Nashville Film Festival Announces Festival Winners, Including Chicago Film ‘The Year Between’

The Nashville Film Festival announces the 53rd edition’s award winners, including best films in each category and the winning scripts in the organization’s esteemed screenplay competition. Brazilian film MARS ONE, written and directed by Gabriel Martins, was named Best Narrative Feature, while Tracey Arcabasso Smith’s RELATIVE earned the Best Documentary Feature award; AND STILL I SING received Best Music Documentary honors, and Chicago filmmaker Alex Heller’s THE YEAR BETWEEN was honored as Best New Directors Feature.

Watch the full awards ceremony here! And here is the full list of jury members.

Let’s take a look at the complete list of film and script award winners…

“This year’s award winners highlight an exceptional slate of movies featured at the 53rd film festival,” said Ponto. “We’re grateful to our juries this year who selected these worthy films and thrilled to honor these movies from around the world that entertain, challenge, inspire and inform. It’s our privilege to give the award winners, and all of our selected films, a platform in Nashville and beyond.”

In the Screenplay Competition, Aaron Braxton’s THE PASSAGE OF THE SUN was named Best Drama Feature Script, while Roxy Mitchell’s ELEKTRA and David Daniels’ OUR LADY OF JUSTICE earned Best Comedy and Best Horror Feature Script honors, respectively. The Screenplay competition also awarded honors for scripts in categories including Best Short Film Script, Best Hour Pilot Script and Best Tennessee Writer, which was given to Nate Eppler for FLORIDAMEN.

The 53rd Nashville Film Festival continues through Wednesday, October 5 with screenings at Nashville’s historic Belcourt Theatre, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Franklin Theatre in Franklin, TN. This year’s event closes with LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES, following the life and legacy of the master and so-called founding father of jazz, America’s first pop star, and cultural ambassador. 

“We have been so amazed and impressed by the immense creative talent showcased in this year’s festival,” said Jason Padgitt, Executive Director of Nashville Film Festival. “We are truly honored to celebrate the innovative work of our filmmakers and screenwriters and provide a platform to accelerate their future success.”

The 53rd Nashville Film Festival winners are as follows:

Best Narrative Feature                    MARS ONE (d. Gabriel Martins)
Best Documentary Feature             RELATIVE (d. Tracey Arcabasso Smith)
Best Music Documentary Feature   AND STILL I SING (d. Fazila Amiri)
Best New Directors Feature            THE YEAR BETWEEN (d. Alex Heller)
Best Graveyard Shift Feature         ROUNDING (d. Alex Thompson) 
Best Tennessee Feature                 JACIR (d. Waheed AlQawasmi)
Best Narrative Short                       THE BLANKET (d. Teppo Airaksinen)
Best Documentary Short                 LOVE, DAD (d. Diana Cam Van Nguyen)
Best Animated Short                       NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (d. Ida Melum)
Bet ‘The Edge’ Short                       BEEF (d. Sean Webley & Brendon Kingsbury)
Best Graveyard Shift Short             MOSHARI (d. Nuhash Humayun)
Best Tennessee Short                     HERMIE (d. Jonathan Becker & Anthony Pitsilos)
Best Tennessee Student Short       EMBER AND THE KEEPER OF THE CAULDRON (d. Audrey 
Witherspoon & Natalie Peterson)
Best NextGen Short                       MOLES (d. Vanja Victor Kabir Tognola)
Best Episodic Pilot                         CAMP GREENWOOD (d. Kourtney Bell)
Best Episodic Series                      MASHED (d. Stacey Maltin)
Best Virtual Reality & 360              GLIMPSE (d. Michael O’Connor and Benjamin Cleary)

The Nashville Film Festival Screenplay Competition winners are as follows:
 
Best Drama Feature Script            THE PASSAGE OF THE SUN, written by Aaron Braxton
Best Comedy Feature Script          ELEKTRA, written by Roxy Mitchell
Best Horror Feature Script             OUR LADY OF JUSTICE, written by David Daniels
Best Genre Feature Script             EYELASHES, written by Kelly Palmer
Best Short Script                            SEPTEMBER 13, 2004, written by Derrick Benton
Best Half Hour Pilot Script             BABY GAY, written by Keyanna Khatiblou
Best Hour Pilot Script                    MURDER SHOW, written by Rosiland Grush
Best Tennessee Writer                  FLORIDAMEN, written by Nate Eppler

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