Press Release (2009)

Miami Short Film Festival celebrates winners, visiting filmmakers
"Down in Number 5" takes top prize

MIAMI, FL (November 23, 2009) -- The 2009 Miami Short Film Festival (MsFF)'s top prize went to "Down in Number 5", a deeply authentic film of a dying West Virginian ex-coal miner and the Down Syndrome son he is no longer able to look after.

Based on a true-life incident from the childhood of Vietnamese-American director Kim Spurlock, co-written with her sister Mai, "Down in Number 5" was awarded Best Narrative Film at MsFF's closing night awards ceremony, and then later announced as "Best of Festival" in a videotaped announcement by Hollywood feature filmmaker David Frankel (Marley & Me, The Devil Wears Prada).

The 2009 Festival, which ran for 10 days, attracted more than two dozen filmmakers from across the U.S. and internationally from Canada, Jordan, Nicaragua, United Kingdom and Vietnam, flourishing in difficult economic times. The Festival's best-selling program was "Time to Say Goodbye", the closing night gala.

Festival organizers, led by founder/director William Vela, program director Jaie Laplante and assistant director Maggie Drayton, declared the 8th annual edition of MsFF successful "beyond our expectations" as they closed the Festival by paying tribute to the Festival's presenting sponsor, University of Miami's School of Communications.

Spurlock, who made "Down in Number 5" as a grad student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, was not present at the awards ceremony, but her Best Narrative trophy was accepted on her behalf by fellow NYU alumnus Rob Meyer, who won the same prize at the 2007 Miami Short Film Festival.

Other top prizes winners include "Zand (Sand)" from The Netherland's Joost van Ginkel as Best Foreign Film, which closed the Festival with audible gasps from the audience, and "Marina, La Esposa Del Pescador (Marina, The Wife of the Fisherman)" the haunting and visionary allegory from Colombia's Carlos Hernandez which won the Festival's inaugural Best Environmental Film award.

The Festival featured over 70 short films from 26 countries, including three World Premieres: Nick Igea's "Encuentro (Encounter)", from Spain; Paul Matthews and Steve Guise's "Point of Light", from Canada; and Naji Abu Nowar's "Death of a Boxer," the moving and true story of Mohammed Abu Khadija, who became Jordan's first and only boxer to qualify for the Olympics. Matthews and Guise, as well as Abu Nowar, were on hand to present the films to the audiences for their first international film festival screenings.

Hollywood sound designer Rodger Pardee won the Best Documentary prize for his highly personal examination of how memory and the mind works, "Flicker". Another documentary, David Weintraub's "The Golden Side of the Tracks", a stirring account of racism and gentrification affecting Miami's historical Overtown district over many decades, won the Best Local Production award, sponsored by New Art Miami.

LucasArts animator Mike Dacko won the Best Animation trophy for his hypnotic and original "Lightheaded", and filmmaker Joseph Johnson Cami was present to accept the Best Experimental award for "Becoming", an 8 minute visual wonder that he co-directed with partner Ayelen Liberona, from Canada.

Nicaraguan filmmaker Yamin Segal was given a Special Committee Prize for his breakthrough film "El Ladroncito". In accepting the award, Segal spoke eloquently about the conditions in the town of Masaya, Nicaragua where he shot the film using non-professional actors cast directly from the street. French filmmaker Cedric Provost won a Special Jury Prize for his film "Alter Ego", praised as a "master class of acting, writing and direction of the short form".

The 2009 Festival was bookended by two Gala parties, sponsored by University of Miami School of Communications, VeeV Acai Spirit and Stella Artois. Children's programming played all week long at the Miami Children's Museum.

Next year's edition of the Miami Short Film Festival is slated for November 12 - 20th, 2010.

CONTACT: William Vela of Miami Short Film Festival, +1-305-284-3147