Nantucket Film Fest Filled with Surprises and Successes for Independent Filmmakers

The Nantucket Film Festival recently concluded its 30th edition and it was anything but dull. The awards ceremony on Monday honored a range of films, highlighting some of the most creative, innovative, and influential talent in the independent film industry today, including Jay Duplass of “The Baltimorons."

Duplass's latest creation, "The Baltimorons," written in collaboration with Michael Strassner, presents an unusual bond between a man in recovery and his emergency dentist. The audience loved it so much that they scored it the narrative feature audience award! But the documentary feature audience award went to Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine's compelling '90s environmental disaster tale set in a high school, aptly named “Middletown.”

This year's festival was a colorful pageant of cinematic artistry spanning three decades. Executive director Mystelle Brabbée and lead programmer Anita Raswant said the festival was about "celebrating rich and diverse stories that mirror the island's unique character.”

In the short films arena, we saw “Snow Bear” by Aaron Blaise and Nicholas Burch walk away with the narrative trophy, while Charlotte Cooley’s nostalgic “Last Days on Lake Trinity” grabbed the documentary award. Meanwhile, Shoshannah Stern's “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” was honored with the Marla Mitchell Visionary Award, given to a female filmmaker who shows exceptional vision and innovation - sweetened with a $5,000 grant, no less!

Another big winner of the night was “East of Wall,” a Sundance player by Kate Beecroft about a misfit horse trainer. The film was awarded the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Excellence in Filmmaking Award. Joanna Calo, an Emmy winner and creative talent behind “The Bear,” “Hacks”, got her award for Special Achievement in Television Writing delivered by Lionel Boyce, star of "The Bear."

Newcomer prize, the Children’s Resilience in Screenwriting Award by Shine Global, given for depicting resilient and strong children, started off with a bang. The honor went to Georgi M. Unkovski's "DJ Ahmet," along with a $2,500 grant.

Then there was the Tony Cox Screenplay Competition, a magnet for fresh writing talent with lamplighters like “Walking in Iowa” by Alex Murawski and “19 KM From Kyiv” by Maxwell Gold. Devi Snively’s “The Temp” and “Hombre” by Chris Martinez also snagged awards. This screenwriting hotspot has a healthy prize offerings, with $5,000 in cash and a bunch of other goodies, including an invitation to a month-long writer’s retreat on Nantucket.

Our local teens were not left out, with Nantucket seventh and eighth graders picking “Snow Bear” as the most inspiring short film via The Teen View Jury Award. Visionary Storytellers Award went to Tony Gilroy and Joanna Calo took home the Special Achievement in Television Writing award, while Alex Gibney received the Special Achievement in Documentary Storytelling.

In all, it was a grand celebration of indie creativity and storytelling, all backed by sponsors like Bank of America, White Elephant Resorts, A&E IndieFilms, and Delta Air Lines. Folks, mark your calendars for next year’s spectacle!