Lexus and The Weinstein Company Also Reveal Winners of the Third Lexus Short Film Series at the Closing Ceremony

To round out an outstanding week of film, food, and wine the 5^th Annual Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF)announced this year’s juried and audience award winners at the Uptown Theatre on Sunday, November 15, 2015.  The Festival, held from November 11-15screened 120 films showcasing the year’s best new independent films in 12 unique theater venues in the four postcard-perfect towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga.

During the Awards Ceremony, Lexus and The Weinstein Company also announced the four winners of the third annual Lexus Short Film Series. Selected from thousands of submissions, Alexis Michalik, Byoung-Gon Moon, Damian Walshe-Howling and Pippa Bianco received their honors at the Uptown Theatre. The four finalists will create new short films around the theme of “anticipation,” receive promotional distribution support, participate in a tour of top film festivals around the world and receive an at-home filmmaking and editing suite to further bring their imagination and passion to life.

Festival Co-Founders and Directors Marc and Brenda Lhormer are pleased to announce the completion of another successful festival stating, “It's been an absolutely amazing 5^th anniversary for our festival, with an outstanding lineup of films paired with fantastic and unique culinary and wine events. It has been our pleasure to share such compelling stories with our audiences and host such creative storytellers for another year here in Napa Valley. The addition of this year’s Lexus Short Film Series makes it even more special as we will welcome these filmmakers back again next year to showcase their completed projects, shown together for the first time.”

“The festival has a lot of diversity which I cherish and still the program is not overly big,” said Jury Member, journalist and HFPA member, Dierk Sindermann. “Here it’s condensed and accessible, with the most beautiful venues. The whole community seems to be a part of it, which is really impressive. Even the smallest movies are always packed. And, I really enjoy that there are Q&As after the screenings. They are always so interesting. I go to a lot of festivals and the whole concept of this festival works, and a little Hollywood impact doesn’t hurt either.”

The full list of Juried Awards is below:

• Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature presented by Taken Wine Company, and with a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of Meadowood Napa Valley, goes to The King of New Orleans.
• Jury Award for Best Screenplay presented by Italics Winegrowers goes to Tumbledown.
• Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast presented by Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley goes to Jane Wants a Boyfriend.
• Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature presented by Trinchero Napa Valley, and with a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of Meadowood Napa Valley, goes to Romeo is Bleeding.
• Jury Award for Best Narrative Short presented by Wolf Family Vineyards goes to It’s Perfect Here.
  • Honorable Mention goes to Birthday.
• Jury Award for Best Documentary Short presented by Priest Ranch goes to Elder.
• Honorable Mentions go to: Code Oakland, Une Passion d’or et de feu (A Passion of Gold and Fire), and Riding the Highline.
• Jury Award for Best Lounge Feature presented by Ca’ Momi Winery goes to Night Owls.
• Honorable Mention goes to CI: A Tedd Talkumentary.
• Jury Award for Best Lounge Short presented by Modus Operandi Cellars goes to A Man Wakes Up.
• Special Jury Award – Courage in Documentary Feature Filmmaking presented by Rombauer Vineyards goes to Life Under Siege: Exploring Gaza’s Secret Tunnels.
• Special Jury Award – Authenticity in Narrative Feature Story-Telling presented by The Hess Collection Winery goes to Life in Color.
• Special Jury Award – Acting in a Lounge Feature Film goes to sisters Aly Michalka and AJ Michalka for their work in the film Weepah Way For Now.

A full list of Audience Awards is below:

• Audience Award for Favorite Actor presented by Caldwell Vineyard goes to David Jensen for his work in the film The King of New Orleans.
• Audience Award for Favorite Actress presented by Eleven Eleven Wines goes to Louisa Krause for her work in the film Jane Wants a Boyfriend.
• Audience Award for Favorite Documentary Feature presented by Grgich Hills Estate goes to Landfillharmonic.
• Audience Award for Favorite Documentary Short presented by Kelham Vineyards and Winery goes to Ron Taylor: Dr. Baseball.
• Audience Award for Favorite Narrative Feature presented by Markham Vineyards goes to Friends and Romans.
• Audience Award for Favorite Narrative Short presented by Favia Erickson Winegrowers goes to Sin Frontera.
  • The runner-ups for Narrative Shorts presented by Matthiasson Wines are Playdate and Birthday.
• Audience Award for Favorite Short Feature presented by Beaulieu Vineyard goes to Sketch.

Lexus Short Films winning filmmakers received their awards presented by Alpha Omega Winery, Merryvale Vineyards, Raymond Vineyards and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

Narrative Features Jury: Sydney Levine, Morrie Warshawski, Ralph Macchio

Documentary Features and Shorts Jury: Dierk Sindermann, Marcia Jarmel, Sheri Linden

Narrative Shorts Jury: Alonso Duralde, Neil Berkeley, Lissa Gibbs

Documentary Shorts Jury: Ken Schneider, Brandon Carroll, Jenni Olson

The Lounge Jury: Gren Wells, Evy Warshawski, Elvis Mitchell

Each of the festival winners received a large format wine bottle from one of the festival’s esteemed Vintner Circle winery partners. For the first time, The Lounge Features and Shorts were up for the Juried and Audience Awards. The winners of the Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature jury were awarded $10,000, presented by Meadowood Napa Valley.

Directors of the Narrative and Documentary films in competition participate in NVFF’s unique Artists-in-Residence Program presented by Meadowood Napa Valley. Directors stay at the luxury resort for six nights during the festival and are treated to special events and workshops with their competition group and industry mentors.

Kicking off the festival one night early, the festival held a sneak preview screening of Patricia Riggen’s film The 33 about the 2010 mining disaster in Chile. On Wednesday, November 12, opening night festival goers enjoyed the highly-anticipated sequel to Somm with the world premiere of Somm: Into the Bottlefrom writer/director Jason Wise. Many of the film’s master sommelier subjects attended the red carpet event held at the Uptown Theatre in downtown Napa.

The week’s highlight festivities included the Variety 10 to Taste event, sponsored by the Food Network and Cooking Channel, on Thursday, November 12, celebrating ten local chefs and their recreation of iconic food scenes in movies, such as Julie and Julia and Pulp Fiction. Chef Bobby Flay, actress Emilie de Ravin, film director and food writer Kevin Pang and Southern Wine & Spirits’ Lee Schrager participated on a panel at the event discussing culinary trends, and the role of food in film. The Lincoln Theater in Yountville played host to the star-studded Festival Gala on Thursday evening attended by Evan Peters, Emilie de Ravin, Aly and AJ Michalka, Abigail Spencer and 1,500 festival goers.

On Friday, November 13 the Lincoln Theater again hosted the Celebrity Tributes, honoring

John Travolta with the Legendary Actor Tribute, presented by Freemark Abbey, Keegan-Michael Key with the Trailblazer Tribute, and Lydia Hearst,Evan Peters and Finn Wittrock each received the Rising Star Tribute presented by Domaine Chandon. Bruce Dern (Legendary Actor Tribute) and Zoe Kazan (Rising Star Tribute) sent in video messages to accept their honors. Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush took the stage with the honorees for intimate conversations about their careers, achievements, and plans for the future. Raymond Vineyards celebrated the honorees by hosting the VIP After-Party.

Festival-goers headed back to the Lincoln Theater on Saturday, November 14 for the red carpet and world premiere screening of Life on the Line. Cast members John Travolta and Devon Sawa walked the red carpet along with producers Phillip Glasser and Marvin Peart, and actress Kelly Preston. Local Napa area PG&E linemen, who were the first heroic responders during the 2014 Napa earthquake and recent Lake County wildfire, joined the red carpet welcome and screening.

On the final day of the festival, San Francisco-based filmmaker Ken Schneider won the annual Pitch Competition for his new documentary feature concept,The Factory. Judges of the contest included Fox Searchlight’s David Greenbaum, The Weinstein Company’s David Glasser and Ennis Hensley, and filmmaker Robert Budreau. The Festival closed its curtains with Budreau’s new film, Born to Be Blue, starring Ethan Hawke, at the Lincoln Theater, followed by the Awards Ceremony at the Uptown Theatre. 

For information or to buy passes for the 2016 festival slated for November 9 – 13, 2016, visit NVFF.ORG or call 707-226-7500. 

About the Napa Valley Film Festival

The Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) The ultimate celebration of film, food and wine, NVFF lights up the picturesque towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga at the most colorful time of year. NVFF features over 100 new independent films and red carpet sneak previews screening in 12 beautiful venues throughout the four walkable villages, as 400 visiting filmmakers interact with audiences at screenings and intimate events. Attendees enjoy film panels & culinary demonstrations, wine tasting pavilions, the spectacular Festival Gala, Celebrity Tributes, Awards Ceremony, an array of parties, VIP receptions, winemaker dinners and more. NVFF is a registered 501 c3 non-profit organization.

Presenting Sponsor: Lexus Short Films

Major Sponsor: Meadowood Napa Valley

Leading Sponsors: Sony, Stella Artois, AVMS, Domaine Chandon, The Westin Verasa Napa, Cognition Studio, Cellar Pass. Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Supporting Sponsors: Raymond Vineyards, Napa River Inn, Freemark Abbey, ColorZone, The Weinstein Company, Classic Party Rentals, City Winery, BRKLY, Napa County, Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, Terlato Family Wines

Top Media Sponsors: Traditional Home Magazine, Variety, Wine Spectator, Travel and Leisure, Comcast/Xfinity, KFOG/KGO, San Francisco Chronicle.