In Support of Innovative Filmmaking
The New Directors Prize is awarded to the director of a debut narrative feature in the San Francisco International Film Festival. It is accompanied by a $15,000 cash award. Films selected to compete for the New Directors Prize are first narrative features that exhibit a unique artistic sensibility or vision and deserve to be seen by as wide an audience as possible. An independent jury of film professionals from various fields screens the 11 international selections during the Festival. The New Directors Prize will be announced at the Golden Gate Awards Wednesday, May 6 at Temple Nightclub-Prana Restaurant.
Official Selections 2009
Autumn
(Sonbahar)
Özcan Alper
Turkey/Germany
Can Go Through Skin
(Kan door huid heen)
Esther Rots
Netherlands
Claustrophobia
Ivy Ho
Hong Kong/China
Don't Let Me Drown
Cruz Angeles
USA
French Girl
(Française)
Souad El-Bouhati
France/Moroccol
Gasoline
(Gasolina)
Julio Hernández Cordón
Guatemala/Spain/USA
Home
Ursula Meier
Switzerland/France/Belgium
Kabuli Kid
Barmak Akram
France/Afghanistan
Mid-August Lunch
(Pranzo di Ferragosto)
Gianni di Gregorio
Italy
The Paranoids
(Los paranoicos)
Gabriel Medina
Argentina/Spain
Snow
(Snijeg)
Aida Begic
Bosnia and Herzegovina/Germany/France/Iran
New Directors Prize Jury
Anne Hubbell is the feature film account manager at Kodak in New York City, where she works with over 100 film projects annually. She has been a freelance producer and consultant on numerous film and television productions and not-for-profit media and arts events. She produced Lipstick & Dynamite, a feature documentary distributed by Koch Lorber in 2005, and she is currently developing two independent narrative features and writing a script for an animated project. For five years, Anne served as Executive Director of Atlanta's IMAGE Film & Video Center.
Barry Jenkins is a writer/director living in San Francisco and a member of the Bandry Films collective consisting of himself, Justin Barber, James Laxton and Alejandro Cruz. His recent or current projects include the feature film Medicine for Melancholy, as well as the recently completed short A Young Couple and a commissioned work for the Northwest Film Forum's One Shot Film Series. He is a contributor to the zine Short End magazine, where he continues to work on the dialogue series Notes on a Cinematographer.
Executive director of Aspen Film since 1995, Laura Thielen was formerly the program director for the San Francisco Film Society. Her other professional experience includes working for Francis Coppola's Zoetrope Studios, the Pacific Film Archive and Audio Brandon Films. With more than 30 years in media arts, most of them in the nonprofit sector, she has also taught, written and lectured about film. Thielen has served on several panels and juries including the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation and Sundance Film Festival.
Past Winners of the New Director Prize
Vasermil 2008
Mushon Salmona
Israel
The Violin 2007
Francisco Vargas
Mexico
Taking Father Home 2006
Ying Liang
China
Me and You and Everyone We Know 2005
Miranda July
USA
Squint Your Eyes 2004
Andrzej Jakimowski
Poland
The Man of the Year 2003
José Henrique Fonseca
Brazil
The Wild Bees 2002
Bhodan Sláma
Brazil
The Business of Strangers 2001
Patrick Stettner
USA
Eeny Meeny 2000
Alice Nellis
Czech Republic
Xiao Wu 1999
Jia Zhangke
China
Somersault in a Coffin 1998
Dervis Zaim
Turkey
Honey and Ashes 1997
Andrzej Jakimowski
Poland