The city’s 24th annual LGBT film festival concluded Thursday night with a sold-out screening of “Judas Kiss,” director J.T. Tepnapa‘s provocative venture into magical realism. The 2011 Out on Film Juror Awards were also announced at the festival’s closing screening. Festival director Jim Farmer was kind enough to email the list to us before turning off his phone and getting some much deserved shut eye:
Best Narrative Feature: “The Wise Kids” (runners up included “The Green” and “Tomboy”)
Best Director: Steven Williford, “The Green”
Best Actor: Jason Butler Harner, “The Green”
Best Actress: Zoe Heran, “Tomboy”
Best Ensemble: “The Wise Kids”
Best Documentary: “Wish Me Away” (an intimate and emotional examination of country star Chely Wright‘s coming out as a lesbian in ultra-conservative Nashville. The singer is managed by Atlantan Russell Carter who is also featured in the doc).
Special Citation: “Leave It On The Floor” for cinematography and costumes
On Friday morning, “Wise Kids” director/writer/producer/actor Stephen Cone was receiving congrats on the film’s Facebook page. On Monday night following a screening of his charming coming of age drama at Midtown Art Cinema, the son of a Baptist preacher was charming but visibly nervous when we conducted a post-screening Q&A with him. “It always helps to hire incredible actors,” he told the crowd of the film he shot in and around Charleston in a month last year. Cone notably raised nearly $18,000, the remainder of his budget, just prior to his shoot last summer via a kickstarter.com fundraising page. All 277 kickstarter.com “backers” are listed in the film’s closing credits.
