2012 BendFilm Festival Winners

Best of Show:		Far (Daddy) It is Christmas Eve and Beth and the children are waiting for Daddy to come home. There is a war outside and Far (Daddy) is 'keeping the family safe' in the cellar. When he arrives it is evident that he has his own expectations for what the day shall bring. As a prisoner in her own home, Beth transforms unimaginable cruelty into a strange fantasy of protective love for the sake of her children.
Best Narrative:		A Little Closer In the forgotten corners of rural Virginia, Sheryl struggles to balance her work as a housekeeper and raising her two sons, fifteen year-old Marc and eleven year-old Stephen. Hoping to meet the love of her life and bring home a father for her boys, she frequents a depressing, weekly mixer for the towns aging singles set. Meanwhile, Marc is desperate to lose his virginity, and spends his days working at a used car lot. And his brother Stephen, in the throes of sexual discovery, becomes infatuated with his schoolteacher while struggling to win the approval of a group of peers who adamantly detest her.
Best Documentary:		Wonder Women WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines traces the fascinating birth, evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of fictional and real-life superheroines fighting for positive role models for girls, both on screen and off.
Audience Award:		Ethel Ethel, a feature length documentary about the remarkable life of Ethel Kennedy, is a revealing portrait told by those who know her best: her family. Directed by her Emmy-Award winning daughter, Rory Kennedy, and featuring candid interviews with Ethel and seven of her children, the film is a deeply personal look inside a political dynasty strengthened by family bonds, a compassion for others, and a wisdom forged from both hardship and triumph.
Best Screenplay:		It's a Disaster Four couples come together for their monthly brunch and get so involved in their messy relationship issues, betrayals and personality meltdowns that they hardly notice the apocalypse is knocking on the front door.
Best Directing:		Wonder Women The Untold Story of American Superheroines traces the fascinating birth, evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of fictional and real-life superheroines fighting for positive role models for girls, both on screen and off.
Best Acting:		A Little Closer - Ensemble In the forgotten corners of rural Virginia, Sheryl struggles to balance her work as a housekeeper and raising her two sons, fifteen year-old Marc and eleven year-old Stephen. Hoping to meet the love of her life and bring home a father for her boys, she frequents a depressing, weekly mixer for the towns aging singles set. Meanwhile, Marc is desperate to lose his virginity, and spends his days working at a used car lot. And his brother Stephen, in the throes of sexual discovery, becomes infatuated with his schoolteacher while struggling to win the approval of a group of peers who adamantly detest her.
Best Conservation Film:		Watershed “Whiskey is for drinkin’. Water is for fightin’,” says Jeff Ehlert, a fly fishing guide in Rocky Mountain National Park, recalling a well worn saying heard throughout the Colorado River Basin. As the most dammed, dibbed, and diverted river in the world struggles to support thirty million people across the western United States, can we find harmony amongst the competing interests of cities, agriculture, recreation, wildlife, and indigenous communities with rights to the water? Executive produced & narrated by Robert Redford.
Best Cinematography:		A Little Closer In the forgotten corners of rural Virginia, Sheryl struggles to balance her work as a housekeeper and raising her two sons, fifteen year-old Marc and eleven year-old Stephen. Hoping to meet the love of her life and bring home a father for her boys, she frequents a depressing, weekly mixer for the towns aging singles set. Meanwhile, Marc is desperate to lose his virginity, and spends his days working at a used car lot. And his brother Stephen, in the throes of sexual discovery, becomes infatuated with his schoolteacher while struggling to win the approval of a group of peers who adamantly detest her.
Best Short:		Far (Daddy) It is Christmas Eve and Beth and the children are waiting for Daddy to come home. There is a war outside and Far (Daddy) is 'keeping the family safe' in the cellar. When he arrives it is evident that he has his own expectations for what the day shall bring. As a prisoner in her own home, Beth transforms unimaginable cruelty into a strange fantasy of protective love for the sake of her children.
Best Student Short:		Kiss Me Kid Vargas is forced to face up to a devastating truth after he kills his opponent, Jonny Vasquez, in the ring. Kiss Me is a gritty, contemporary, neo-noir drama set in the often clandestine world of Latino boxing in East Los Angeles.

2012 BendFilm Festival Winners

Best of Show: