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.