PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA, the sole documentary among eight competition movies in the first-annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival, was named Best Film by the event’s jury in the Caribbean before a Closing Night Gala crowd.

PLAGUES & PLEASURES, directed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, examines the hangers-on who believe their town just south of Palm Springs will once again become a mecca for sun worshippers, despite being one of the U.S.’s “biggest ecological disasters.”
Serving on the jury were Oscar-nominated screenwriter Naomi Sheridan (IN AMERICA), Tony-nominated actor Delroy Lindo (GET SHORTY) and culture editor
Marvin Siegel (NEW YORK TIMES).

Taking the festival’s audience award for Best Film was BONJOUR MONSIEUR SHLOMI, an Israeli film about a 16-year-old boy who’s always been told he’s dumb but suddenly is diagnosed as a genius, yet is much more interested in the new girl next door.

The jury also awarded
Best Director to Pablo Trepero for his work on ROLLING FAMILY,
Best Screenplay to Danielle Arbid for her IN THE BATTLEFIELDS script,
Best Actor to Oshri Cohen for the title role in BONJOUR MONSIEUR SHLOMI,
Best Supporting Actor to Yigar Noar of BONJOUR MONSIEUR SHLOMI,
Best Actress to Diana Bracho of CUBA LIBRE,
Best Supporting Actress to Graciano Cironi of ROLLING FAMILY,
and a Special Acting award to Marianne Feghali and Rawia Elchab of IN THE BATTLEFIELDS.
BETWEEN US won the audience’s Best Student Film award,
ANGLE OF INSPIRATION was honored as Best Short,
SANDSTORM was named Best Foreign Film,
and Z CHANNEL: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION won Best Documentary.

Also honored during the week was Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan (MY LEFT FOOT), who was awarded an Excellence in Directing award.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Richard Price (THE COLOR OF MONEY) picked up an Excellence in Screenwriting honor,
and Rex Reed (NEW YORK OBSERVER) got an Excellence in Film Criticism award.
Screenwriter Shannon O’Higgins won an all-expense-paid trip to the island for earning the Grand Prize in the screenwriting competition part of the festival. Her script, THE LAST WARRIOR OF QIN, beat out hundreds of other scripts.