Out On Film, presented by GILEAD and WABE, has announced the filmmaker awards for the recently concluded 35th edition of the Atlanta-based LGBTQIA+ film festival.
Gabriel Martin’s MARS ONE was a three-time winner, taking the jury awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best International Film, and Best Ensemble. Magnus Gertten’s NELLY & NADINE won the jury prize for Best Documentary, and P.J. Palmer’s NORTH was another big winner, winning both the jury prize and the audience award for Best Drama Short Film.
Emmy Award-winner Colman Domingo, who stars in and produced NORTH STAR, also received the Out On Film Icon Award, while NEW MOON, written by Domingo and his husband Raul Domingo and directed by Jeff Le Bars and Jérémie Balais, won the Audience Award for Best Animated Short.
The top two Audience Awards went to Matt Carter’s IN FROM THE SIDE for Best Narrative Feature and Atlanta filmmaker Daresha Kyi’s MAMA BEARS for Best Documentary, while the jury award for Best Documentary went to Magnus Gertten for NELLY & NADINE.
Additional jury awards included Todd Flaherty of CHRISSY JUDY and Juan Felipe Zuleta of UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS, who tied for Best Director and former Atlantan Travis Fine, whose film TWO EYES won Best Screenplay. Christopher Sandler’s SO DAMN EASY GOING took home jury awards for Best First Film and Best Performance from that of Nikki Hanselblad.
Out On Film’s first screenplay competition yielded two prizes – Best Feature Screenplay for MAGPIE, written by Megan Mead, and Best Short Film Screenplay for EN MEMORIA, penned by Roberto Fatal and Ali Meyers-Ohki.
This year’s OUT ON FILM jury included actor/writer Ava Davis (The Ava Davis Show, The Duchess of Grant Park), Emmy Award-winning director Frederick Taylor (Meet the Team Taking J-Setting from Underground Clubs to the Main Stage), Film Impact Georgia Executive Director Melissa Simpson, journalist Rich Eldredge (Atlanta Magazine, Eldredge ATL), journalist Patrick Saunders (WABE), Melbourne Queer Film Festival program director Spiro Economopoulos, Lesflicks founder Naomi Bennett and Nashville Film Festival Creators Conference Producer Paula Martinez.
Additional audience awards Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes’ SISSY as Best International Film, Ruby Fludzinski and Tiler Wilson’s MY ABORTION SAVED MY LIFE, cited as Best Local Short Film; Erich Rettstadts TANK FAIRY, named as Best Comedy Short and Matt Nadel and Megan Plotka, whose CANS Can’t Stand won both the Audience Award and Jury Award for Best Documentary Short.
For information on Out on Film, please go to: outonfilm.org.
The 2022 Out on Film Award Winners:
Jury Awards
Best Narrative Feature
MARS ONE (Director: Filippo Gabriel Martins)
Best Narrative Feature Runner-up: EL HOUB (Director: Shariff Nasr)
Best Documentary
NELLY & NADINE (Director: Magnus Gertten)
Best Documentary Runner-up: MAMA BEARS (Director: Daresha Kyi)
Honorable Mention:
BLACK AS U R (Director Micheal Rice)
Best International Film
MARS ONE (Director: Gabriel Martins)
Best International Film Runner-up: EL HOUB (Director: Shariff Nasr)
Best First Film
SO DAMN EASY GOING (Director: Christopher Sandler)
Best First Film Runner-up: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS (Director Juan Felipe Zuleta)
Best Drama Short Film
NORTH STAR (Director: P.J. Palmer)
Best Drama Short Film Runner-up: IAGO AND TRISTAN (Director: Miguel Ibáñez Monroy)
Best Documentary Short Film
CANS Can’t Stand (director Matt Nadel and Megan Plotka)
Best Director
(TIE) UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS (Director: Juan Felipe Zuleta) and CHRISSY JUDY (Director : Todd Flaherty)
Best Screenplay
TWO EYES (Director: Travis Fine)
Best Screenplay Runner-up: CHRISSY JUDY (Director: Todd Flaherty)
Best Performance
SO DAMN EASY GOING (Nikki Hanselblad)
Best Performance Runner-Up: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS (Matthew Jeffers )
Best Ensemble
MARS ONE (Director: Gabriel Martins)
Best Ensemble Runner-Up: TWO EYES (Director: Travis Fine)
Audience Awards
Best Narrative Feature
IN FROM THE SIDE (Matt Carter)
Best Narrative Feature Runner-up: WHEN TIME GOT LOUDER (Director: Connie Cocchia)
Best Documentary
MAMA BEARS (Director: Daresha Kyi)
Best Documentary Runner-up: (TIE) ART AND PEP (Director: Mercedes Kane) and BLACK AS U R (Director: Micheal Rice)
Best International Film
SiSSY (Directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes)
Best Local Short Film
MY ABORTION SAVED MY LIFE (Director: Ruby Fludzinski and Tiler Wilson)
Best Documentary Short Film
CANS Can’t Stand (Director: Matt Nadel and Megan Plotka)