A film telling the story of a brash businessman from Tokyo who struggles to navigate his place on a ranch in Montana was named Best Narrative Feature at the SLO International Film Festival closing night event April 30.
Tokyo Cowboy director Marc Marriott thanked the festival staff and jury for the award via video, as he could not attend the awards announcement at the Fremont Theater. Festival executive director Skye McLennon noted that for those who haven’t yet seen the 118-minute film, it will be screened later this week at the fest’s Special Encore in-person series in Paso Robles, and is available to be viewed virtually (only in California) by All-Access, Movie Star, or SLOFilmFest@Home pass holders.
Sugarcane, a stunning documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie about an investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school British Columbia, won the jury award for Best Documentary Feature. NoiseCat and Kassie also accepted their award via video. McLennon announced that the film has been picked up by NatGeo so is likely to be available on streaming platforms soon.
The narrative short Please Hold the Line and the documentary short Sludge: A PFAS Uprising were honored as best in their categories, with The House of Loss winning Best Animated Short.
Three films were honored with Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase Awards. Lee Kemp, one of the producers of Wrestled Away: The Lee Kemp Story, accepted the award for Best Documentary Feature. The 70-minute film had its World Premiere at the festival.
Superstar, which had its West Coast Premiere at the festival, received Best Narrative Short.
Tasting Notes, a 16-minute journey around the Paso Robles food and wine scene directed by Miles Pepper, won Best Documentary Short. It will be screened later this week at the Paso Robles encore series, and is available to be viewed virtually by All-Access, Movie Star, or SLOFilmFest@Home pass holders.
More than a dozen film and media professionals, led by actor Josh Brolin as head of the Narrative Features jury, judged films submitted for the George Sidney Independent Film Competition.
The Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase judges included filmmaker Alyssa Toledo, SLO High School teacher Zach Roper, and SLO County Film Commissioner Matt Halvorsen.
The Audience Award will be announced May 1.