The Int'l Fest of Cinema and Technology announced the winners from its 2007 festival tour. This past year's festival events featured a wide variety of films in different award categories. Festival events took place in The Philippines, Washington DC, New York, Jacksonville, Florida, Los Angeles, Burlington, Vermont and London. The International Fest of Cinema and Technology has been presenting touring film festival events since 2002. The IFCT World Tour is designed to give exposure to independent films many of which previously had been underexposed to the public. The festival's motto is it seeks to "discover the undiscovered film." The "technology" in the festival's name occurs both in the content of the festival, which tends to focus on themes of technology or feature unique creation techniques, as well as in the method of showcasing content at the events.
Among this year's award winners were a few award "sweeps" including THE RECE!PT Directed by Tim Garrick which won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Short and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Comedic Short. THE RECE!PT is an innovative and comedic homage to Run Lola Run starring Matthew D. McCallum, Kristen Bell, and Dina Meyer. About his multiple wins, Garrick stated "We are extremely honored to have won the Best Comedic Short and Best Short awards for the IFCT 2007 World Tour. The opportunity to be part of a truly international film festival was amazing. We were thrilled that our film found a home in IFCT's prestigious 2007 line up."
Other winners of multiple award categories included the French short film "Play the Game," Directed by Stéphane Barbato, which won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best European Short Film, Runner-Up for Best Short and and Honorable Mention for Best Cinematography in a Short Film. Play the Game is inspired by a true story taken from the First World War. Razor Fish Directed by UK filmmaker Helen Williams won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best UK Short, Honorable Mention for The IFCT 2007 Award for Best UK Short and Honorable Mention for The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Female Director. Razor Fish stars Academy-award winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot) About her win, Williams stated "This is my second short and entirely self funded. It has been a labour of love on everyone's part with the entire cast and crew doing it out of the goodness of their hearts." The film Ed I Hide Directed by Suzanne Laine and Len Peltier won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Screenplay and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Female Director
IFCT has a large selection of animated films and films with FX and innovative visuals. Henry Selick's short animated film "Moongirl" won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Animation. Selick is the stop-motion guru behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Protocole33 Directed by Benoît Lestang won two awards: The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Visual FX and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Visual Innovation. Lestang has worked as a special effects make-up artist on over 50 feature films. Other animation winners for 2007 included Blur Studio's "In the Rough" for The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Comedic Animation, Life in Transition for The IFCT 2007 Award for Most Innovative Animation, Les Humains (music video for aKido) Directed by Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël and Thien Vu Dang for The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Music Video and Fauna Sutra Directed by Johan won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Short Short Animation Directed by Johan Klungel and originating in The Netherlands.
In the festival Documentary category, The Loci Dogma directed by Canadian filmmaker Justin Antippa won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Experimental Documentary and also Runner-Up for The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary. The film "scans the author’s unconsciousness throughout his genetic and environmental affiliation." The World Naked Bike Ride Directed by Johnny Zapatos won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Documentary and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Director of a Documentary. The Legend of the Holy Fishermen directed by Daniele Atzeni won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary.
Other winners in the festival Short Film categories included Il Ritratto Ovale (Oval Portrait) by Directed by Nestore Buonafede- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Cinematography in a Short, Un Dia En La Vida Directed by Marco Orsin- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Dramai, Radio-The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Canadian Film, Do Not Disturb Directed by Douglas Stark- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Thriller, Bunny and Clydo Directed by Rocky Jo-The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Action Film, The Last Alchemist Directed by Nicolas Caicoya- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Sci-Fi Film, Anna Directed by Michael Fandl - The IFCT 2007 Award for Foreign Thriller, The Milky Way Directed by Sean Bloch- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Student Film, Last Night Directed by Scott Patch- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Microbudget Short and Road Rage by Kate Duhamel-The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Short Short Film.
The Int'l Fest of Cinema and Technology also has a post-2007 free screening of highlighted animated shorts from last year which is taking place January 29th in Melbourne at The Loop (located at 23 Meyers Place), beginning at 8pm. The schedule for IFCT's upcoming 2008 tour which will be beginning shortly can also be found at the website. For the complete list of The Int'l Fest of Cinema and Technology 2007 award winners visit www.ifct.org.