SFIAAFF Awards

Friday, March 20, 2009

So the SFIAAFF Awards are out and I just thought I'd post up the article in it's entirety from the festival website. Congratulations to all.

Here it is.

Of the six films in competition, all were noteworthy and deserve to be seen. But of the six, one in particular captured our attention and deserves to be awarded the 2009SFIAAFF Best Documentary Feature Award: THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN.

This film demonstrated an exceptional skill with camera, editing and the ability to objectively respect—rather than objectify—its subject. The narrative was given room to speak and not deified or vilified, which is often the case with such an obvious and volatile political subject—that a director will choose to draw conclusion, rather than draw out the story. This patience by which the story is revealed reflects directorial maturity, and the use of music as a contextual and transitional modifier speaks to this, both underscoring the emotional and cultural location of a “mosque in Morgantown,” and serving as an intelligent metronome to the unfolding conflict.

The MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN is a powerful, visceral reminder of what makes a film “good,” but it is also an insightful revelation on the sometimes painful reality of what it can mean to be “Asian American”: that identity and existence are not always defined by external factors, but often by the conflict within one’s own community. Most importantly, it captures a small piece of what is soon to be American—not just Asian American—history and reminds us how the smallest dose of power and perspective—whether in front or behind the camera—has the colossal strength to change, inform and sometimes, destroy lives.

**********************************

Although only one film can be designated the “best documentary,” another work presented in competition—through sheer audacity, energy and spectacular visual presence—demands to be recognized with the 2009 SFIAAFF Special Jury Award: DIRTY HANDS.

This is a film like no other about an individual that has no comparison. And it is what every artist working with film hopes to experience and achieve: a perfect, almost sublime, match between camera and subject. Stimulating, profane and sometimes uncomfortable, both move in step with each other, screaming and dragging the audience into an insanely energized and zig-zag narrative that is impossible to separate from the artist, or his wildly kinetic art. Entirely refreshing, beneath the intoxicating pace and intensity is a noteworthy choice to frame the individual first through his work, rather than through his Asian American identity.

Dirty Hands is the result of seven years devoted by a filmmaker to understanding and participating in the life of his subject, his friend. With this in mind, it’s easy to say the film required no discipline to create and discover, and that may be true. But because it does work against every grain of objectivity and distance that is often the hallmark of documentary film, it is true to the reckless and rebellious ‘life and times of David Choe.’ In its intimate understanding, its knowledge of knowing when to pull away and when to draw focus, it paints a true and truthful image of its subject, unfinished, undone and wild. And that truth is what every good work of art strives to achieve, and the backbone of any good documentary—Asian American or otherwise.

**********************************

NARRATIVE COMPETITION

The Best Narrative Award is presented to the best feature-length narrative film by or about Asian Americans or Asian Canadians, as selected by a three-person jury. And the winners are…

BEST NARRATIVE
HALF-LIFE
Dir. Jennifer Phang

SPECIAL JURY AWARD
CHILDREN OF INVENTION
Dir. Tze Chun


DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

The Best Documentary Award is presented to the best feature-length documentary film by or about Asian Americans or Asian Canadians, as selected by a three-person jury. And the winners are…

BEST DOCUMENTARY
THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN
Dir. Brittany Huckabee

SPECIAL JURY AWARD
DIRTY HANDS: THE ART AND CRIMES OF DAVID CHOE
Dir. Harry Kim
Cool.