2018 festival award winners
MINT spirit award | Boom: The Story About The Sonics
Directed by Jordan Albertsen | Montana Premiere | USA, 84 mins
Boom' tells the untold story of one of rock 'n' roll's wildest and most influential bands, The Sonics. For the first time ever, all five original members of the band tell the true story of how it all went down, beginning to end. 'Boom' takes a deep dive, exploring how a relatively unknown band from the Pacific Northwest became a worldwide phenomenon 50-years after their heyday, and in doing so, shaped music for decades to come (whether it was apparent at the time or not). Featuring interviews with homegrown heroes and breakthrough artists alike, Pearl Jam, The Sex Pistols, Heart, Mudhoney, and many, many more.
Best female director | Khushnuda Shukurova for DETAINED
Directed by Khushnuda Shukurova | Narrative Short Film | USA, 9 mins | World Premiere
Two Syrian refugee siblings receive official legal documents to permanently join their father in the United States. However, when the plane lands in JFK, they are taken into custody for interrogation by Custom and Border Police.
Best made in montana film | Superfund: Tailing History
Directed by Christopher Rolinson | USA, 17 min
The history, origins and future of America's largest Superfund site, The Clark Fork River Montana Superfund Complex.
Best Indigenous Voices Short Film | The Blackfeet Flood
Directed by Torsten Kjellstrand | USA, 27 min
Butch New Breast left The Blackfeet Reservation in 1964 when a flood washed away his home, his parents and sister. He returns 50 years later "to see if I can still get that feeling, like I am Blackfeet.".
Best Narrative Feature
Once Upon A River
Directed by Haroula Rose | Montana Premiere | USA, 74 mins
It's 1978 and Margo Crane, a 15 year old part Native teen, must take to the Stark River on an odyssey. Akin to Huck Finn, this is a heroine like no other. Based on the best selling novel ONCE UPON A RIVER by Bonnie Jo Campbell.
Best Documentary Feature
Hugh Hefner’s After Dark: Speaking Out In America
Directed by Brigitte Berman | Montana Premiere | USA, 90 mins
From Brigitte Berman, Oscar-winning director of Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got (1985), comes this remarkable documentary of one of America’s most influential and controversial cultural icons, Hugh Hefner.
Best narrative Short Film
Pastalight
Directed by Christopher Martini | USA, 17 minutes
An eccentric Italian father and his son set out to start their own pasta sauce company. But can they cut it in the merciless world of New York gourmet?
Best Documentary Short Film
History of Memory
Directed by Sarah Klein | USA, 24 minutes
Can one photograph change your life … forever?
From Florida to India, Beijing to New Orleans, History of Memory is a documentary film in four parts - about people whose lives were forever altered by the discovery, creation, or preservation of one photograph.
Special jury awards
SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR ACTING
Kenadi Delacerna
in ONCE UPON A RIVER
SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR
INDIGENOUS VOICES SHORT FILM