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WorldFest Houston Wraps Up Festival

HOUSTON, TX - The 33rd annual WorldFest-The Houston International Film Festival, concluded over the weekend with an upturn in box office figures, one bonafide hit movie, and awards to two screen legends and scores of up-and-coming filmmakers.

Attendance at the 10-day festival was 22,860, an increase of 5 per cent from 1999 figures.

One film alone, "ABCD," by Indian-American director Krutin Patel, drew 1,350 in three sold-out showings, including a special screening on closing night, and earned the Special Jury Award in the feature film category.

The Awards Dinner on Saturday night also saw Lifetime Achievement Awards going to Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson and to legendary cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs.

Other major awards in the feature categories went to "Kimberly," directed by Frederic Golchan, gold; "Spring Forward," Tom Gilroy, gold; "Pila Balde," (Fetch a Pail of Water), Philippines, Jeffrey Jeturian, gold; "Cement," Adrian Pasdar, Special Jury Award; "Home Sweet Hoboken," Yoshifumi Hosoya, bronze; "The Way," Hungary/China, Ferenc Moldovanyi, silver; "Deep Six," Michael Wolk, bronze; "The Pavilion," Grant Mitchell, silver; "Family Tree," Duane Clark, Special Jury Award; "Across the Line," Martin Spottl, silver; "The Annihilation of Fish," Charles Burnett, silver; "Oriundi," Brazil, Ricardo Bravo, gold; "Beyond the Pale," George Bazala, bronze; "The Lunatics' Ball," New Zealand, Michael Thorp; "Legacy," Tod Lending, silver; "Sonic Impact," Rodney McDonald, silver; "Secret of the Andes," Argentina, Alejandro Azzano, silver; "Blue Moon," John Gallagher, gold; "Civility," Caesar Cavaricci, bronze; "Saroja," Sri Lanka, Somaratne Dissanayake, bronze; "Seven Girlfriends," Paul Lazarus, Special Jury Award; "The Happy Family Plan," Japan, Tsutomu Abe, gold; "Little Crumb," Holland, Maria Peters, Special Jury Award; "Finding Buck McHenry," Charles Burnett, silver; "Out of Depth," Stephen Cranny, bronze; "The Wedding Cow," Germany/Switzerland, Tomi Streiff, bronze; "Gentleman B," Jordan Alan, gold; "The Spreading Ground," Canada, Derek Vanlint, gold. Three Israeli films, sponsored by the Consulate-General, attracted both strong audiences and awards recognition. They were "Dybbuk of the Holy Apple Field," Yossi Somer, Special Jury Award; "Yana's Friends," Arik Kaplun, gold; and "Circus Palestina," Eyal Halfon, finalist. Five documentaries, which were accorded full feature screening treatment during the festival, were also acknowledged with awards. They were "Waco: A New Revelation," Jason Van Vleet, Special Jury Award; "Louis Prima: The Wildest!" Don McGlynn, bronze; "Smoke and Mirrors," Torrie Rosenzweig, silver; "Amargosa," Todd Robinson, gold; and "A Force More Powerful," Steve York, Special Jury Award.

Other awards were distributed in categories ranging from short subjects and student films to screenplays and music videos. Altogether, more than 4,300 category entries were received for WorldFest, the oldest film festival in North America operating under the same nonprofit management, and the only one totally dedicated to presenting and honoring independent, undistributed films. J. Hunter Todd, founder and executive director of the festival, announced that next year's WorldFest-The Houston International Film Festival will take place from April 20-29, 2001. Entries will open Oct. 1 and close Dec. 15, with late entries accepted until Jan. 15, 2001.

Updated: 04/17/2000

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