courtesy of: Aruba-Daily News
Winners of the Aruba International Film Festival’s Caribbean Spotlight Series (CSS) Competition were announced on Sunday night at a special Festival event held on the rooftop of the Paseo Harencia. Encouraged by tremendous local support over the last two years, AIFF continues to expand its popular “Spotlight” series, which was created to showcase movies from Aruban and Caribbean filmmakers.
The CSS Jury Award was split between two films; the US/Dominican Republic baseball documentary BALLPLAYER: PELOTERO, directed by Ross Finkel, Trevor Martin and Jon Paly, and the Jamaican feature GHETT’A LIFE, directed by Chris Browne. The Puerto Rican drama AMÉRICA was recognized with a special mention.
The winner of the CSS Audience Award was CHILDREN OF THE WIND – an Aruban wind surfing documentary, directed by Daphne Schmon.
The Aruba short film winner was the animated WAKE UP, directed by Ken Wolff. The Aruba short audience award went to AWA BRAK, directed by Francisco Pardo and Ryan Oduber
This year’s CSS jury was led by last year’s CSS Audience Award winner, Bahamian filmmaker Kareem Mortimer, who was joined by Rigoberto Lopez, Cuban filmmaker and president of the Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase, and Surinamese film producer Eddy Wijngaarde.
The CSS films were selected by series program Director Aaron Hosé and the CSS committee.
The Film Festival kicked off on Thursday, June 22nd with a screening of THE MAGIC OF BELLE ISLE starring Virginia Madsen, who was in attendance and greeted fans on the red carpet at the Paseo Herencia.
In addition to Madsen, notable guests attending this year’s AIFF have included actors Ray Liotta, Xavier Samuel, Richard Kind and Val Lauren as well as producer Steve Stabler, and multiple Academy Award® winning film editor Pietro Scalia, among many others.
The Aruba International Film Festival continues through Thursday, June 28th.
