AFI Fest Winners Include ‘I Am Not Alone’ Taking Audience Award; Caucus Awards Honors Bestowed

Patrick Hipes

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AFI Fest said Friday that I Am Not Alone, Garin Hovannisian’s documentary about the 2018 Armenian revolution, won this year’s feature film Audience Award, topping the list of prizes given for the annual festival that wrapped its run last night in Hollywood.

The festival also said today that it will hold its 2020 edition next October 15-22.

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Among the winners unveiled today were Sonia K. Hadad’s Exam, which took the Grand Jury Prize in the Live Action Short category, while Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s Something to Remember won the Grand Jury Prize for Animated Short. The wins make both films Oscar-eligible in those categories.

The festival’s documentary competition resulted in a tie, with Grand Jury prizes going to Sophia Nahil Allison’s A Love Song for Latasha and Elivia Shaw’s The Clinic.

Here’s the list of winners:

Audience Award – Feature

I Am Not Alone
(DIR Garin Hovannisian)

Audience Award – Short

Lost & Found
(DIR Orlando Von Einsiedel)

Grand Jury Award – Live-Action Short

Exam
(DIR Sonia K. Hadad)

Special Jury Prize—Live Action

Mthunzi
(DIR Tebogo Malebogo)

Special Jury Prize—Live Action

Liberty
(DIR Faren Humes)

Grand Jury Prize—Animated Short

Something To Remember
(DIR Niki Lindroth von Bahr)

Grand Jury Prize—Documentary (tie)

A Love Song For Latasha
(DIR Sophia Nahli Allison)

The Clinic
(DIR Elivia Shaw)

***

The Caucus of Producers, Writers & Directors’ 37th annual Caucus Awards honored industry leaders and awarded finishing funds to several students to complete their thesis films.

The dinner November 15 at the Skirball Cultural Center emceed by Grey’s Anatomy‘s James Pickens Jr. featured the bestowing of 2019 honors on the likes of Carolyn Strauss (Producer), Showtime’s Gary Levine (Executive), director-producer Paul Miller (Lifetime Achievement Award) Edward James Olmos (Industry Icon).

Over the past 18 years, the Caucus Foundation has awarded almost $2 million in finishing funds and in-kind services to students at accredited colleges and universities.

Here are this year’s winners

Producer Honor

Carolyn Strauss
HBO’s Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, Deadwood: The Movie

Writers Honor

Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin
Showtime’s Escape at Dannemora

Director Honor

Amy York Rubin
Netflix’s Dead to Me

Executive of the Year Award

Gary Levine
President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks, Inc.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Paul Miller
Saturday Night Live, Country Music Awards

Industry Icon Award

Edward James Olmos
Zoot Suit, The West Wing, Stand and Deliver, Mi Familia, Mayans, M.C.

Distinguished Service Award

Michael Berk
Writer, Producer, Actor & Creator, Baywatch

Chair’s Award

Dr. Edna Sims
Caucus Public Relations Director

1st Place Gold Circle Student Award Winner

Aaron Fink
Rust, Chapman College

2nd Place Gold Circle Student Award Winner

Kelly Pike
Undercut, UCLA

Television/New Media Award

University of Southern California
Side Effects

2019 College Students Grantees

Aaron Fink for Rust, Chapman University
Madison Gwinn for Marketa In The Desert, Emerson College
Alexandra Geller for Undercovered, Emerson College
Noah Graham for Outsider, Emerson College
Jasmine Galdamez for El Mozote, CSUN
Takai Ginwright for Canary In A Mine, UCLA
Kelly Pike for Undercut, UCLA
Lia Lenart for Cassandra, UCLA
Sherial McKinney for Frog Catcher, UCLA

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