontario, Canada
Synopsis: Doc Pomus was the most unlikely of rock & roll icons. Paralyzed with polio as a child, Brooklyn-born Jerome Felder reinvented himself first as a blues singer, calling himself Doc Pomus, then as a songwriter, creating 'Save the Last Dance for Me,' 'This Magic Moment,' 'A Teenager in Love,' 'Viva Las Vegas,' and a thousand other songs.
Best Short Film:
The Long Wait
Directed by Wolfgang Bodison, Los Angeles, CA
Synopsis: 'After over twenty years of silence, a desperate woman seeks revenge against the man who ruined her life.
Best Student Film:
Helpless
Directed by Christene Hurley, Winston-Salem, NC, University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Synopsis: On the floor of library, Leah and Chayse discuss fellow students, the hypocrisy of happiness, and the tragic thought of “what could have been” on the eve of prom. Their obvious attraction to each other is belied by a pending catastrophe in this stunning short drama
Best Screenplay:
PAWN
Written by Uyen Le and VW Scheich, Los Angeles, CA
Synopsis: PAWN is the story of a life-changing friendship that develops between an inmate and a corrections officer over a game of chess behind the bars of Ypsilanti State Penitentiary in 1965. During the game, each man struggles with the personal events and decisions that led him to his place in life. Sacrifices are made and lives are lost as this game of strategy ends in regret, remorse, and eventually rehabilitation.
Audience Choice:
AKA, Doc Pomus
Directed by William Hechter and Peter Miller, Ontario, Canada
Synopsis: Doc Pomus was the most unlikely of rock & roll icons. Paralyzed with polio as a child, Brooklyn-born Jerome Felder reinvented himself first as a blues singer, calling himself Doc Pomus, then as a songwriter, creating 'Save the Last Dance for Me,' 'This Magic Moment,' 'A Teenager in Love,' 'Viva Las Vegas,' and a thousand other songs.