press release

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Wraps Tenth Anniversary with Twelve Awards

2008 Festival Date Set for April 3-6, 2007

(Durham, North Carolina) - The tenth anniversary of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival came to a close Sunday, April 15th with record-breaking attendance. The final ticket number for the 2007 festival was 25,428 with an estimated 1,400 additional viewers coming for films showing post-barbecue bringing the total number of tickets to 26,828 for 2007. The ticket sales for 2006 were 22,661. The festival opened up an additional screen this year bringing the total of screens to seven venues in downtown Durham. The festival sold out 20 films.

“We have so many people to thank for not only this year, but for ten amazing years,” reflected Festival Founder, CEO, and Artistic Director Nancy Buirski. “Filmmakers, sponsors, donors, volunteers and staff and an incredible roster of supporters have made this festival so much more than a sum of the four days. This year’s ten guest curators, who made up the Power of Ten and who individually have helped to shape this festival over the years, remind us of the remarkable community who have contributed to Full Frame over the course of the decade. I am humbled every year, and perhaps even more so this year, when I see filmmakers and audience sitting together and engaged in the kind of intense conversations that resonate far beyond our venues. Documentary film has a singular power to tell stories about our world. Each year it has been my deepest pleasure to know that we here at Full Frame – audience and artists alike—are part of an important process: sharing the stories, spreading the word, and keeping the artistry that is documentary film’s special gift alive and flourishing.”

The festival presented twelve awards at their traditional Awards Ceremony and Southern Style Barbecue (an additional award presented with Emerging Pictures will be announced during the week). All awards are determined by prestigious juries consisting of members of the national filmmaking community.

FULL FRAME GRAND JURY AWARD l The Monastery
Alpha Cine Labs, Seattle l $20,000 in lab services for a tape to film transfer for the winning film or lab services to be used in a two year period from Alpha Cine Labs, Seattle.
The Grand Jury Award recognizes a film as the best feature from the documentary film community this year. 

FULL FRAME JURY AWARD FOR BEST SHORT l Cross Your Eyes Keep Them Wide
$10,000 in film stock.  Provided by Kodak.
The Jury Award for Best Short is awarded to a film 40 minutes or less in length.

     Honorable Mention l Zo is dat (The Way It Is)

FULL FRAME AUDIENCE AWARD l War/Dance
$3,000 cash award.
The Audience Award is chosen by calculating audience ballots filled out during the four-day Festival.

CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES FILMMAKER AWARD l The Ants
$7,500.  Provided by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
The CDS Filmmaker Award recognizes documentary films that combine originality and creativity with firsthand experience in examining central issues of contemporary life and culture. All films in Competition were eligible.

THE CHARLES E. GUGGENHEIM EMERGING ARTIST AWARD l The Monastery
$2,000. Provided by the Charles E. Guggenheim Family.
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is proud to offer this annual prize to a first time documentary feature as a way to foster the work of new filmmakers, young and old. 

SEEDS OF WAR l Uganda Rising and The Devil Came on Horseback
$5,000. Sponsored by Walter Mosley.
Sparked by the worldwide wars—and the policies and cultural attitudes that continue to promote them—this award honors two filmmakers who lay bare the seeds and mechanisms that create war.  There will be two prizes awarded of $2,500.

FULL FRAME SPECTRUM AWARD l Banished
$10,000. Sponsored by the Fledgling Fund.
This award honors a filmmaker of color whose work demonstrates artistic excellence and achievement.

     Honorable Mention l Leila Khaled, Hijacker

FULL FRAME INSPIRATION AWARD l Forever
$5,000. Sponsored by the Hartley Foundation.
This new award is presented to a film that best exemplifies the value and relevance of world religions and spirituality.

     Honorable Mention l Lake of Fire

FULL FRAME PRESIDENT’S AWARD l Lumo
$5,000. Sponsored by Duke University.
Aimed at recognizing up-and-coming filmmakers, this new prize is awarded to the best student film.

FULL FRAME WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD l Shame
$5,000. Sponsored by the White House Project.
This award will be given to the film that best portrays women in leadership.

FULL FRAME/WORKING FILMS AWARD l The Devil Came on Horseback
$5,000 cash and $5,000 in-kind for the development of the film’s outreach plan. Sponsored by the Ettinger Foundation and Chicken & Egg Pictures.
Sponsored by Working Films, the media non-profit that is nationally recognized activist-driven bridge between high quality documentary filmmaking and concrete impact, this prize will be awarded to the film that has the greatest potential for supporting serious grassroots organizing and social change.

THE KATHLEEN BRYAN EDWARDS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS l For the Bible Tells Me So
$5,000. Sponsored by Julian Price Family Foundation.
This annual award is presented to a film that addresses a significant human rights issue in the United States.  By inspiring advocacy, increasing awareness and promoting equity and justice, the winning film will honor the legacy of Kathleen Bryan Edwards’s passion and activism for human rights.

FULL FRAME/EMERGING PICTURES AUDIENCE AWARD l Angels in the Dust
This will be presented to the filmmaker whose work is selected by the audience members of the digital extension of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival being set up by Emerging Pictures and Full Frame in various locations around the country. 

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.

Contact:

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
919.687.4100
info@fullframefest.org