Harlem International Film Festival just announced the winners:
Hi5! 2010 is a particularly special year for the organizers at the Harlem International Film Festival. We've had the honor of programming five years of diverse, quality films and the opportunity to meet the filmmakers behind those works.
As a film festival conceived and produced by filmmakers, we truly understand the love and discipline that's required to make a film and we believe filmmakers should be recognized for their commitment to sharing unique, and often times challenging subject matter with their communities. All this year’s films were worthy of awards and we wish we could award you all.
Once again we congratulate all of the filmmakers who participated in Hi5! 2010. Keep up your excellent work!
BEST DIRECTOR
Mario Van Peebles for Black, White and Blues (USA)
BEST FILM
Anchor Baby by Lonzo Nzekwe (Canada)
BEST WORLD FILM
The Toll by Zak Hilditch (Australia)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Freeing Silvia Baraldini
by Margo Pelletier & Lisa Thomas (USA)
BEST WORLD DOCUMENTARY
Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
by Omar Majeed (Canada)
Salt of This Sea is the debut of Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, who sees the film as "a story of young people trying to shake off the restraints that control them — of military occupation, borders, a corrupt government, and a rejecting social system. It is the story of a new generation wanting to live, and knowing sometimes, in order to do this, [they have] to take things in their own hands."
Explore the transformational power of Buddhism when you download two classic films: Meditate and Destroy and The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Meditate and Destroy is a powerful and moving documentary chronicling Noah Levine's harrowing journey from addict and juvenile delinquent to leader of America's first Buddhist punk movement: Dharma Punx. Directed by Sarah Fisher, Meditate and Destroy is the first film to trace the influence of this movement in major cities throughout America, where a new generation of youths are increasingly turning to meditation as a departure from drugs, violence and crime. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a two-part series exploring the titular spiritual text originating in the spiritual cultures of the Himalayas. Leonard Cohen's narration and the film's breathtaking cinematography combine to boldly visualize the afterlife according to the ancient text's wisdom. The resulting effort has been described by CM Magazine as a "marvelous documentary creation" that "demands multiple viewings." Both films are sure to enlighten you.
After the Guggenheim's 2009 show, The Third Mind, named for a concept of collaboration by famed novelist William S. Burroughs and lesser known painter, writer, restaurateur, raconteur Brion Gysin, inevitably a curiosity would grow around this exceptional artist of many trades. The New Museum does great service to Gysin's work in a new show called Dreamachine, so dubbed for a device he co-created to stimulate hallucinatory states of consciousness.
Filmmaker Niko von Glasow dishes about his early days in the film industry, when he was as an assistant fetching coffee for the legendary and temperamental although undeniably brilliant Rainer Werner Fassbinder, for which he received a production assistant credit. He charts his course from there before talking about his days at NYU and the Actor's Studio and closes with an honest assessment of his on work, placing the NOLA-winning NOBODY’S PERFECT, and his first film WEDDING GUESTS, at the top of the heap.