The Audience Choice Award and Local(5-20 mins.)original/scripted film went to Non Farai del Male(Do No Harm).  Shot in Milan, Italy and featuring wonderful shots of the beautiful downtown square, Luca Elmi directed a powerful story of a murder that has more twists than one could expect in a 20 minute short. The music and atmosphere of the noirish procedural had the audience on the edge of their seats.  The script was tight and made the story come alive.  The acting was wonderfully believable and the lead performance of the detective made the story resonate on many levels.

The Local documentary winner went to a film shot mainly in the Dominican Republic.  From Batey to Baseball: The Amaury Telemaco Story tells of the rise of a dirt poor boy from the small town in D.R. and his eventual rise to Major League Baseball.  Stephanie Wells directs the journey with an eye not only on baseball but on family, church, and nation.  Telemarco went from playing on dirt fields to pitching 7 two hit innings at Wrigley Field in his debut.  His nine year big league career not only brought him celebrity and prosperity but led him to devote his life to helping his fellow countryman through his church work.  The connection that Amaury has with his family and the sadness that he felt about his did not seeing his major league triumph was shown very well.  The shots of his family in D.R. were tender and a beautiful shot of a full moon that allows kids to play well into the night worked beautifully.

The Express (under 5 minutes) original/scripted film winner went to Love Letters. A cleaver, creative, and ribald spoof of the Ken Burns PBS Civil War documentary scene between two lovers longing to stay in contact during the war.  Dante Russo (a repeat GFF winner) does a wonderful job creating scenes that look as if they were shot in the 1860's.  His lighting and use of music put us in that time period.  His actors did a wonderful job mixing a serious tone with a secondary agenda delivered by post scripts that are filled with more sexy references than one could imagine.  Russo's script put the audience into fits of laughter and surprise.

The Express documentary winner went to Of Mice and Man, a delightful look at a New York City exterminator.  Director, Tom Mason, and his team use a wonderful mix of animation and live footage that forces the audience to look at the mouse in an unique way.  The script lets the exterminator express facts about our city's mice problem that made the audience squirm as well as discussing his quandary in considering himself a henchman.  The creative animated shots of mice dealing with Hurricane Sandy and the storm's impact on the exterminator's business were done with aplomb.  The shot of mice walking over a pile of donuts was conceived by literally projecting found footage of mice onto the donuts.  Everyone of us will confront our next donut differently.

All of our filmmakers  (the other 6 movies were very strong, too) will make us see our lives in new ways.  As film viewers, new insights are what we are always hoping to gain from our viewing experiences.  Well done, class of 2013!!

Don't miss next year's GFF.