2012 RiverRun Award Winners

And so the 14th Annual RiverRun International Film Festival has come to a close. After nine days and hundreds of films, here are the 2012 winners:

JURY AWARDS (NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION)
Best Narrative Feature — Found Memories (Argentina/Brazil), directed by Júlia Murat
Peter Brunette Award for Best Director — Júlia Murat, Found Memories (Argentina/Brazil)
Best Actor — Mohamed Fellag in Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
Honorable Mention, Best Actor — Anders Danielsen Lie in Oslo, August 31st (Norway)
Best Actress — Nadezhda Markina, Elena (Russia)
Honorable Mention, Best Actress — Sonia Guedes, Found Memories (Argentina/Brazil)
Best Cinematography — Lucio Bonelli, Found Memories (Argentina/Brazil)
Best Screenplay — Philippe Falardeau, Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)

JURY AWARDS (DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION)
Best Documentary Feature — The Boy Who Was a King (Bulgaria/Germany), directed by Andrey Paounov
Best Director — Lauren Greenfield, Queen of Versailles (USA)
Human Rights Award — Love Free or Die (USA), directed by Macky Alston

AUDIENCE AWARDS
Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton, LLP Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature — Monsieur Lazhar (Canada), directed by Philippe Falardeau
Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton, LLP Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature — Chasing Ice (USA), directed by Jeff Orlowski
Altered States Audience Award for Best American Independent Film — Small, Beautifully Moving Parts (USA), directed by Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson

This was, in my opinion, perhaps the strongest lineup RiverRun has had yet. I'm a big fan of Found Memories so I was glad to see it do so well with the narrative jury. The film will be released on June 1 in NYC from Film Movement. The audience winner, Monsieur Lazhar, is currently playing in select cities.

For a complete list of winners, click here. To read my reviews of the films that played in competition, click here.