2001 Film Festival Award Winners
SCREENPLAY WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 5TH ANNUAL RHODE
ISLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Grand Prize Winner is screenwriting team of filmmakers
from California
PROVIDENCE, RI: (October 28, 2001)
The Rhode Island International Film Festival™
presented by BROOKS Pharmacy, is pleased to announce
the winners for this year's annual Screenplay Competition.
185 screenplays were received for this year's event
from all over the world. The jury composed of industry
professionals, peers and film fans, found their work
daunting , time-consuming and exciting as they discovered
this year's winning screenplays. After careful review
of each entrant, one Grand-Prize winner was selected
along with eight First-Prize winners.
The Grand-Prize winner for 2001 is called "Dead
Behind the Eyes" by Joubin Mortazavi & Eli
Frankel of Rodondo Beach, CA. The screenplay is a murder-mystery
set in New Orleans that charts the dark journey of a
homicide detective in his hunt for a serial killer.
According to George T. Marshall the RIIFF Executive
Director, "We are delighted to honor Joubin Mortazavi
& Eli Frankel for their wonderful screenplay. It
was a very pleasant surprise to learn that our panel
of judges selected their screenplay for the Grand Prize.
We presented the world premiere of their finished film
"21" at our Festival in 2000, so it was exciting
to discover latest work in the development stages."
As the Grand-Prize winner , the duo will receive a
cash and prizes of worth over $5,000. These include
Scholarship at the RIIFF Master Class on Production
year's Take One, Two, Three; Filmmaking with the Pros
(August 5-7, 2002);" Production of segments from
the screenplay which will also be used as a case study
during 2002 Master Class; a Staged Reading at the 2002
RIIFF Festival; Round-trip Air (2 persons); Hotel Accommodations
for three nights ; Select meals and cash stipend during
the 2002 stay; the latest version Final Draft Screenplay
Software; a copy of Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop;
Two VIP Passes to the RI Film Festival 2002; a Digital
Web Camera; a complimentary Subscription to Scr(i)pt
Magazine; and a Commemorative Lenox Clock with award
citation
"Screenplays were judged on creativity, innovation,
vision, originality and the use of language.,"
said Marshall. "For our judges, the key element
was communication and how it complemented and would
be transformed by the language of film."
The winner of last year's Grand Prize was "Night
of Light" by filmmaker/writer, Jonny Kurzman of
the United Kingdom. Recently, his original screenplay
"Leonardo Secret Agent," was picked up by
DNA Films. The film is an action-adventure comedy set
in 15th-century Italy, with the premise that Leonardo
da Vinci -- artist, scientist and inventor -- was also
a secret agent. DNA has committed to further develop
the project, which if greenlit will be Kurzman's first
screenplay to be produced.
First Prize winners of the Competition who will receive
software from Final Draft copies and/or copies of Syd
Field's Screenwriting Workshop along with subscriptions
to Scr(i)pt Magazine. The winners of the Screenplay
Competition are as follows:
Grand-Prize:
Dead Behind the Eyes
Joubin Mortazavi & Eli Frankel, Rodondo Beach, CA
First-Prize:
Second Chance
Bruce Cacho-Negrete, Chicago IL
Fall River
Maria Fish, Champaign, IL
Through the Wild Country
Richard Lutman, Jamestown, RI
Present Perfect Continuous
Spencer Beglarian, Los Angeles, CA
Stay Until Tomorrow
Laura Colella, Providence, RI
Commander in Chief
Bill Whalen, Los Angeles, CA
David & Shirley
David E. Tolchinsky, Evanston, IL
The Road Less Traveled
Harlene Stein & Victor Warren, Chatsworth, CA
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