This evening the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival, presented by the San Francisco Film Society, announced the juried Golden Gate Award winners, New Directors Prize winner and FIPRESCI Prize winner at a ceremony held at Rasselas Jazz Club and Restaurant in the historic Fillmore district. This year the Festival awarded over $70,000 in prizes to emerging and established filmmakers from nine countries around the globe.

Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature Winners

Documentary Feature: It's the Earth Not the Moon
Gonçalo Tocha (Portugal 2011)
  *  Winner receives $20,000 cash prize
Honorable Mention: Meanwhile in Mamelodi
Benjamin Kahlmeyer (Germany/South Africa 2011)

Bay Area Documentary Feature: The Waiting Room
Peter Nicks (USA 2011)
  *  Winner receives $15,000 cash prize and $2,000 lab services from EFILM Digital Laboratories.

New Directors Prize: Policeman
Nadav Lapid (Israel 2011)
  *  Winner receives $15,000 cash prize
Honorable Mention: OK, Enough, Goodbye.
Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia (Lebanon/UAE 2010)

FIPRESCI Prize: The Exchange
Eran Kolirin (Israel/Germany 2011)

Golden Gate Award Short Film Winners

Narrative Short: Surveillant
Yan Giroux (Canada 2011)
  *  Winner receives $5,000 cash prize

Documentary Short: I'm Never Afraid!
Willem Baptist (Netherlands 2011)
  *  Winner receives $5,000 cash prize

Animated Short: Belly
Julia Pott (England 2011)
  *  Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

Bay Area Short, First Prize: Aquadettes
Zackary Canepari, Drea Cooper (USA 2011)
  *  Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

Bay Area Short, Second Prize: Workers Leaving the Googleplex
Andrew Norman Wilson (USA 2011)
  *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

New Visions: 20Hz
Ruth Jarman, Joseph Gerhardt (England 2011)
  *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

Family Film: The Storyteller
Nandita Jain (England 2011)
  *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize
Family Film Honorable Mention: The Vacuum Kid
Katie Mahalic (USA 2011)

Youth Work: Metro
Eric Brownrout, Nick Escobar (USA 2011)
  *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize
Youth Work Honorable Mention: Life as a Collage
Forrest Penrod (USA 2011)