Strong filmmaker turnout, live audience Q&As and online networking opportunities created an energetic atmosphere for all attendees at the 2022 New Hope Film Festival.
The Best Picture jury award went to Ferryman, a British production about an alluring but reckless young woman who runs with an underground club while her military boyfriend intervenes. Best Documentary went to Frank Bey: All My Dues Are Paid, a biographical film about the eponymous American soul-blues artist. Co-Directors Tom Dwyer and Lisa Palattella followed Bey for two years to make the film. The Best Director Award went to Turkish-born helmer Sevgi Hirschhauser for Toprak, an atmospheric family drama set in rural Turkey.
Hollywood veteran Christopher M. Allport picked up Best Narrative Feature honors for his romantic comedy Emily or Oscar? and a 19th century period piece by Brussels filmmaker Patricia Delso Lucas, For I Am Dead, took home the Best Short Film jury award. Other short film award winners included Best Alternative Film Break Any Spell (Anton Josef, Canada), a contemporary drama about a teenage girl who uses Live Action Role Playing (LARPing) to cope with her mother’s dementia and Best Action Thriller Something in the Clouds, a collaboration of Los Angeles-based pros Josh Sikkema and Johnny Ray. Local 1196: A Steelworkers Strike (Samuel George, USA) landed the Cultural Spirit Award for a topical portrayal of blue-collar American workers. Love and Communication (James Christy, USA) took home the Audience Choice Best Narrative Feature and Indie Spirit awards for its close examination of a couple’s struggle to find effective medical care for their autistic son. Grafton (Bryan Santiago, USA) won Audience Choice Best TV Pilot for a chilling story about a woman who wanders off the highway into a town where she’s somehow married to a man she doesn’t know. Audience Choice awards included thought-provoking Best Documentary Breaking the Silence (Dara Sanandaji, Freddie Bell, USA) and cheeky Best Short Film Aghast! (Andreas Quiroga, USA).
The Best Script Award went to G.O.D. O.S. (David Christopher Loya, USA), a sci-fi thriller about a quantum technology that brings the dead back to life through virtual reality. With a related supernatural theme, Preacher’s Daughter: Giant Slayer (Gregory Bonds, USA) won Best Narrative Feature Script for a fantasy thriller about the U.S. military’s discovery of Nephilim-like giants in the mountains of Afghanistan. Best Streaming/Premium TV Script winner Transformed (Shannon TL Kearns, USA) explores transgender experiences in New York City. Best Period Script Wake of the Quasimodo (Lorna Norrise and Lauren Rosson, USA) and Best Short Screenplay A Package of Dreams (Bradley M. Look, USA) rounded off the list of award winners.
The full list of winners and nominees is available on the event’s official blog at http://newhopefilmfest.blogspot.com
