Winners Revealed at SCIFF, Director Arthur Hiller Responds to Lifetime Nod; Disney's ``Frank & Ollie'' Nab ``Friz'' Award

Business Wire, March 22, 2001

Entertainment Editors & Film Writers

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--March 22, 2001

Festival Winners Generate Excitement With New Indie Releases; Surprise

Double Win by Shorts From Florida State University Film Program;

"Share the Vision" Gets `Applause'

Top honors in all categories were handed out this past Friday at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival (SCIFF) gala, including a Lifetime Achievement Award for director Arthur Hiller ("Love Story," "Silver Streak"); a "Friz" Award for legendary Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston ("Bambi," "Fantasia"); a SCIFF Human Spirit Award for producer Ava Fries ("Troop Beverly Hills"); as well as Producers Guild of America Student Filmmaker Awards; and a `Top Applause Award' for world premiere educational documentary "Share the Vision," which features children's chats with influential thinkers and policymakers from Doris Kearns Goodwin to the Dalai Lama.

Attendees at the gala included Tippi Hedren ("The Birds"), who said that the winning "films are healthy for the human spirit and are a victory for SCIFF." Carrie Snodgrass ("Diary of a Mad Housewife"), Dee Wallace-Stone ("Poltergeist") and Shelley Long ("Cheers") presented awards at the event.

Ryan O'Neal, who presented the award recognizing a lifetime of achievement to his friend and "Love Story" director Arthur Hiller, stated that the honoree "selected me for the role of a lifetime."

Responding to the award, director Hiller said: "Besides being a personal honor for me, the Lifetime Award from SCIFF sends the message that complex and intelligent entertainment can qualify as `family' entertainment. Think of writers like Paddy Chayefsky and Neil Simon, both of whom it has been my privilege to work with, and you realize cinema has the ability to be an entertaining and powerful collective experience for a family."

Disney greats Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were introduced by a short video narrated by top contemporary Disney animator Glen Keane ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast") that detailed their storied animation career and creative partnership at the children's picture powerhouse. During the awards ceremony, Frank and Ollie shared a microphone and proved their status as American legends by relating tidbits from their 40 years at Disney.

Florida State University Film School won big in the Producers Guild of America short films category for students, picking up Student Filmmaker Awards for "Lector" (Shane Savanapridi, Greg Marcks) as Best Dramatic Short and for "Breathes" (Amy Ellison) as Best Comedy Short.

Full-length feature "All Over Again" (Darren Moore, producer) won Best Picture, Drama; "Perfect Game" (Dan Guntzelman, writer/director/producer) won Best Picture, Comedy; and Granada Entertainment's crowd-pleaser, "Princess of Thieves" (Craig McNeil & Michael Taylor), stole Best Tele-Feature - Drama. The coveted SCIFF Directors Gold Award went to "Return to the Secret Garden" (Scott Featherstone, director; Forrest S. Baker III, executive producer).

In international submissions, Irish short "The Case of Majella Mcginty" (Kirsten Sheridan, director), Canadian animation "Casper's Haunted Christmas" (Mainframe Entertainment Inc.), documentary "The Cow's Trousers" (Balazo Pal, writer/director) from Hungary, and Australia's "Stories & Songs of the People" (Fiona Cochrane, director) all won best in category.

Screenwriter Carol Sabik-Jaffe gave perhaps the most compelling acceptance speech of the evening when she picked up the Best Screenplay - Drama award for her project "Living Again": "I want to thank my kids, who said `Mom, when your movie comes out, can we see it?' It feels great to say `yes' to that question."

SCIFF named Cameron Finley ("Perfect Game") Best Child Actor. A complete list of winners, including all the screenwriting awards and contact names, can be found at www.sciff.org.

SCIFF is a nonprofit that showcases engaging, family-appropriate films, industry-related workshops and seminars. Entries this year have came in from participating countries Iran, Syria, Ireland, Hungary, Romania and India, to name a few. Go to www.sciff.org, or contact Q. Johnson, 310/440-0184.