Appalachian Film Festival Winners
These are all films that have won awards at the Appalachian Film Festival in West Virginia, from oldest to most recent. Some past award winners do not have IMDb pages and do not appear on this list as a result.
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- DirectorChuck PortzStarsIgor GuzunVera MaryanchikRoland MuldoonAn American journalist, a mysterious Gypsy woman and a bookkeeper with an inside angle try to stay one step ahead of a gang of ruthless killers as they uncover the horrors of the human trafficking of sex slaves in the Balkans.Won 1st place in the Feature Films category at the 2004 ceremony.
- DirectorAnton EvangelistaStarsJosephine BerrettaGary CancroDonna CarrollWhen a young Italian American couple living in the Bronx in 1968 get over their heads financially, she starts working nights and he starts moonlighting at a chop shop. These jobs bring new stresses to their relationship until he sets out with a gun to kill the love of his life. Will there be an intervention in time?Won 2nd place in the Feature Films category at the 2004 ceremony.
- DirectorMickey FisherStarsKate ArringtonDominic BogartJonathan ClarkHaving just turned thirty years old, former high school star athlete TYLER WELLS is having trouble settling into his comfortable, middle class life. With a baby on the way and his job at a local plant hanging in the balance, he goes for one last roar of the crowd by entering The Iron Masters King of the Ring Contest, a brutal fight contest where the winner fights four fights in one night. When his troubled younger brother GABE enters, Tyler finds himself fighting not only his past present and future, but his own flesh and blood as well.Won 3rd place in the Feature Films Category at the 2004 ceremony.
- DirectorChris BoebelNick PoppyContainment: Life After Three Mile Island examines the legacy of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident through the lens of the nearby community of Middletown, Pennsylvania. The film explores the political, environmental, and psychological effects of the accident on area residents.Won Best Documentary at the 2004 ceremony.
- DirectorJustin SwibelStarsJosh PodorisBrian SwibelAaron FallA disturbing and darkly comic short film about a rich American boy who attacks his tennis instructor.Won Best Short Film at the 2004 ceremony.
- DirectorBen SledgeMatt WheelerStarsBrian ReedMatt WheelerGary FleckHis boss just fired him because he lacks the skills to make a burrito. His girlfriend thinks he's a big-time loser. His father just wants him to be a successful air conditioner salesman. But Mark Rotane will let nothing in the way of his dream to become the world's greatest ninja.Won 1st place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2005 ceremony.
- DirectorKris BoyattNatalie BoyattStarsJ.W. WilliamsRalph HatleyDedrick Bullard"Rookie Bookie" is a story of greed combined with opportunity. Joe Turner is a struggling pharmaceutical sales rep that finds himself mixed up with a group of doctors involved in a high stakes gambling ring headed up by a corrupt hospital administrator. Before he can think twice, Joe becomes a bookie and gets in way over his head. As he desperately tries to get out of the situation and salvage everything important to him, he finds nothing is what it seems.Won 2nd place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2005 ceremony.
- DirectorDennis BurkleyStarsF. Murray AbrahamAlex AlbrechtPeter BartonWon 3rd place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2005 ceremony.
- StarsOra E. AndersonReporter Ora Anderson relates how the Civilian Conservation Corps created Ohio's Wayne National Forest.Won 1st place in the Best Documentary category at the 2005 ceremony.
- DirectorBrett IngramStarsGeorge BickfordBruce BickfordGreg McClellanMonster Road explores the wildly fantastic worlds of legendary underground clay animator Bruce Bickford. Tracing the origins of his remarkably unique sensibility, the film journeys back to Bickford's childhood in a competitive household during the paranoia of the Cold War and examines his relationship with his father, George, who is facing the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Bickford's films, especially the dark and magical clay animations he created for Frank Zappa in the 1970s, have achieved cult status worldwide. Entirely self-taught, the 56-year-old Bickford works alone in a makeshift basement studio in his house near Seattle. Bickford's father George, a retired Boeing engineer of the Cold War era, is the other main character. George's talent for maximizing the space inside airplanes and missiles parallels his son's animations, which often contain dozens of inch-tall figures fighting battles on a tiny set. George's wondrous musings about the universe reveal a deep admiration for the implicit architect of such splendor while atheism prevents him from admitting the possibility of a God. Along with the wonder of creation, George considers the pain of a life spent disengaged from his family and centered on the imperfections in those around him.Won 2nd place in the Best Documentary category at the 2005 ceremony.
- DirectorGiovanni SansevieroStarsGiovanni SansevieroMichael MaldonadoTony RyanWon 1st place in the Best Short Film category at the 2005 ceremony.
- DirectorKim SpurlockStarsJulia NguyenNina NguyenNg Thanh NhanA lost spirit returns home for a visit on a rainy afternoon. Drawn by the grief of her husband and a longing for the vestiges of physical sensation, the spirit of the family matriarch comes calling.Won 2nd place in the Best Short Film category at the 2005 ceremony.
- DirectorBob HardisonRich RobinsonStarsJade DornfeldFrankie IngrassiaRoss KurtA troubled young man returns home for Christmas in an attempt to reconcile with his estranged sister. Her alleged boyfriend shows up and turns the holiday dinner into a dark, disturbing night of violence and terror.Won 1st place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2006 ceremony.
- DirectorAdam JonesStarsYoussef KerkourAdam JonesJustin LaneNothing and no one in Ernie's life wants him to be a writer. Not his boss, not his roommates, not even the neighborhood meter maid. All seem bent on squashing him and the noble pursuit of his dream... writing his first novel. The only place Ernie feels safe and confident is in his imagination. But when the world he hates encroaches on his typewriter, Ernie loses focus, and the typewriter goes silent. Uninspired and unable to write, Ernie decides if he can't gain people's respect, he can certainly take it. Magically, the very act of standing up for himself gets the typewriter clicking, but entwines Ernie in a bizarre tangle of crime, kidnapping, robotics, and kung fu. Ernie ultimately finds liberation in the least likely of places - namely handcuffing half the neighborhood to a stolen fire hydrant in the middle of his living room. Today Ernie is inspired.Won 2nd place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2006 ceremony.
- DirectorBob GrayStarsTodd CoxLiza FosterBob GrayIn a place, where man and nature have co-existed for years. Man has finally overstepped his bounds and nature is fighting back.Won 3rd place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2006 ceremony.
- DirectorXackery IrvingStarsJoe ArpaioXackery IrvingDaniel JensenChain gangs: a throwback to slavery or an appropriate punishment? This award winning documentary examines the American trend of using chain gangs to punish criminals.Won 2nd place in the Best Documentary category at the 2006 ceremony.
- DirectorRichard KeelStarsTerry JerniganScott HastyNewton MillerWhat happens when a wise-cracking vent figure teams up with a shy boy with a love of puppets? You get FORGOTTEN STARS, a mockumentary about ventriloquist Jerry Boyd and his partner, Delbert Schwartz. This whimsical tale covers the ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies of one of America's best, and least remembered, ventriloquist teams.Won a tied award in the Best Short Film category at the 2006 ceremony.
- DirectorKim SpurlockStarsEllen BermanBrittany Alexis PalmerDmitry PomirchyAn elderly German woman faces her troubled past in order to prevent a young boy from repeating her mistakes. This is a story about the complexities of reconciliation and people's ability to forgive.Won a tied award in the Best Short Film category at the 2006 ceremony.
- DirectorD.B. SweeneyStarsJohn C. McGinleyD.B. SweeneyNed BellamyThree guys on the verge of forty begin to realize all the best things in their lives happened before they were twenty. A spontaneous road trip adventure gives them a chance to balance the ledger.Won the Governor's Golden Appy at the 2007 ceremony.
- DirectorAndrew C. ErinStarsCameron BancroftBellamy YoungAidan MitchellIn order for a big-city doctor to get the job of a lifetime, he must spend his summer in Dunn's Rock, North Carolina. Arriving with his 10-year old son, he discovers what is most important and learns to enjoy the simple things in life.Won 1st place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2007 ceremony.
- DirectorJD EvermoreStarsWill AtkinsonJane Rule BurdineBruce ButlerA Jewish filmmaker from New York travels to the small town of Sinnaville, Mississippi for a week to shoot his graduate thesis documentary about a gay antique dealer and community theater actor causing a local and federal controversy with his gay mailbox.Won 2nd place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2007 ceremony.
- DirectorJon Russell CringStarsLawrence Bull Jr.Buddy FarlerJenson GoinsA waitress and her adventures raising a daughter as a single mother in a small town, juggling plates, culture shock, coming of age, synthetic marijuana, and lesbians while trying to pay the electric bill before the lights go out.Won 3rd place in the Best Feature Films category at the 2007 ceremony.
- DirectorScott C. JacksonStarsBig Mike GriffinJason NeeseMonkey TidwellFor years, urban legends have warned about an isolated Southern town where the locals ran-off their police department and outsiders fear to tread. To blues musician Big Mike Griffin, Iron City seemed like the perfect subject for a song. However, first, he must find out for himself if the legends are true. Join Big Mike and his guide, a cigar-chomping ex-Marine named Jason Neese, as they ride their Harleys through Tennessee's backwoods into a place that even cops fear. You'll meet a collection of unforgettable characters as you witness the creation of a blues song about the most notorious town in the South. Welcome to Iron City. Watch your back.Won 1st place in the Best Documentary category at the 2007 ceremony.
- DirectorDon Henderson BakerJim HaverkampStarsBrian PrinceElizabeth RobertsJon StaffordIn 1740s Northern Ireland, a young man becomes ensnared in a deadly love triangle and must decide whether to listen to his heart or his father's twisted advice. Based on a famous murder ballad, "Willow Garden" is a dark fable of love, zealotry, and deception.Won Best Short Film at the 2007 ceremony.
- DirectorJoe EnsleyStarsZolaikha AfzaJake BaskinTamika BryantBased on the true story of a 16 year old track star Aylen, JOY follows the runner as she loses her innocence being surrounded by teenage sex, drugs, and carefree living. Aylen must cope with her emotional and social downfall as she is forced to experience one of life's greatest challenges.Won the Best Young Filmmaker award at the 2007 ceremony.