THE COLONEL'S BRIDE (trailer) from brent stewart on Vimeo.
A Russian musical, a documentary about budding racecar drivers, a Nashville-shot chamber drama, and a locally filmed feature blending blues and country were among the big winners as the Nashville Film Festival announced its 2010 roster of awards.
Hipsters, the splashy, high-energy Russian-language musical about Soviet rockabilly and jazz enthusiasts defying the strictures of the 1950s Iron Curtain, took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature. That wasn't surprising: judges and audiences alike were wowed by the crowd-pleasing feature, which came out of the weekend with the festival's hottest buzz.
Racing Dreams, Marshall Curry's portrait of three young drivers facing off at a karting championship, won the NaFF's grand jury documentary prize, while Nashville writer-director Brent Stewart's somber two-handed drama The Colonel's Bride went home with the Tennessee Spirit Award for the best feature made by a Tennessee filmmaker. One of the festival's hardest-to-get tickets, the Nashville-shot Black, White and Blues, brought director and festival guest Mario Van Peebles the Rosetta Miller-Perry Award for Best Black Filmmaker.
The festival ends tonight at Green Hills with several shows already sold out, including the eagerly awaited "Robert Churchwell: The Jackie Robinson of Journalism," a biography of the pioneering African-American journalist. Consult the festival website for additional screenings of award-winning films. A full list of winners is provided after the jump.
