CIFF announces film awards

(Nov 6): The fourth annual Camden International Film Festival smashed all previous records with an estimated 3,500 tickets being sold throughout the course of the weekend. Several screenings were sold out, forcing festival directors to turn away eager audiences.

A first for the festival this year was the inclusion of awarding several substantial monetary prizes for selected films screened at the CIFF. The awards have been sponsored by Camden resident Jennifer Watt Harrell who, as a Scots-American, has followed the British and American documentary genre for nearly half a century. Awards will be given annually, chosen by a special jury of selected industry professionals and filmmakers and by CIFF audiences.

This year, the Harrell Award for Best Documentary was a tie, going to Andy Abrahams Wilson’s "Under Our Skin" and Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s "The Garden." The Emerging Cinematic Vision Award went to Travis Rummel and Ben Knight’s "Red Gold," and the 2008 Audience Award went to the festival’s opening night film, Aron Guadet and Gita Pullapilly’s "The Way We Get By."

Between three and four thousand people enjoyed the 2008 Camden International Film Festival.

CIFF 2008 ran Sept. 25 through 28. The festival drew more then 20 filmmakers from around the United States and Canada, as well as a plethora of Maine-based filmmakers, industry reps and trade journalists, to Rockland and Camden.

Participants were able to examine the documentary as an art form, directly interact and participate with filmmakers through the filmmaker speaker series and Q&A forums, and relate it to the current discussion about Maine-based film incentives.

Over recent years, the festival has made a name for itself, being hailed as a collection of the best nonfiction cinema and one of the largest and best curated festivals in the region by premiering works from emerging filmmakers in the documentary field. This year, the CIFF screened nearly 30 films, 13 of which were New England premieres, all coming off prior screenings at places like the Sundance, Silverdocs, Berliner and Tribeca festivals.

Event highlights included the emotionally charged work-in-progress screening of "The Way We Get By," an in-depth look at the lives of three senior citizens who greet troops at the Bangor International Airport 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Audience members had the opportunity to view the film for the first time, alongside its subjects, and share comments and criticism with the film's director, Gaudet, and producer, Pullapilly.

Festival organizers attribute the annual growth of the festival to the dedication of its sponsors and audience. Funds go to provide travel for filmmakers to attend the CIFF, which in turn creates a very unique cultural opportunity for the community. The festival’s major sponsors — the University of Maine, VillageSoup, Farnsworth Art Museum, The First and MPBN — have been with the organization from its inception. This year saw the inclusion of several other reputable sponsors including Unity College.

For more information on the festival and its off-season screenings, visit camdenfilmfest.org.