KCET’s 19th Annual Fine Cut Festival of Films Announces Winners and Awards Trips to 2019 Cannes Film Festival
In partnership with The American Pavilion, IndieWire and San Antonio Winery, KCET celebrated the work of regional student filmmakers on Sept. 19 at the 19th annual FINE CUT Festival of Films at the Directors Guild of America. Four winning short films were announced and screened from the sixteen selected as finalists by an industry judging panel. A select few of the judges acted as presenters during the event including actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste ("Blindspot," "Secrets & Lies"), film/TV producer Effie T. Brown ("Dear White People," "Star"), Exec. Director International Documentary Association Simon Kilmurry and Deadline.com Chief Film Critic Pete Hammond (Host of KCET’S MUST SEE MOVIES). The event was held in advance of the Wed., September 26 broadcast series premiere of all finalist films on KCET in southern California at 9:00 p.m. PT. Films will also be available for streaming at kcet.org/finecut.
California Institute of the Arts’ Hanna Kim, writer/director of the short animation film “Raccoon and the Light” was presented with The Jack Larson Southern California Student Filmmaker Award. Other winners included Cal Arts’ student Jungmin Cha, writer/director of “Where I was Born” for Best Animation Film and University of Southern California film school student Omar Al Dakheel, writer/director of “Al Imam” for Best Documentary film. The Best Narrative film award was accepted by Derek Tonks on behalf of USC’s writer/director Aqsa Altaf for the short film “One Small Step.”
Additional guests attending the red carpet award ceremony as well as the post-event reception included actor Maury Sterling (“Homeland,“ “Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce,“ story artist Michael Herrera (“Angry Birds“ the Movies, “Wreck it Ralph 2“), Logo Documentary Films’ Taj Paxton (“Hungry,“ “Out of Iraq,“ “The IT Project“) animator/writer producer Van Partible (“Pete the Cat,“ “Johnny Bravo,“ “The Cartoon Cartoon Show“), Rosey Alvero (Host of KCET’s SOCAL WANDERER), Nathan Masters (Host of KCET’S LOST LA), and Val Zavala (Former Anchor of KCET’s SOCAL CONNECTED).
In addition to the winners at the ceremony, a yet-to-be announced Viewer’s Choice Award will be presented to a local filmmaker who will receive a production package prize worth over $20,000. This portion of the competition gives filmmakers a chance to have their peers and at-home viewers vote online at kcet.org/finecut during and up to one-week after each of the sixteen finalists’ film air on KCET over the coming weeks.
Funding for FINE CUT is generously provided by The Bridges/Larson Foundation.
Browse photos from the event below.
