Above / NIFFTY Awards are set to recognize the best in 10 categories during the final evening of the 2017 Naperville Independent Film Festival. (PN File Photo)
The 10th annual Naperville Independent Film Festival will host its NIFFTY awards ceremony during the final gala evening of the 8-day event live on Saturday evening, Sept. 30.
The closing ceremony begins at 7PM at the Hollywood Palms Cinema. Awards will be given in 10 categories including best director, best documentary, best animation, etc.
Movie clips of every festival selection will be shown on the big screen while the audience enjoys the “big, comfy recliners while waiters deliver drinks” with full dinner entrees from a menu. Popcorn and soft drinks also are available for the evening’s festivities.
Total ticket price is $17.50 for this evening’s closing ceremony. Very limited seating remains available.
Select a seat and purchase tickets from the film festival website or from Hollywood Palms Cinema.
Hollywood Palms Cinema is located at 352 S. Route 59, just north of Aurora Avenue in Westridge Court.
UPDATE / Naperville Independent Film Festival Awards Presentation
Above / The 10th Annual NIFF Award Ceremony brought founders Edmond Coisson, Glessna Coisson, Daniel Nigg and Gary Pradel together with Master of Ceremonies Don Gingold (far left) during festivities at Hollywood Palms.
2017 nominees for the best in 10 categories
Just prior to the presentation of each NIFFTY, a clip from the movie was shown to give the audience a taste of the wide array of talent and inspiration that entered this year’s festival to educate and entertain. Congratulations to all entries from near and far, waiting to hear the answer to the famous statement, “And the winner is…”
(Winners are highlighted in blue, bold text.)
Best Student-Produced Film
Caliber
Forest of Echoes
In Our Country
Saba, The Unspoiled Queen
The Transfer
Best Animation
The Killer Buzz
One Per Person
The Past Inside The Present
Pittari
Wishing Box
Best Short
Albedo Absolute
Halim
Hey Blue Eyes
In A Dream
Monsters
Best Documentary
Dribbling Dreams
Hard to Believe
Operation: The Power of Play
Saba, The Unspoiled Queen
Searching For Lady Day
Best Screenplay
Blood Trigger by Ron Podell
I May Regret by Graham Streeter
The Month of April by Graham Streeter
Normal Folk by Graham Streeter
Recalled to Life by Dan Burns
Best Actor
Alex Dobrenko, Quaker Oaths
Grant Garry, Black Cat
Topher Hansson, On The 7th Date
Leon Russom, The Midnighters
Ondrej Vetchy, Fairytales For Emma
Best Actress
Caitlin Carmichael, Monsters
Anna Fischer, The Last Compartment
Anna Geislerova, Fairytales For Emma
Fede Rangel, Quaker Oaths
Anna Rizzo, On The 7th Date
Best Feature
Black Cat
Fairytales For Emma
The Happys
The Last Compartment
Quaker Oaths
Best Director
Steve Desmond, Monsters
Julian Fort, The Midnighters
Daniel John Harris, Hey Blue Eyes
Rudolf Havlík, Fairytales For Emma
Edina Kishonthy, In A Dream
Audience Choice Award / Operation: The Power of Play
Operation: The Power of Play is a movie that celebrates all the lives the game Operation has touched.
John Spinello invented the game Operation in 1964 and sold the rights to it for $500. The game went on to sell more than 50 million copies worldwide. Forty-four years later, Spinello found himself without a job and in need of surgery, at which time game inventors Tim Walsh and Peggy Brown launched a crowd-funding campaign soliciting fans of Operation to help finance Spinello’s own operation. Walsh and Brown wrote, filmed and produced a documentary where Spinello learns how Operation has been played, passed down and influenced interest in medical careers in more ways than he could have imagined.
“Games bring people together,” noted Walsh when he accepted the NIFFTY trophy.
Walsh suggests meeting up with someone who doesn’t look like you. Then watch a film together or play a game with them “to change the world.”
