A word on the winners.....

• PRINCE OF BROADWAY, directed by Sean Baker, takes THE LEE MARVIN BEST FEATURE NARRATIVE AWARD

- I was handed a ticket to see this Saturday morning at WFF base camp. I had no plans to see it, but my schedule opened up. I was looking forward to seeing it after hearing in Meira's introduction that Prince had won top prize at the LA film festival. Also, one of the filmmakers announced that the movie would be shown at the exact same time - 4:15 p.m. Saturday - in Krakow, Poland, at a film festival there, 10:15 p.m. Krakow time.

I had to leave early to attend to some personal matters in Kingston - namely, seeing my wife, who I hadn't really seen since Tuesday, and going to two art openings - so I really only saw the setup - Two guys in NYC lure pedestrians into a back room of a clothing store, where they sell Prada and Gucci and Nike knockoffs - shoes handbags, etc. Then, one of the guys, I think his name was Lucky, is approached by a woman, her girlfriend, and the small child the woman she is holding. While Lucky is working over two middle-aged woman looking for shoes, the woman basically dumps the kid on Lucky and takes off with her new boyfriend.

When I left, ol' Lucky was trying to figure out what to do. This movie didn't really leave any impression on me either way, good or bad, and I didn't feel bad leaving early because I didn't think I'd miss anything. Apparently, I blew it.

The Diane Seligman Award for BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY went to PICKIN’ AND TRIMMIN’, directed by Matt Morris.

This short was G-R-E-A-T. I saw it and am glad I did. It focused on a barber shop in Drexel, North Carolina, that is run by a guy who is probably 70. There is a back room in which musicians gather every Saturday and jam hard on bluegrass - guitar, stand-up bass, fiddle, banjo - you get the idea. The music was great, the characters, all real people, were even better. This was right out of The Andy Griffith Show.

A few fine details - The certificate on the wall from the "North Carolina Board of Barber Examiners." The sign with new prices on the wall and their "Efective" date. And that old Barber shop light, wiht the red and blue lines, from when I was a kid. You know what I mean. I remember hearing that that dates back to the days when the local barber was also the local doctor.


The Haskell Wexler Award for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY went to AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, directed by Dan Stone and shot by Daniel Fernandez, Tim Gorski, Simeon Houtman, James Joyner, Jonathan Kane, Mathieu Mauvernay, and John “Rip” Odebralski.

- THIS WAS THE BEST MOVIE I SAW AT THE FILM FEST. The Sea Shephers roam the Antarctic sea, looking for ships that illegaly hunt whales in a sanctuary. They mess with these hunters big time - ram their ship up against the hunting ship, have their helicopter buzz them, destroy propellers with big mesh ropes. A gripping point came when they lost one of their chase pontoon boats, which circle the whalers and like the whole team, just mess with their heads. What a film. What a story. And you are right up front for everything, on the bridge, in the helicopter. Great stuff and a great cause.

And consider the fact that I was very late for this movie and didn't even have a ticket - I only caught the last 20 minutes of a 96 minute movie.

And that picture up top is from the film, and I wanted to go see it based on that alone.

Also, a filmmaker speaking after the movie said the Japanese government - the whalers in the movie - have issued arrest warrants for three Sea Shepherds crew members.