The votes are in for the audience and jury award winners of the 29th Annual Out On Film festival, which took place Sept. 29 through Oct. 6 at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.
The Audience Award for best film went to closing night film “Other People,” starring Jesse Plemons and Molly Shannon.
“What a cool surprise! I’m so excited that we won this award and so grateful that our film was a part of this festival to begin with,” said openly gay “Other People” writer-director (and “Saturday Night Live” co-head writer) Chris Kelly. “It really means a lot to all of us. We wish we could have been there!”
Meanwhile, the Jury Award for best film was a tie, with the steamy “Paris 05:59: Theo and Hugo” and acclaimed director André Téchiné’s “Being 17” taking the honors. “Being 17” also nabbed Jury Awards for best actress and screenplay.
“Closet Monster,” about a teenager desperate to escape his hometown and the memories of a turbulent childhood, also resonated with the jury, as it nabbed awards for best actor (Connor Jessup of “American Crime”) and best first feature.
“We are very happy for all of our award winners,” said Out On Film Festival Director Jim Farmer. “We had more films than ever this year and the voting in all categories was very competitive. The response from our patrons was overwhelmingly positive about our programming.”
The full list of winners is below.
Audience Awards
Overall Feature: “Other People”
Men’s Feature: “Jonathan”
Runner-up: “BearCity 3” (directed by Doug Langway)
Women’s Feature: “Summertime”
Runner-up: “Suicide Kale” (directed by Carly Usdin)
Best Documentary: “Strike a Pose”
Runner-up: (tie) “Real Boy” and “Political Animals”
Best Women’s Short: “Veracity” (directed by Seith Mann)
“Best Men’s Short: “Sign” (directed by Andrew Keenan-Bolger)
Best Trans Short: “Who Am I?” (directed by Monika Wilczynska)
Jury Awards
Best Feature: “Paris 05:59: Theo and Hugo” and “Being 17”
Best Director: Jacques Martindeau, Oliver Ducaste, “Paris 05:59: Theo and Hugo”
Runner-up: André Téchiné, “Being 17”
Best Actor: Connor Jessup, “Closet Monster”
Runner-up: Tuc Watkins, “Retake”
Best Actress: Sandrine Kiberlain, “Being 17”
Runner-up: Cécile de France and Izïa Higelin, “Summertime”
Best Screenplay” “Being 17”
Runner-up: “Summertime”
Best First Feature: “Closet Monster”
Runner-up: “Retake”
Best Documentary: “Political Animals”
Runner-up: “An Act of Love” (directed by Scott Sheppard)
Best Men’s Short: “1985” (directed byYen Tan)
Best Women’s Short: “Vamonos” (directed by Marvin Lemus )
Best Trans Short: “Transcend” (directed by Kai Towns)