SIFF 2011: Golden Space Needle Awards and other winners

The Golden Space Needle Award winners were announced at a ceremony on Sunday June 12. More than 80,000 ballots were cast by SIFF audiences to determine the winner in six categories: Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Short Film.

SIFF 2011 Golden Space Needle Audience Awards

Best Film Golden Space Needle Award

Paper Birds, directed by Emilio Aragón (Spain, 2010)

First runner up: Tilt, directed by Viktor Chouchkov Jr. (Bulgaria, 2010)
Second runner up: Simple Simon, directed by Andreas Öhman (Sweden, 2010)
Third runner up: The Whistleblower, directed by Larysa Kondracki (Canada/Germany, 2010)
Fourth runner up: King of Devil’s Island, directed by Marius Holst (Norway, 2010)

Best Documentary Golden Space Needle Award

To Be Heard

To Be Heard, directed by Roland Legiardi-Laura, Amy Sultan, Deborah Shaffer, Edwin Martinez (USA, 2010)

First runner up: Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, directed by Constance Marks (USA, 2011)
Second runner up: Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl (USA, 2011)
Third runner up: How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson (USA, 2011)
Fourth runner up: Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)

Best Director Golden Space Needle Award

Larysa Kondracki, The Whistleblower (Canada/Germany, 2010)

First runner up: Emilio Aragón, Paper Birds (Spain, 2010)
Second runner up: Mohammad Rasoulof, The White Meadows (Iran, 2009)
Third runner up: Yasemin Samderelli, Almanya (Germany, 2011)
Fourth runner up: Maryam Keshavarz, Circumstance (Iran, 2011)

Best Actor Golden Space Needle Award

Bill Skarsgård, Simple Simon (Sweden, 2010)

First runner up: Matt Smith, Womb, (Germany/Hungary/France, 2010)
Second runner up: Imanol Arias, Paper Birds (Spain, 2010)
Third runner up: Matt O’Leary, Natural Selection (USA, 2011)
Fourth runner up: Ron Eldard, Roadie (USA, 2011)

Best Actress Golden Space Needle Award

Natasha Petrovic, As If I Am Not There (Ireland/Macedonia/Sweden, 2010)

First runner up: Bodil Jorgensen, Nothing’s All Bad (Denmark, 2010)
Second runner up: Rachel Weisz, The Whistleblower (Canada/Germany, 2010)
Third runner up: Rachael Harris, Natural Selection (USA, 2011)
Fourth runner up: Magaly Solier, Amador (Spain, 2011)

Best Short Film Golden Space Needle Award

The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore, directed by William Joyce (USA, 2011)

First runner up: North Atlantic, directed by Bernardo Nascimento (Portugal, 2010)
Second runner up: Interview, director Sebastian Marka (Germany, 2010)
Third runner up: Amazonia, director Sam Chen (USA, 2010)
Fourth runner up: Cataplexy, director John Salcido (USA, 2010)

Lena Sharpe Award for Persistence of Vision, Presented by Women in Film/Seattle

This award is presented to the female director whose feature film receives the highest number of audience ballots.
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, directed by Constance Marks (USA, 2011)

2011 Fool Serious Awards

The always-fun second-opinion Fool Serious Awards are voted on by a dedicated group of full passholders, who see a LOT of movies, therefore have a LOT of opinions on said movies. Here’s what they thought…

The Poll Diaries

Most Liked

1. The Poll Diaries
2. Almanya
3. Service Entrance
4. The Thief of Bagdad: Re-imagined by Shadoe Stevens with the Music of E.L.O.
5. King of Devil’s Island
6. Sound of Noise
7. Simple Simon
8. A Screaming Man
9. My Afternoons With Margueritte
10. Nothing’s All Bad

Top Archival

1. La Dolce Vita
2. Black Narcissus
3. These Amazing Shadows
4. Moulin Rouge!

Top Documentaries

1. Buck
2. How to Die in Oregon
3. Hot Coffee
4. Snow White
5. Page One: Inside the New York Times

The Special Category Award Winners

Best Director – Tom Tykwer for 3
Best Script – Andreas Öhman, Jonathan Sjöberg for Simple Simon
Best Cinematographer – Pablo Ramos, Bruno Alzaga for Por El Camino
Best Music – Bruce Peninsula for Small Town Murder Songs
Best Actor – Peter Mullan for Tyrannosaur
Best Actress – Rachel Weisz for The Whistleblower
Best Guilty Pleasure – Trollhunter