63rd AAFF Awards

Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival

$6,000

Presented to the film of any genre or length that best represents the artistic standards of excellence for the festival, this award is generously provided by influential documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, a graduate of Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School.

 

Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker

$5,000

Tom Berman was a student of AAFF founder George Manupelli at the University of Michigan. He was also an early festival supporter and close friend to many in the festival community. To honor his memory, the Berman family has contributed this award to support an emerging filmmaker who the jury believes will make a significant contribution to the art of film.

 

Tom Berman Award for Best Documentary Film 

$5,000

This award recognizes the best documentary film in the festival program.

 

Richard Myers Best Non-Narrative Film

$2,500

Richard Myers, professor emeritus at Kent State University, taught filmmaking in the School of Art and created films that have been celebrated at the festival since its inception in 1963. Drawing inspiration from dreams, Myers’s works are deeply personal, with haunting visual beauty, and as original as Cocteau.

 

This award was created by Christopher and Diane Shambaugh to honor Richard and those who create stunning visual experiences by expanding (or ignoring) the boundaries of conventional storytelling.
 

Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film

$2,000

Hollywood film producer and writer Lawrence Kasdan came to know Ann Arbor well during his years as a student at the University of Michigan. He keeps his connection to the town’s film culture alive in part through his support of this festival award. This distinction goes to the narrative film that makes the best use of film’s unique ability to convey striking and original stories. 

 

Kodak Cinematic Vision Award 

$2,000 in film stock

This award goes to the film that demonstrates the highest excellence and creativity in cinematography. The recipient will receive $2,000 in film stock from Kodak. This includes complimentary processing at Kodak labs should the recipient select 16mm or 35mm color negative film stock.

 

Susan Dise Best Experimental Film

$1,500

Supported by longtime AAFF volunteer Sue Dise, for whom festival week is like Christmas and New Year combined, this award celebrates the film that most successfully showcases the use of experimental processes, forms, and topics. 

 

The Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for an Emerging Experimental Video Artist

$1,000

This award provides support to the year’s most promising early-career video artist. The award was conceived by the Aronofsky family to honor the late Barbara Aronofsky Latham, a Chicago-based experimental video artist who passed away in 1984 and whose work is distributed by the Video Data Bank.

 

Barbara Hammer Feminist Film Award

$1,000

Barbara Hammer was a filmmaker with a profound commitment to expressing a feminist point of view in her work. In 2020, filmmaker Lynne Sachs received the Oberhausen Film Festival Grand Prize for a film she made with and for Hammer. With funds from the prize, Lynne created this Ann Arbor Film Festival award for a work that best conveys Hammer’s passion for celebrating and examining the experiences of women. Qualifying work by artists of any gender will be considered.

 

Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film

$1,000

Chris Frayne was a key participant in the festival’s early years whose approach to life called to mind his colorful cartoon characters. This award honors the spirit of Chris by recognizing the animated film that delivers the best style, creativity, and content. Support for the award comes from several dedicated AAFF enthusiasts.

 

Gil Omenn Art & Science Award

$1,000

Provided by Gil Omenn, who seeks to encourage a positive exchange between the arts and sciences, this award honors the filmmaker whose work best uses the art of film and video to explore scientific concepts, research natural phenomena, or embrace real-world experimentation.

 

Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film

$1,000

Supported by an endowment fund established by the DeVarti Family, this award goes to the film most likely to create the most laughs at the festival. The prize recognizes the 60-year friendship between Casa Dominick’s and the AAFF, and honors the memory of Dominick and Alice DeVarti.

 

The Terri Schwartz Film Award for Parody and Satire

$1,000

This award goes to the film that most effectively turns familiar images, music, and assumptions on their heads—and perhaps uses gentle or barbed humor—to offer pointed insights about injustice. It honors Terri P. Schwartz (1952–2021), a University of Michigan alumna employed as a graphic designer in the Netherlands. Favorite films of hers included Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi, 2019), a Nazi-mocking satire; Settlers of Brooklyn (Above Average Productions, 2015), a parody of gentrifying hipsters; and Pull My Daisy (Robert Frank, 1959), a parody of the Beat Generation.

 

The Eileen Maitland Award

$750

Supported by several local AAFF fans, this award is given to the film that best addresses women’s issues and elevates female voices. It was created to honor the spirit and memory of Eileen Maitland, who was a dear friend and longtime supporter of the festival as well as a patron and practitioner of the arts.

 

George Manupelli Founder’s Spirit Award

$700

With lead support from brothers Dave and Rich DeVarti, this award recognizes the filmmaker who best captures the bold and iconoclastic spirit of the late George Manupelli, founder of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, whose vision for the festival continues to this day.

 

CameraMall Best Michigan Filmmaker Award

$565 in kind

This award recognizes top Michigan talent. The winner will receive a $100 gift card and a one-week rental for a camera body and two lenses, valued at $465, from CameraMall, Ann Arbor’s camera store and photo lab, dedicated to supporting the Great Lakes photo community in learning, renting gear, and printing their work.

 

Lawther/Graff No Violence Award

$512

In a culture that too often uses images of violence to entertain and inform, this prize is awarded to the film that best engages the audience while meeting the challenge of “No Violence Depicted!”

 

Best Experimental Animation Award 

$500

This award recognizes the best experimental animated film that most successfully showcases the use of experimental processes, forms, and topics. Established by Deanna Morse, the award is endowed in memory of Erik Alexander, an aficionado of the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

 

The Edge of Your Seat Award

$500

Awarded to a film the jury deems most captivating for audiences, drawing them fully into the artist’s vision, and onto the edge of their seat! This award is funded by the classic arcade games at both RoosRoast Coffee locations (just 25 cents a play), in honor of Al “Ten Pin Alley” Harrison, the original owner of the games and father of former AAFF director Donald Harrison.

 

Leon Speakers Award for Best Sound Design

$500

This award for excellence and originality in sound design is provided by Leon Speakers, which has been installing custom-built high-fidelity speakers in home theaters throughout Ann Arbor and the world since 1995.

 

Martin Contreras and Keith Orr \aut\ FILM Award for Best LGBTQ Film

$500

This award honors the film that best addresses and gives voice to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer issues. Longtime festival supporters Martin Contreras and Keith Orr, former owners of the locally known and loved \aut\ BAR, contribute this award to highlight the diversity of voices that achieve excellence in filmmaking. An \aut\ FILM Award endowment fund initiative is currently underway. Please contact leslie@aafilmfest.org should you wish to help ensure that Keith and Martin’s legacy of support lives on forever.

 

The No. 1 African Film Award

$500

“It is the story … that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort; without it, we are blind. Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story; rather, it is the story that owns us and directs us.” –Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah

 

This award honors the film that best speaks to the historical and contemporary experience of living and dreaming in Africa.  It has been endowed through the generous contribution of filmmaker Amy J. Moore, a long-term resident of southern Africa and producer of Botswana’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

 

Peter Wilde Award for Most Technically Innovative Film

$500

Peter Wilde was a long-time projectionist for the festival and a master of special effects. This award honors his creativity and pursuit of new techniques by recognizing the film that displays the most pioneering technical innovations.

 

The Terri Schwartz Asian Film Award

$500

Given to the film that best speaks to the cultures and experiences of Asians or Asian Americans, this award is a tribute to Terri P. Schwartz (1952–2021), a University of Michigan alumna employed as a graphic designer in the Netherlands. From Europe, she passionately pursued interests in film, music, and Asian people and culture, including travels and stays in nine Asian nations. She was also sensitive to the challenges faced by immigrants and refugees in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

 

Vox Populi Award

$500

This award—affectionately dubbed the Vox Populi Award—goes to the year’s most highly rated audience-selected film in competition. This award is supported by longtime festival attendee Mark Hardin.  

 

Best Music Video Award

$300 

Designed to recognize excellence in the art of music video—which stems from the special collaborative relationship between a musician and a film or video maker. 

 

Juror Awards

$2,173

Provided by friends of the festival and distributed at the discretion of the jurors, the remaining prize monies confer special recognition to films of distinction and artistic accomplishment.