Trailer for Best Feature Film Winner: Mamas & Papas

BIFF comes to an end. We come to some agreements.

As I walk briskly through a chilly, Boulder evening, away from the Boulder Theater and toward Tee & Cakes (which has served as my blogging headquarters for the past few days), I regret not having had the technology to clone myself for this festival so that I could have seen all of the films. Sadly, I saw very few of the festival’s award winning films. Judging from the ones I did see, I’m going to assume that they were just as fantastic in their own ways. The selections that were made for BIFF were outstanding. I found something to love about each film I saw.

So without further ado, I give you the festival award winners:

Best New Filmmaker: Jen Mcgowan for the short film, Touch.

You can see Touch and other films made by and for women at this years Lunafest, a traveling film festival funded by Luna Nutrition Bars. The next screening in Colorado will be on March 25th in Steamboat.

Best Animated Film: Thembi’s Diary

Thembi’s Diary is also a Lunafest featured film.

Best Call-2-Action Film: For Once in My Life

Out of all of the Call-2-Action films I watched this weekend (Into Eternity, The Last Lions, Bag It! and the film in question), this was the most… human. It provides an exquisitely human experience to the audience—no statistics, no guilt-tripping, just pure human relation. Well deserved.

Best Colorado Film: Mother: Caring Our Way Out of the Population Dilemma

Also a Call-2-Action film. This one was on my list of must-sees but, unfortunately, I missed out.

Best Short Film: Glenn Owen Dodds

The good news is that this film screened during Shorts Program One—the only shorts program I made it to. So I saw the film. The bad news is that I didn’t really like it very much. It was cute but, I didn’t find it to be very evocative or original. I didn’t even find it to be that funny, quite honestly. But, lucky for Glenn Owen Dodds, mine is not the popular opinion.

Best Short Documentary: One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey

Sadly, I didn’t see this one, but buzz around the festival was that it’s fantastic. Here’s the proof I guess.

Best Documentary: Regretters

When it came time to map out what I wanted to go to, Regretters was at the top of my list—but so were the shorts programs. I chose to see the shorts, which were mostly good. In the end though, I’m feeling as though I may have gotten the short end of the stick.

Best Feature Film: Mamas & Papas

Another instance where I was forced to make a judgment call, and I went to see The Last Lions.

People’s Choice: Freedom Riders

Bummer that this screened on Sunday. Another Call-2-Action film that I would’ve liked to see.

And that’s that. I will post my own personal list of favorites tomorrow. After I’ve stewed a bit.

René Cousineau was born and raised in Glenwood Springs, CO. She currently lives in Boulder and is a student of fiction writing and Russian literature. She spends her time reading, cleaning, hiking, dancing, and slinging cupcakes at a local bakery/coffee shop.