After six days of screenings and special presentations, Aspen Film announced today the competition winners of Aspen Shortsfest 2010. The Aspen Shortsfest Awards Ceremony was held Sunday, April 11, at the Wheeler Opera House. Aspen Shortsfest is recognized as one of North America's premier showcases for short film.

The festival's centerpiece, the Oscar®-qualifying International Competition, reflected the incredible diversity and breadth of today's short films - whether drama, comedy, animation, or documentary - as creators worldwide benefit from unprecedented access to new technology and equipment. Out of the 2,500 submissions from 80 countries that were considered, 86 short films,(9 World Premieres, 25 North American Premieres and 6 US Premieres), were ultimately selected for the ten International Competition programs. With additional out-of-competition presentations, more than 100 shorts from around the world screened in Aspen and Carbondale.  Nearly 40 film guests from the United States, Pacific Rim and Europe traveled to Aspen to participate in public screenings and school education programs.

This year's main Shortsfest jury included acclaimed actress Meg Ryan (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, When a Man Loves a Woman), producer Sarah Siegel-Magness (Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire), Academy Award-nominated feature screenwriter David Arata (Spy Game, Children of Men), and Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Daniel Junge (Chiefs, They Killed Sister Dorothy, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner). Present during the festival, they awarded cash and prizes in several categories. New this year, in addition to the best of category awards, were Creative Consultations, professional opportunities for four finalists demonstrating artistic distinction in writing-directing, documentary, editing, and cinematography.

SHORTSFEST 2010 AWARD WINNERS

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION JURY AWARDS

BEST ANIMATION ($2,500, Oscar®-qualifying award)
ANGRY MAN
(Anita Killi, Norway)

BEST COMEDY ($2,500, Oscar®-qualifying award)
SEEDS OF THE FALL
(Patrik Eklund, Sweeden)

BEST DOCUMENTARY ($2,500)
BORN SWEET
(Cynthia Wade, USA/Cambodia)

BEST DRAMA ($2,500, Oscar®-qualifying award)
THE SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN
(Mark Albiston, Louis Sutherland, New Zealand)

BEST SHORT SHORT ($1,000, Oscar®-qualifying award)
THE UNHAPPY WOMAN
(Tomas Sem Lokke-Sorensen, Norway)

BEST STUDENT ($1,000)
I'M READY
(Esther Siton, Israel)

CREATIVE CONSULTATIONS AWARDS:

DIRECTING (with producers at Escape Artist)
RITA - Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza, Italy

WRITING (with producers at Escape Artist)
GLENN OWEN DODDS - Trent Dalton, Australia

DOCUMENTARY(with filmmaker Greg Barker)
7:57 AM-PM - Simon Lelouch, France

EDITING (with editor Carol Littleton ACE)
MAN AND BOY - Kelvin Hutchins, UK

CINEMATOGRAPHY (with cinematographer John Bailey ASC)
ROAR - Ed Wild, UK

SPECIAL JURY RECOGNITION

CAREFUL WITH THAT POWERTOOL
(Jason Stutter, New Zealand)

INCIDENT BY A BANK
(Ruben Ostlund, Sweden)

DIPLOMACY
(Jon Goldman, USA)

CHICKEN HEADS
(Bassam Ali Jarbawi, Palestinian Territories/USA)

GOD OF LOVE
(Luke Matheny, USA)

AWARDS BY OTHER SHORTSFEST 2010 JURIES

AUDIENCE FAVORITE AWARD ($1,000)
GLENN OWEN DODDS
(Frazer Bailey, Australia)

THE ELLEN AWARD ($1,000)
LITTLE MISS EYEFLAP
(Iram Haq, Norway)

YOUTH JURY PRIZE ($500)
KAVI
(Gregg Helvey, India/USA)

BAFTA/LOSANGELES PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE
THE SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN
(Mark Albiston, Louis Sutherland, New Zealand)

BAFTA/LOSANGELES CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
BATTERED
(Louise de Prémonville, France)

BAFTA/LOSANGELES CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
FENCES
(Tim Dean, Australia)

IN THE PHOTO: (left to right, top to bottom)

Natalie McMenemy, Managing Director/Aspen Film; Antonio Piazza (RITA); Chris Corbett (Writer/Producer FENCES); Jon Goldman (DIPLOMACY); Tim Dean (Director FENCES); Marcus McSweeney (Director of MAN ^ BOY accepting Editing Creative Consultation Award for Kelvin Hutchins); Adam Wimpenny (Director of ROAR accepting Cinematography Creative Consultation Award for Ed Wild); Laura Thielen, Executive Director/Aspen Film; (bottom row) George Eldred, Program Director/Aspen Film; Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston (SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN); International Competition Juror David Arata. 

For images of winning films please contact Michael Devous at mdevous@aspenfilm.org.

Complete descriptions of films screened during Aspen Shortsfest 2010 are available at http://www.aspenfilm.org/.

Aspen Shortsfest is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Colorado Council on the Arts, the City of Aspen, the Town of Basalt, The Aspen Times, Aspen Magazine, Viceroy Snowmass, 42 Below Vodka, the Sky Hotel, Hotel Jerome, Aspen Public Radio, American National Bank, and the Colorado Office of Film, Television, and Media.