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Austrian Film Judged Best Overall at Humboldt Film Festival

Apr 17, 2012

Austrian Peter Bruenner’s film “In Our Hands” was named “Best of Fest” at the 45th Humboldt Film Festival, sponsored by Humboldt State University’s Department of Theatre, Film and Dance and billed as the oldest student-run international independent short film festival worldwide.

Bruenner’s film portrays a train ride from Los Angeles to San Diego. Each of the passengers tells a different story “but they are all headed for the same abrupt end.”

The week-long event, with the theme “The Power of Film,” concluded at Humboldt State Apr. 21 with winners in multiple genres:

Best in Animation—“Another Dress, Another Button” by Lyn Elliot of the U.S.,“a stop-motion animation exploring the plight of spare buttons—carefully saved, but never used.” Honorable mention went to “The Quiet Life” by Timothy Hittle of the U.S., a clay-mation film 10 years in the making.

Best in Experimental—“The Olympian” by Gerald Pesta of the U.S., which inter-cuts an 1894 Edison film of Eugene Sandow with a 1996 video of Dorian Yates, offering insight spanning 102 years into the evolution of body-building and the motion picture art form.

Best in Documentary— “Mijo” by Chithra Jeyaram of the U.S., the portrayal of a mother and child’s intimate relationship in the midst of life-altering medical events. Honorable mention was awarded to local filmmaker Owen Roth for his documentary “Humboldt Slackers” about the growing slack line community in Humboldt County. The sport became a YouTube sensation when Madonna featured professional slackliner and HSU alum Andy Lewis at her Super Bowl half-time performance.

Best in Narrative—“Queen” directed by Adam Rose of the U.S. is the story of Nikki Holiday acted by Ryan Eggold, who also wrote, directed, and produced another finalist in the narrative category, a drag queen cabaret star who looks to fill the void in her life “after her plans to start a family fall apart.” Honorable mention went to German entry “Ab Morgen” by Raphael Wallner and Stefan Elsenbruch about a critically ill man who receives the kidney of a living donor and “fights the circumstances of being responsible for the donor’s death.”

Festival judges were John Coda, BMI award-winning musical composer for film and television (“That’s So Raven” theme song) and Directors Guild of America Award winning director/producer Tasha Oldham.

The Humboldt Film Festival is held every spring and submissions are taken beginning in September. Visit www.humboldtfilmfest.org for more information.