Films Celebrating Friendship, Family and Tolerance Win Top Honors
at the 21st Chicago International Children’s Film Festival.

The Chicago International Children’s Film Festival’s closing night awards ceremony, sponsored by American Airlines, was held Sunday, October 31st at the Vittum Theater, 1012 North Noble Street. “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star James Avery hosted the gala as hundreds of movie lovers gathered to celebrate the most popular films of the festival.

The most anticipated awards of the night are those which qualify the winners to enter the Short Films category for the Academy Awards. The winner of the Adult Jury Live-Action category was Annette Carle for Belmondo, a film about a boy who gets the chance to choose the perfect mother. Winner of the Adult Jury Animated Short Film went to Sejong Park for Birthday Boy, a story about a boy who pretends to be off fighting bad guys with his heroic dad. Blizzard (Canada, 2003), directed by LeVar Burton, won the festival’s Best of the Fest” award. Blizzard tells the tale of a young skater named Katie who becomes friends with Santa’s most gifted reindeer, Blizzard, voiced by Whoopi Goldberg.

Other prominent festival winners and awards include; the Kenneth F. and Harle G. Montgomery Prize for best film or video by an emerging director, awarded to Javier Fesser for Binta and the Great Idea (Spain, 2004); the Kenneth F. and Harle G. Montgomery Prize for the best film or video for the best child-produced film or video, awarded to Michael McGrath for Escalating (UK (England), 2003); the Liv Ullmann Peace Prize, awarded to Malene Vilstrup for Zafir (Denmark, 2003); the Rights of the Child Award, awarded to Aaron Greer for Getting’ Grown (USA, 2004). The Adult Jury Prize for best Live-action Feature Film or Video went to Bernd Sahling for The Blindgaenger, a poignant and powerful film about a children’s school for the blind. Two-time Emmy Award winner Shia LaBeouf and fellow actor/co-director Lorenzo Eduardo won the Children’s Jury Second Prize for Best Live-Action Short Film or Video for their directorial debut film Let’s Love Hate (USA, 2004).

SPECIAL PRIZES

The Best of Fest Award
LeVar Burton
Blizzard (Canada, 2003)

The Kenneth F. and Harle G. Montgomery Prize
Best Film or Video by an Emerging Director
Javier Fesser
Binta and the Great Idea (Spain, 2004)

The Kenneth F. and Harle G. Montgomery Prize – Certificate of Excellence
Best Film or Video by an Emerging Director
Michael McGrath
Escalating (UK (England), 2004)

The Kenneth F. and Harle G. Montgomery Prize for Best Child-Produced Film or Video
Blanca Xochitl Aguerre
Our Story (Mexico, 2003)

The Kenneth F. and Harle G. Montgomery Prize – Certificate of Excellence for Best Child-Produced Film or Video
Mousehegh Baghdasaryan
Intervention (Armenia, 2003)

The Liv Ullmann Peace Prize
Malene Vilstrup
Zafir (Denmark, 2003)

The Rights of the Child Award
Aaron Greer
Gettin’ Grown (USA, 2004)

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZES

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZE – LIVE-ACTION FEATURE FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Live-action Feature Film or Video
Mauro Lima
Taina: A New Amazon Adventure (Brazil, 2004)

2nd Prize, Live-action Feature Film or Video
Ineke Houtman
Polleke (Netherlands, 2003)

Certificate of Excellence, Live-action Feature Film or Video
Varis Brasla
Waterbomb for the Fat Tomcat (Latvia/Estonia, 2004)

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZE - ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Animated Feature Film or Video
Roberto Lione
Kate: The Taming of the Shrew (Italy, 2004)

2nd Prize, Animated Feature Film or Video
Ilya Maximov
Little Longnose (Russia, 2003)

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZE – LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Live-action Short Film or Video
Morten H. Evelid
Strong Hold (Norway, 2004)

2nd Prize, Live-action Short Film or Video
Shia LaBeouf and Lorenzo Eduardo
Let’s Love Hate (USA, 2004)

Certificate of Excellence, Live-action Short Film or Video
Kwan-ho Park
Namuamitabul Christmas (South Korea, 2002)

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZE – LIVE-ACTION TELEVISION PRODUCTION
1st Prize, Live-action Television Production
Bert Ceulemans
Goblin: Soapboxrace (Belgium, 2004)

2nd Prize, Live-action Television Production
Joost van Ginkel
Rat Ahoy (Netherlands, 2003)

Certificate of Excellence, Live-action Television Production
Andrzej Maleszka
The Wooden Dog (Poland, 2003)

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZE – ANIMATED SHORT FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Animated Short Film or Video
Mike Nawrocki
Bellybutton (USA, 2003)

2nd Prize, Animated Short Film or Video
Mair Doyle
Blue Dog Blues (England, 2004)

Certificate of Excellence, Animated Short Film or Video
Keith Osborn
Baby Changing Station (USA, 2003)

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZE – ANIMATED TELEVISION PRODUCTION
1st Prize, Animated Television Production
Richard Goleszowski

Creature Comforts: Cats or Dogs? (England, 2003)
2nd Prize, Animated Television Production
Tony Collingwood and Andrea Tran
Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!: The Traveller (England, 2003)

Certificate of Excellence, Animated Television Production
Fabrice Fouquet and Corinne Kouper
Zoe Kezako: Bronco Babysitter (France, 2004)

CHILDREN’S JURY PRIZE - CHILD-PRODUCED SHORT FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Child-Produced Short Film or Video
Peter Goodwin
Escalating (UK (England), 2003

2nd Prize, Child-Produced Short Film or Video
Children of the SAF Cakovec Workshops
Winter Dream (Croatia, 2004)

Certificate of Excellence, Child-Produced Short Film or Video
Joshua Muntain and students of Capital Children's Museum workshop
Sand vs. Paper (USA, 2003)

ADULT JURY PRIZES
ADULT JURY PRIZE – LIVE-ACTION FEATURE FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Live-action Feature Film or Video
Bernd Sahling
The Blindganger (Germany, 2004)

2nd Prize, Live-action Feature Film or Video
Ineke Houtman
Polleke (Netherlands, 2003)

Certificate of Excellence, Live-action Feature Film or Video
Diederik van Rooijen
Zulaika: Coming of Age in Curaçao (Netherlands, 2003)


ADULT JURY PRIZE – LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Live-action Short Film or Video
Annette Carle
Belmondo (Switzerland, 2003)

2nd Prize, Live-action Short Film or Video
Johan Brisinger
Passing Hearts (Sweden, 2003)

Certificate of Excellence, Live-action Short Film or Video
Li Lin Wee
Autograph Book (Singapore, 2003)

ADULT JURY PRIZE – DOCUMENTARY FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Documentary Film or Video
HBO Family
Happy to Be Nappy and Other Stories of Me (USA, 2004)

2nd Prize, Documentary Film or Video - TIE
Claudia Tellegen
Nando (Netherlands, 2003)

Ole Tornbjerg
Arif Hossein, ETV Dhaka (Denmark, 2002)
ADULT JURY PRIZE – LIVE-ACTION TELEVISION PROGRAM

1st Prize, Live-action Television Program
Marcus Cole
Snobs (Australia, 2003)

2nd Prize, Live-action Television Program - TIE
Tobias Falk
An Island in the Sea (Sweden, 2003)

Andrzej Maleszka
The Wooden Dog (Poland, 2003)

Certificate of Excellence, Live-action Television Program
Mikael Hellström
The Adventures of Freddie and Leo: The Cake Caper (Sweden, 2003)

ADULT JURY PRIZE – ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Animated Feature Film or Video
Jacques-Remy Girerd
Raining Cats and Frogs (France, 2003)

2nd Prize, Animated Feature Film or Video
Francis Nielsen
The Dog, the General, and the Birds (France, 2003)

Certificate of Excellence, Animated Feature Film or Video
Jean-François Laguionie
Black Mor's Island (France, 2003)

ADULT JURY PRIZE – ANIMATED SHORT FILM OR VIDEO
1st Prize, Animated Short Film or Video
Sejong Park
Birthday Boy (Australia, 2004)

2nd Prize, Animated Short Film or Video
John Lechner & Gary Goldberger
The Dot (USA, 2004)

Certificate of Excellence, Animated Short Film or Video
Michèle Lemieux
Stormy Night (Canada, 2003)

ADULT JURY PRIZE –ANIMATED TELEVISION PRODUCTION
1st Prize, Animated Television Production
Richard Goleszowski
Creature Comforts: Cats or Dogs? (England, 2003)

2nd Prize, Animated Television Production
Fabrice Fouquet
Zoe Kezako: Bronco Babysitter (France, 2004)

Certificate of Excellence, Animated Television Production
Rachel Bevan Baker
Wilde Stories: The Selfish Giant (England, 2003)