20th Annual Brooklyn Film Festival Wraps, Announces Winners

The 20th annual Brooklyn Film Festival wrapped on Sunday with a ceremony at Windmill Studios, handing out a total of $50,000 in products and film services. Rodrigo Reyes' Lupe Under the Sun, which had its New York premiere, picked up the coveted Grand Chameleon Award and Best Narrative Feature award. Catherine Eaton's The Sounding received the Audience award for Feature Narrative while the East Coast premiere of Kyle Eaton's Shut Up Anthony grabbed the Spirit award for Feature Narrative. There were two winners for the Best Documentary award: Chris Kelly's A Cambodian Spring and Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla's An Insignificant Man.

"I couldn't have wished for a better 20th anniversary! Everything fell into place as if it was always meant to be great from the start. A perfect combination of solid practical experience and pure magic," said Marco Ursino, BFF Executive Director.

This year's festival is comprised of 122 features and shorts from 32 countries spread over six continents. THE LINEUP includes 24 world premieres, 19 USA bows, 33 east coast debuts and 41 first-time screenings in New York.

BFF's title sponsor this year was Stella Artois, the No. 1 Belgian beer in the world, along with WNET, Eurochannel, G-Star Raw, Panavision, AbelCine, and for the 6th year, the truly innovative TBWA/CHIAT/DAY that created BFF's promotional campaign. As a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, BFF is supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Through the resources of industry-related sponsors, the Brooklyn Film Festival awarded the winners with a total of $50,000 in prizes (products, services, and cash). And they are:

GRAND CHAMELEON AWARD
LUPE UNDER THE SUN by RODRIGO REYES

Best Narrative Feature
LUPE UNDER THE SUN by RODRIGO REYES

Best Documentary - EX EQUO
A CAMBODIAN SPRING by CHRIS KELLY
AN INSIGNIFICANT MAN by KHUSHBOO RANKA & VINAY SHUKLA

Best Short Documentary
THE FOURTH KINGDOM by ALEX LORA & ADAN ALIAGA

Best Narrative Short
WATU WOTE: All of Us by KATJA BENRATH

Best Animation
TANGO by PEDRO GIONGO & FRANCISCO GUSSO

Best Experimental
COOKING WITH CONNIE by STAVIT ALLWEIS

Best New Director
EL REVENGE by FERNANDO FRAIHA

Brooklyn Pride Award
SWEET PARENTS by DAVID BLY

About Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) : The organizers of the Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), have been staging International, competitive film events since 1998. BFF's mission is to provide a public forum in Brooklyn in order to advance public interest in films and the independent production of films, to draw worldwide attention to Brooklyn as a center for cinema, to encourage the rights of all Brooklyn residents to access and experience the power of independent filmmaking, and to promote artistic excellence and the creative freedom of artists without censure. BFF, inc. is a not-for-profit organization.

For more info about the festival and the winners please visit: www.brooklynfilmfestival.org.

BFF Social Media Links: http://www.brooklynfilmfestival.org/follow/.