By Maria Esteves – March 21, 2013

The Inaugural First Time Fest (FTF) 2013 Closing Night Awards honoring first-time filmmakers hosted by Award winning (Oscar, Emmy, Tony) actress Ellen Burstyn and presented by Anthony Rapp commenced Monday, March 4, 2013, 8:00 PM, at the historic Players Club, New York. Founded by Johanna Bennett and Mandy Ward, the festival presents directorial debuts from around the world with theatrical distribution, as it’s key element.

The Inaugural First Time Fest film festival sponsored by Morgan Stanley held March 1-4, 2013 at AMC Loews Village and the Players Club included 25 films (competition, first exposure), Q&A sessions, panel discussions, special events, awards ceremony, opening, and closing night parties. Attendees and participants included Amy Ryan, Barbara Kopple, Christine Vachon, Hal Hartley, Harry Belafonte, Jack Huston, Martin Scorsese, Melvin Van Peebles, Nancy Savoca, Sofia Coppola, Sophie O'Connor, Tony Bennett, Todd Solondz, William Luhr, and many others.

The twelve first-time International filmmakers in competition were Seth Fisher for Blumenthal (USA), Amelie van Elmbt for Headfirst (La Tete La Premiere) (Belgium/France), Andrei Kureichyk for Horizon Sky (Belarus), Luciano Hernandez for I Love You All (Los Quiero A Todos) (Argentina), Tony Glazer for Junction (USA), Benj Binks for Monogolian Bling (Australia/Mongolia), Diego Rougier for SAL (Chile/Argentina), Sophie O’Connor for Submerge (Australia), Max Weissberg for Summertime (USA), Fredrik Stanton for Uprising (USA/Egypt), Eliav Lilti for Urban Tale (Israel), and Amy Nicholson for Zipper (USA).

This year's FTF jurors were Anne-Katrin Titze, Christine Vachon, Fred Schneider, Gay Talese, and FTF audience. The nine awards within eight categories included the John Huston Award for outstanding achievement in cinema and the Grand Prize Award, a guaranteed theatrical release by Cinema Libre Studio. The following are the various awards and their winners:

Achievement in Acting

ALICE DE LENCQUESAING in Headfirst (La Tete La Premiere)

NEAL BLEDSOE in Junction View Trailer

Achievement in Directing

AMÉLIE VAN ELMBT for Headfirst (La Tete La Premiere)

Achievement in Editing

JONAH MARIN and JOHN YOUNG for Zipper View Trailer

Achievement in Cinematography

DAVID BRAVO for Sal View Trailer

Achievement in Writing

MAX WEISSBERG for Summertime View Trailer

Achievement in Scoring

MARTIN BOSSA and TOMÁS CARNELLI for I Love You All (Los Quiero A Todos)

Grand Prize Award

Presented by Award winning (Oscar, Emmy, Tony) actress Ellen Burstyn to writer/director Diego Rougier for SAL

JOHN HUSTON AWARD

Presented by master American filmmaker Martin Scorsese to director DARREN ARONOFSKY