2004 Film Festival Screenplay Award Winners
PROVIDENCE, RI (August 30, 2004) The
eighth annual Rhode Island International Film
Festival (RIIFF) is pleased to announce the
winners for this year’s Screenplay Competition.
Over 180 screenplays were submitted from aspiring screenwriters
all over the country and abroad.
The Grand Prize winner for 2004 is "Brain Brawl"
by Kat Candler of Austin, Texas. The comedic screenplay
follows a popular teenage girl whose world turns upside
down when she transfers to an intense college preparatory
school where nerds are at the top of the social heap
and members of Brain Brawl, the academic decathlon
team, are worshipped.
" We are very happy to honor Kat Candler for her
screenplay,” said Tatiana Swancy, director of
the RIIFF Screenplay Competition. “Brain Brawl
is a hilarious and big-hearted comedy that delightfully
twists typical teenage social hierarchy.”
“We received many excellent entries,” added
George T. Marshall, the RIIFF Executive Director, “but
Kat Candler’s script is remarkable for its ingenuity,
genuine warmth, and unfailing humor.”
The RIIFF accepts feature-length screenplays on any
subject matter and in any genre. A distinguished panel
of industry professionals, screenwriters, and members
of the general public judge the screenplays based on
their creativity, innovation, vision, originality, and
use of language.
The Grand Prize winner will be presented with an award
at RIIFF’s Opening Night Gala in 2005. She will
receive round-trip travel, accommodation at a bed and
breakfast, and two-all access VIP passes to attend the
Festival. She will be a guest at the Festival’s
screenwriters workshop, ScriptBiz™ where select
scenes from her script will be given a staged reading
and is invited to attend the Festival’s Scritp-Biz
Workshop, on full scholarship.
In addition, the Grand Prize winner receives: development
notes and a one-year database membership from Script
P.I.M.P., a consulting firm founded by Sean McKittrick,
producer of Donnie Darko; total script and query editing
service, one-year website promotion, and placement in
an e-newsletter from So You Wanna Sell A Script, Inc.;
six-month website promotion of her script (including
logline and synopsis) and logline magazine placement
from InkTip.com; a one-year subscription to scr(i)pt
magazine; and a copy of Final Draft version 6 software.
“The Screenplay Competition is an integral part
of the Rhode Island International Film Festival,”
continued Mr. Marshall.” It’s important
to us to work with the screenwriter and to formally
recognize the writer at the opening of each year’s
Festival, giving the respect he or she deserves.”
The Grand Prize winner for 2003, Lance Hammer’s
The Imperfect Cell, centered on the extraordinary relationship
between a young, charismatic composer and a lonely,
aging waiter. It is currently in production.
This year’s Screenplay Competition also awarded
six other prizes to screenplays that exemplified high-quality,
powerful storytelling. The winners are as follows.
Grand First Prize
Brain Brawl
Kat Candler, Austin, TX
Second Prize
The Hippodrome at Thunderbolt
Jane Arrowsmith Edwards, Gainesville, FL
Third Prize
The Ball Boy
Thomas J. Doyle Jr., Watertown, MA
Semi-Finalists
Cursed In Love
Leigh Medeiros, Coventry, RI
Mall Cop
Alfred Thomas Catalfo, Dover, NH
Honorable Mentions
Aurora
Wendy Bednarz, Brooklyn, NY
Lyrical
Carter Stewart, Mountain View, CA
The Rhode Island International Film Festival
(RIIFF) is dedicated to the creation of opportunities
for artistic interaction and exchange among independent
filmmakers, directors, producers, distributors, backers,
and the film-going community. Now heading into its ninth
year, the Festival is produced by the Flickers Arts
Collaborative, an organization with 24 years of experience
presenting major artistic events as well as independent
and foreign films to the public. For more information,
contact the Festival at PO Box 162, Newport, RI 02840
or call 401/861-4445.
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