press release

Nancy Buirski, the Executive Director of the Full Frame Festival, thanked all the festival attendees and the 250 volunteers and reflected on the festival's eighth year — "The new venue at American Tobacco as well as Duke University's decision to become a part of our family of sponsors shows how we truly have found our home in the Durham and Triangle community. I am very honored that we were able to be the first to show De Seta's remarkable documentaries in America. Bringing the world here remains one of this festival's strongest assets."

The evening events, beginning with the World Premiere of the A&E IndieFilms' Bearing Witness by Bob Eisenhardt, Barbara Kopple, and Marijana Wotton, sponsored by Capitol Broadcasting Company, were filled to capacity in the Carolina Theatre's 1,000 seat Fletcher Hall. Thunderous applause greeted all of the special tributes, including the Career Award evening for Ken Burns and Ric Burns, moderated by the ABC/PBS/NPR correspondent Robert Krulwich (sponsored by Thirteen/WNET New York); the Tribute to Vittorio De Seta by Martin Scorsese, as well as the Evening with Martin Scorsese program on Saturday night sponsored by VH1. De Seta, whose appearance was presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tribeca Film Festival, was interviewed on stage by long-time admirer Martin Scorsese. A documentary on the filmmaker by Salvo Cuccia (Détour De Seta) was screened, as well as a special screening of one of De Seta's own films, Banditi a Orgosolo — the first time this film has been shown in America.

A new theater was added to the festival this year, a 375 seat theater, on the newly renovated American Tobacco Campus. The addition of this new venue helped to ensure that attendees were able to see more films. Screenings were well-attended and the number of sold-out performances and events through Sunday morning was seventeen. The sold-out screenings include: Mana — Beyond Belief; Frank Lloyd Wright; Getting Through to the President; Occupation: Dreamland; Backseat Bingo/Three of Hearts; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room; Pack Strap Swallow; Wetback—The Undocumented Documentary: Ride of the Mergansers/The Birdpeople; Following Sean; The 3 Rooms of Melancholia; Same Sex America; And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop/Sneakers; Why We Fight; Shake Hands with the Devil; and The Education of Shelby Knox and The Goody, Goody/The Self-Made Man.

The Full Frame Fellows program entered its second year with 109 new students hailing from eight colleges and universities including the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Elon University, Florida State University, Hollins University, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Wilmington and Messiah College. Also returning this year was the festival's other student group from Poughkeepsie, New York's Dutchess Community College, who set up their roving interview studio in the Carolina Theatre's Cinema Two and the Filmmaker Lounge, sponsored by HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films.

The Full Frame Institute created Kultur/Culture: The Turkish American Exchange Project, launched with the International Visitor's Council/World Affairs Council and the Association of Documentary Filmmakers in Turkey. This innovative program uses documentary film to deepen cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. Funded by a grant from the United States Department of State and The Turkish Culture and Tourism Office, Washington D.C, the program will allow filmmakers to examine their rootedness in particular cultures through an exploration and expression of abstract ideas like love, envy, and pride. Twelve filmmakers — six from Turkey, six from the U.S. — attended the festival and will travel to Istanbul to attend the International 1001 Documentary Film Festival. Project producers, Nancy Buirski, Neda Armian and Margaret Bodde, will work with the filmmakers to create a series of five-minute films with one Turkish, one American filmmaker, each assigned to the same concept. An overseeing editor will assemble the 12 shorts into a continuous 60-minute film to premiere at next year's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. The selected filmmakers include: Nurdan Arca (Turkey); Ozgur Arik (Turkey); Edet Belzberg (US); Joe Berlinger (US); Linda Goode Bryant (US); Nathaniel Kahn (US); Albert Maysles (US); Ersan Ocak (Turkey); Murag Ozdemir (Turkey); Sam Pollard (US); Sehbal Senyurt (Turkey); and Mustafa Unlu (Turkey).

While the bulk of the awards were given out at the traditional Sunday Awards Barbecue, the Full Frame/Emerging Pictures Audience Award had to be held off while votes were tallied in the 10 cities who participated in the satellite version of Full Frame's festival. Full Frame and Emerging Pictures expanded their groundbreaking initiative, begun in 2004, that uses digital technology to bring quality documentaries — the hallmark of Full Frame's programming — to numerous locations around the country at the same time as those films are being exhibited in Durham, North Carolina. For the eighth annual festival, the number of participating venues doubled. Full Frame is proud to continue this partnering with Emerging Pictures in this exciting venture; not only has it expanded the parameters of the festival's world-class event, but it has also allowed our family of filmmakers to reach an ever-growing audience.

The festival announced the winner of the Full Frame Grand Jury Award, which was a split between Murderball (Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro) and Shape of the Moon (Leonard Retel Hemrich). Full Frame has also decided to announce those films that were the finalists for that prize. The Grand Jury Award is decided in two parts, with the first selection drawn from all the competing films by a jury consisting of co-chairs from the Full Frame selection committee and the programming department. The twelve winning films are then screened by a jury of distinguished filmmakers.

Awards

Full Frame Grand Jury Award

$5,000 in film stock. Provided by Kodak.

A split between:

• Murderball Directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro. Produced by Jeffrey Mandel and Dana Adam Shapriro
• Shape of the Moon Directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich. Produced by Hetty Naaijkens

Grand Jury Award Finalists

The 3 Rooms of Melancholia Directed by Pirjo Honkasalo. Produced by Kristina Pervila

Be Here to Love Me Directed by Margaret Brown. Produced by Margaret Brown and Sam Brumbaugh

The Color of Love Directed by Maryam Keshavarz

Murderball Directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro. Produced by Jeffrey Mandel and Dana Adam Shapiro

Pack Strap Swallow Directed by Holly Paige Joyner. Produced by Holly Paige Joyner, Selina Lewis Davidson, Nancy Roth and Celine Rattray

The Ritchie Boys Directed by Christine Bauer. Produced by Dagmar Biller/Tangramfilm and Donna Zuckerbrot/Alliance Atlantis

Same Sex America A film by Henry Corra and Charlene Rule. A presentation of Showtime

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire Directed by Peter Raymont. Produced by Peter Raymont, Lindalee Tracey, and Patrick Reed

Shape of the Moon Directed by Leonard Retel Hemrich. Produced by Hetty Naaijkens

Street Fight Directed and Produced by Marshall Curry

Why We Fight Directed by Eugene Jarecki. Produced by Eugene Jarecki and Susannah Shipman

Full Frame Audience Award

$5,000 in film stock. Provided by Kodak

Murderball Directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro. Produced by Jeffrey Mandel and Dana Adam Shapriro

Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short

$500

Good Times Directed and Produced by Alessandro Cassigoli and Dalia Castel

Honorable Mention

Max by Chance Directed by Max Kestner. Produced by Elise Lund Larsen

Full Frame — content + intent = change

$5,000 cash and $5,000 in-kind for outreach. Sponsored by Working Films with support from the Ettinger Foundation

After Innocence Directed by Jessica Sanders. Produced by Jessica Sanders and Marc Simon. Produced by Showtime in association with American Film Foundation.

Honorable Mention: $1,000 cash and $2,500 in-kind for outreach.

Occupation: Dreamland Directed by Garrett Scott and Ian Olds. Produced by Selina Lewis Davidson, Nancy Roth and Garrett Scott. Executive Produced by Henry Ansbacher

The Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award

$2,000. Provided by the Charles E. Guggenheim Family

Our Brand is Crisis Directed and Produced by Rachel Boynton. Executive Produced by Steven Shainberg

Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award

$5,000. Provided by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University

The Self Made Man Directed and Produced by Susan Stern.

Honorable Mention: $1,000

Hardwood Directed by Hubert Davis. Produced by Erin Faith Young and Peter Starr

Full Frame/Emerging Pictures Audience Award

Sony HRV-Z1U high-definition camcorder. Provided by Sony

The Education of Shelby Knox Directed and Produced by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt.

Seeds of War

Two $2,500 Awards. Sponsored by Walter Mosley

Why We Fight Directed by Eugene Jarecki. Produced by Eugene Jarecki and Susannah Shipman.

The 3 Rooms of Melancholia Directed by Pirjo Honkasolo. Produced by Kristina Pervila.

Full Frame Spectrum Award

$5,000. Sponsored by Spike TV

This year the Award is a tie with $2,500 going to each recipient.

• Wetback — The Undocumented Documentary Directed by Arturo Perez Torres. Produced by Heather Haynes
• The Color of Love Directed by Maryam Keshavarz

Full Frame Women in Leadership Award

$5,000. Sponsored by The White House Project

The Education of Shelby Knox Directed and Produced by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt.

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is produced by Doc Arts Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The presenting sponsors are The New York Times and Duke University.