(November 11-15, Napa Valley, California) – The 5th Annual Napa Valley Film Festival wrapped and printed another successful multi-day event featuring 120 films, special presentations, musical performances and cooking demonstrations. Meadowood Napa Valley (http://www.meadowood.com/) awarded $10,000 to the winning filmmakers in both the Narrative and Documentary competition categories at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony. In addition, Lexus and The Weinstein Company also announced the four winners of the third annual Lexus Short Film Series.
Festival Co-Founders and Directors Marc and Brenda Lhormer reflected, “It’s been an absolutely amazing 5th anniversary for our festival, with an outstanding lineup of films paired with fantastic and unique culinary and wine events. It has been our pleasure to share such compelling stories with our audiences and host such creative storytellers for another year here in Napa Valley. The addition of this year’s Lexus Short Film Series makes it even more special as we will welcome these filmmakers back again next year to showcase their completed projects, shown together for the first time.”
Marc added, “We experienced nearly a 50% jump in submissions this year, making it just that much more difficult to whittle down to our 10 narrative and 10 documentary feature films for our core competition.”
Films in the Narrative competition section featured actors Alexis Bledel, Jamie Chung, Eliza Dushku, Lyndsy Fonseca, Bryan Greenberg, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Jordan, Josh McDermitt, Kal Penn and Jason Sudeikis, among others. Subjects ranged from a post-apocalyptic journey to finding love despite autism to a chronicling of a relationship as it ages to passages as they affect the various protagonists.
Our publisher, sat down with the writer of Moments of Clarity, Christian Lloyd, to discuss his thoughts.
The Plot: Two unlikely friends, Claire and Danielle, elude their protective parents and embark on a quest to repair an antique camera. A series of events lead to their adventure extending beyond their original plans, ultimately helping them both to better understand the worlds from which they had seemingly escaped. Starring Lyndsy Fonseca and Kristin Wallace. Directed by Stev Elam.
Moments of clarity has won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the San Diego Film Festival and The Catalina Film Festival.
CHRISTIAN LLOYD is an accomplished actor, writer, and photographer. He recently played opposite Brooke Shields in Mum’s the Word (Hallmark), and James Franco in the J.J. Abrams mini-series 11/22/63 (Hulu). Other select Film/TV credits include David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars (Prospero Pictures), Bang Bang Baby (Scythia Films), Gale Anne Hurd’s Horizon (USA), Mayday (Discovery), Covert Affairs (USA), Skins (MTV), Mr. Viral (Gangreen), Foxfire (Haut et Court), Repo Men (Universal), and The Day Reagan Was Shot (Showtime/Paramount) In theatre, Christian recently earned raved reviews as Pierre in the spectacle The Heart of Robin Hood (Mirvish/RMTC) (Soulpepper). Other credits include, Chicken Grease is Nasty Business (Summerworks), Happy Hour (LabCab), Getting Lucky (Rhubarb Festival), Talking Heads (MackenzieRo), Amadeus (CanStage/Citadel/Naples), Twelfth Night (Soulpepper), Platonov (Soulpepper), Romeo and Juliet (CanStage) . As a writer, Christian co-wrote the award winning feature film Moments of Clarity. The film most recently won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the San Diego Film Festival. Christian has penned a number of plays including Happy Hour, Getting Lucky, Fridays with Frieda, and Record. He co-wrote the TV pilot for What Would Trejo Do?, starring screen legend, Danny Trejo.
Christian is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School and holds an Honours B.Sc. from the University of Guelph. Follow Christian on his website, www.gettingfilm.com or on twitter @actwritesnap.
Films in the documentary competition included stories of redemption, play, inclusion, change, life under siege, triumph despite disability, surviving loss, living with loss and expanding the world’s view of war crimes.
• Best Narrative Feature (and $10K winner): The King of New Orleans.
• Best Screenplay: Tumbledown.
• Best Ensemble Cast: Jane Wants a Boyfriend.
• Best Documentary Feature (and $10K winner): Romeo is Bleeding.
• Best Narrative Short: It’s Perfect Here.
• Best Documentary Short: Elder.
• Best Lounge Feature: Night Owls.
• Best Lounge Short: A Man Wakes Up.
• Courage in Documentary Feature Filmmaking: Life Under Siege: Exploring Gaza’s Secret Tunnels.
• Authenticity in Narrative Feature Story-Telling: Life in Color.
• Acting in a Lounge Feature Film: Sisters Aly Michalka and AJ Michalka for their work in the film Weepah Way For Now.
The Audience Awards:
• Favorite Actor: David Jensen (The King of New Orleans).
• Favorite Actress: Louisa Krause (Jane Wants a Boyfriend).
• Favorite Documentary Feature: Landfillharmonic.
• Favorite Documentary Short: Ron Taylor: Dr. Baseball.
• Favorite Narrative Feature: Friends and Romans.
• Favorite Narrative Short: Sin Frontera.
• Favorite Short Feature: Sketch.
The Lexus Short Film Series Winners who will create new short films around the theme of “anticipation” to be debuted at next year’s festival:
• Alexis Michalik
• Byoung-Gon Moon
• Damian Walshe-Howling
• Pippa Bianco
Celebrity Tributes:
John Travolta – Legendary Actor
Bruce Dern (via video acceptance) – Legendary Actor
Keegan-Michael Key – Trailblazer
Lydia Hearst, Evan Peters & Finn Wittrock – Each received the Rising Star
Zoe Kazan (via video acceptance) – Rising Star
A world premiere screening of Life on the Line was held on Saturday the 14th with cast members John Travolta and Devon Sawa, producers Phillip Glasser and Marvin Peart, and actress Kelly Preston all walking the red carpet.
About: The Napa Valley Film Festival‘s mission is to celebrate the cinematic arts and enrich the community by presenting an annual world-class festival and year-round education and outreach programs. Fourteen venues in the picturesque towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga work together to screen the festival’s films. 400+ visiting filmmakers interact with audiences at screenings and intimate events. The four day event includes culinary demonstrations, wine tasting pavilions, a Festival Gala, Celebrity Tributes, Awards Ceremony plus an array of parties, VIP receptions, winemaker dinners and more.
For more information, visit www.nvff.org or call 707.226.7500. Also see Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Presenting Sponsor: Lexus Short Films
Major Sponsor: Meadowood Napa Valley
Leading Sponsors: Sony, Stella Artois, AVMS, Domaine Chandon, The Westin Verasa Napa, Cognition Studio, Cellar Pass and Bank of America / Merrill Lynch.