BHFF
Archives

2019

Award Winners

The 19th Anniversary Edition of the Beverly Hills Film Festival has warmly welcomed an exceptional set of filmmakers and writers.

Remaining dedicated and focused on its artists’ creative vision, the Beverly Hills Film Festival® is more than honored to present the 19th Edition of its Awards with the close collaborative efforts of the Beverly Hills Film Festival Executive Directorial Team and the Beverly Hills Film Festival President of the Jury.

2019 Beverly Hills Film Festival Golden Palm Award

The Ghost of Peter Sellers

Director: Peter Medak

Country: United States

RT: 93min

Synopsis: In 1973 Peter Sellers, one of the biggest comedy actors, embarked on a comedy for Columbia Pictures. Losing his confidence, he attempted to sabotage the film by firing the producers then turning on his friend the director, Peter Medak. At its core lies the story of an unraveling production and the tale of a young director firmly on a path to greatness. Medak had made three back-to-back successes; most notably “The Ruling Class” in 1972 with Peter O’ Toole, nominated for the Palm D’Or. This film forever changed his life. After 43 years the wounds have barely healed for Medak and this is his opportunity to tell the story and finally release the weight associated with the film’s failure. The Ghost of Peter Sellers is a comic-tragic feature documentary about what it takes to be a film director and survive your biggest disaster....

2019 Screenplay Awards

GOLDEN PALM AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY

Yosemite

Daniel Talbott

1ST RUNNER UP

Nora

Shepard Ahlers

2ND RUNNER UP

Back on Water

Owen Palmiotti

2019 Film Awards

Best Director, Best Actress

Fairytale

Country: United States

RT: 87min

Director: Eli Hershko – Director, David Spaltro – Co Director

Verity kills a monster and drifts eastward on borrowed time. She meets Bec, another lost & abused soul. Together the girls try to find peace in one another but not for long....

Best Foreign Film

When Love Blossoms

Country: China

RT: 86min

Director: Tian Ye

In metropolis Beijing, a delivery boy is inspired by a play to pursue his secret crush on a real estate sales girl who lives under the same roof as him in the urban village....

Best Student Film

Golden Girl

Country: Germany

RT: 13min

Director: Chiara Fleischhacker

14-year-old Céline sits in front of her father’s camera for a perfect photo. She is beautifully done up, but how long can she hide her emotional world? Is this really her or is it a mask her father makes her wear at every shoot?...

Best Animated Film

God, I Need a Girlfriend

Country: United States

RT: 5min

Director: Stefan Janoski

A darkly humorous musical stop motion film giving the background to Stefan Janoski’s sculpture of the same name....

Best Producer, Best Feature Film

In God I Trust

Country: Canada

RT: 97min

Director: Maja Zdanowski

Redemption, violence, and faith define a young black man, a reckless white nationalist, and a pair of traveling vacationers during a random encounter in Northern Idaho. First time director Maja Zdanowski takes the viewer deep into the unpredictable and intense realities of race and religion in America....

Best Short Documentary

Where the Rainbow ends

Country: United States

RT: 70min

Director: Wiliam Bonifati

No other name is shrouded in more mystery than Stanley Kubrick. Many fans have dedicated countless blogs, movies, books, and videos trying to explain his various movies. However, all of these films share one important aspect, that no individual can with certainty explain any of his films in their entirety. What if the answers to the hidden depths of these films lies in an elaborate puzzle for the viewers to solve? How could Kubrick possibly contrive making his films into one large puzzle but more importantly how could the audience try to make sense of this theoretical puzzle? What if the answer to both of these questions lies in the fact that every Kubrick movie is a reoccurring dream....

Best Editing

Groomed

Country: United States

RT: 18min

Director: Angelo Reyes

Frustrated with an overbearing mother, teenage Maria runs to the arms of an older man who promises her love that soon turns to control. A chance encounter changes everything....

Best Cinematography

It’s a mess

Country: United States

RT: 29min

Director: Frank Prinzi

A homeless man (Vincent D’Onofrio) with a troubled past…two young sisters with a dark secret…part modern day fairytale, part ode to the solitude of New York City nights…IT’S A MESS is a study of the loneliness that comes from knowing that in this “civilized” world, innocence and evil are separated only by a fine mist that dissipates after sunset...

Best Actor

We Are All Oscar

Country: Costa Rica

RT: 87min

Director: Tito Oses

In his first feature, “We Are All Oscar”, Tito Oses raises his voice as an author and film actor from Costa Rica, expanding the innumerable latent versions of the same person and his transformations....

2019 SPECIAL JURY AWARDS

Best Short Film

Bertie

Country: UK

RT: 16min

Director: Garry Crystal

Neurotic parents Tom and Lisa have moved to what they believe is their dream home, only to have their idyllic lives shattered by Ann, a widow, and Bertie, her pet pug, who not only wreaks havoc on their lives and beyond....

Best Feature Film

Leeches

Country: Serbia

RT: 89min

Director: DRAGAN MARINKOVIC

Famous writer, Petar Miric, a member of the State Security Service, faces the impossible decision of returning to a normal life in a story that unfolds in the unstable Balkan area in Serbia, in a small Jewish area at the end of the twentieth century....

Best Documentary

The Ghost of Peter Sellers

Country: United States

RT: 93min

Director: Peter Medak

In 1973 Peter Sellers, one of the biggest comedy actors, embarked on a comedy for Columbia Pictures. Losing his confidence, he attempted to sabotage the film by firing the producers then turning on his friend the director, Peter Medak. At its core lies the story of an unraveling production and the tale of a young director firmly on a path to greatness. Medak had made three back-to-back successes; most notably “The Ruling Class” in 1972 with Peter O’ Toole, nominated for the Palm D’Or. This film forever changed his life. After 43 years the wounds have barely healed for Medak and this is his opportunity to tell the story and finally release the weight associated with the film’s failure. The Ghost of Peter Sellers is a comic-tragic feature documentary about what it takes to be a film director and survive your biggest disaster....

2019 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

Best Short Film

Chasing you

Country: United States

RT: 14min

Director: Olivia Layhee

An adrift man must fall into the depths of drug abuse to resurrect his past lover, oblivious to the catastrophic consequences....

Best Documentary

Sacheen, Breaking the silence

Country: United States

RT: 26min

Director: Peter Spirer

Sacheen Littlefeather remains proud that she is the first person, the first woman of color, to utilize the Academy Awards to make a political statement. Littlefeather, a 71-year-old White Mountain Apache and Yaqui elder, shared a statement from Marlon Brando that was televised round the world at the first Oscars’ global broadcast in 1973. As we revisit one of the most memorable and controversial moments in the history of the Academy Awards, Sacheen’s voice will finally be joined together with today’s brave women, who are determined to make their voices heard....

Best Producer, Best Feature Film

In God I Trust

Country: Canada

RT: 97min

Director: Maja Zdanowski

Redemption, violence, and faith define a young black man, a reckless white nationalist, and a pair of traveling vacationers during a random encounter in Northern Idaho. First time director Maja Zdanowski takes the viewer deep into the unpredictable and intense realities of race and religion in America....

2019 Juries

Gill Champion

President, –POW! Entertainment – Gill Champion has over 45 years of executive experience in global entertainment, marketing, retail and licensing industries. ...

Raul Mendez

Raul Mendez is considered by many in Mexico as one of the best actors of his generation. ...

Barbara Montana

Barbara Montana was born in Calgary, Alberta and is currently the Head of Business and Legal Affairs for Odyssey Media, an entertainment production company located in Vancouver, British Columbia. ...

Egil Odegard

Egil Odegard has been CEO of three different distribution companies and is responsible for the theatrical release of more than 200 films in Norway the last 25 years. ...

Kelly Le Brock

Kelly Le Brock, born in New York City to a French Canadian father and Irish Scottish mother. She grew up in high society British boarding schools with an early dream of the bright lights. ...

Carolina Vianna

Carolina Vianna is an executive with 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry, having worked for pay TV channels (HBO Brasil, Sony Pictures Television and MTV Networks) and streaming services (Terra and Netflix). ...

Gary Shapiro

Gary Shapiro launched his career in the movie business in NYC working for Columbia Pictures immediately after graduating from college in Los Angeles to the present where he has moved into the new digital technologies with several major Hollywood film studios. ...

Arnold Schwartsman

London born Arnold Schwartsman is the Oscar winning Producer and Director of the feature documentary “Genocide” (1981), and a renowned designer and prolific author. ...

Roberta Augusto

Roberta Augusto is Brazilian-born stalwart in the film industry, boasting an illustrious career spanning two decades. ...

Frederico Lapenda

Award-winning filmmaker Frederico Lapenda is a global executive who has worked in the entertainment industry for almost 30 years. Lapenda is a pioneer of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and is credited as one of those responsible for the globalization of sport. ...