The winners of the Sonoma Film Fest jury and audience awards

Top feature is American indie ‘The Great and the Small'|

The jury and audience awards of the 19th Annual Sonoma International Film Festival were announced on Saturday and Sunday evenings, April 2 and 3, in the Sebastiani Theatre.

'The program this year is the most diverse and competitive it's ever been, including all the wonderful submissions,' said program director Steve Shor. 'All three juries had a lively discussion about their selections.'

This year's jury panel included Steve Chagollan, assistant managing editor at Variety; film and stage actor James Cromwell; David Dinerstein, co-founder of Paramount Classics; Michael Howell, founder and executive director of the Devour! food/film fests; Michael Repsch, senior vice president of at Breaking Glass Pictures; Arianne Rocchi, vice president of publicity at Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing, Leslie Vanderpool, founder and executive director of the Bahamas International Film Festival; and Lucy Walker, Emmy-Award winning documentary director and two-time Academy Award nominee.

JURIED AWARDS

Best American Independent Feature: 'The Great and the Small,' an American feature directed by Dusty Bias.

Honorable Mention: 'Coming Through the Rye,' an American feature directed by James Sadwith

Best World Feature: 'Papa,' a Cuban film directed by Bob Yari

Best Documentary: 'In Search of Balance,' an American documentary, directed by Adam Pfleghaar

Best Dramatic Short: 'The Lake,' a Canadian/U.S. film directed by Michael Bule

Best Documentary Short: 'Rosa,' and American documentary short directed by Sean Kusanagi and Hannah Gregg.

Honorable Mention: 'A Child for Sale,' an American documentary short directed by Fiona Bock

Best Comedic Short: 'Rated,' an American short directed by John Fortson

AUDIENCE AWARDS

The Audience Award for Best World Feature was a tie: 'Oddball,' an Australian comedy directed by Stuart McDonald and 'Between Sea and Land,' a Columbia drama directed by Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo

The Audience Award for Best American Independent Feature: 'The Great and the Small,' an American film directed by Dusty Bias

Second place: 'Always Worthy,' an American film directed by Marianna Palka.

The Audience Award for Best Documentary: 'Harold and Lillian,' an American documentary directed by Daniel Raim

The Audience Awards are determined by popular ballot, which are distributed to guests following the screenings of each film. Ballots request that each guest rate the film out of four stars; cumulative ballots for the films are then collected and counted. Ballots were collected from Wednesday, March 30 to Saturday, April 2.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.