WorldFest-Houston, the third oldest film festival in North America, celebrated the conclusion of its 38th annual independent film showcase with the Grand Awards Gala on April 30th and Closing Day festivities with a VIP tour of NASA and Space Center Houston and a Texas Barbecue on May 1st sponsored by The Houston Yacht Club. Both events were open to the public. WorldFest was founded as an International Film Society in August 1961. It became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in April 1968 and has a long list of "discovered" film greats such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, the Coen Brothers and many others from their beginning efforts with submissions early in their careers. Multi award- winning producer/director, Hunter Todd, founded this international film festival to honor all categories of film and video production and still continues his long dedication to finding and spotlighting the emerging Independent filmmakers, "the Spielbergs of tomorrow."

WorldFest's mission is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film & video, validate brilliant abilities and promote future filmmaking in the state of Texas as well as enhance cultural tourism for Houston. The 10-day film festival ran to a smooth finish with several full-houses, one being the Texas production as well as the Buzz of the Fest, "Echoes of Innocence," directed by Nathan Todd Sims. Directors, producers and actors representing their premiering films flew in from all over the globe such as: Oyvend Sandberg (Coastal Life) Norway doc, Carsten Fibeler (Kleinruppin Forever) from Germany, Kiyoshi Mizuno (Frontier Dream) from Japan, Kenneth Bi (Rice Rhapsody) from Singapore, Haim Bouzgalo (Distortion) from Israel, Ignacio Nacho (Poliedro) from Spain, Dragan Milojkovic (Take a Deep Breath) from Serbia, plus many others from the International Short Subject competition. All film premieres were screened at the AMC Meyer Park 16 Theatres, a second year WorldFest-Houston Cinema sponsor.

The Awards Gala on Saturday, April 30th was held in the Greenway Ballroom of The Renaissance Hotel, VIP partner and official host hotel for the 38th annual WorldFest. The festivities began with a cocktail reception hosted by The Houston Film Commission. Four-time World Champion Bagpipe Band from St. Thomas Episcopal School in Houston, launched the awards segment by piping in festival founder, Hunter Todd, leading the parade of a bevy of beautiful Page Parkes models, presenters of the plaques to the winning filmmakers. Dance entertainment was presented by Li-Mei Hua Dance group featuring the famous Chinese Ribbon Dance, the Champion Scottish Highland dancers and Nellie Fraga's Ambassador Mexican Folkloric dance group of Houston. Longtime friend and sponsor of WorldFest, Dick Hoff of Kodak, presented the annual Kodak Cinematography Crystal Vision award with his $2,500 film stock certificate to winner German filmmaker, Florian Devle for his remarkable Die Uberraschung. Hewlett Packard Crystal Vision Awards for the best in Independent Spirit went to the Short Film Silent Warrior directed by Alex Dierbach and to David Beaird for the Feature Film "The Civilization of Maxwell Bright" Top honoree of the evening was Tony Lo Bianco (The French Connection) awarded the WorldFest 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award for his superlative work over the past 50 years in the entertainment field. Other luminaries at the gala of 350 US and International filmmakers were Kassie DePaiva (One Life to Live) Skye Aubrey (Bollywood and Vine) and Mel Stuart (Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) all here to receive top category awards for their various films. Mel's film, Hobart's Shakespearans is an awe-inspiring look at how the Bard can transform the lives of at- risk youth in Los Angeles.
WorldFest also presented five excellent film industry seminars to full houses as follows: 1. Special Effects for the Indie Budget presented by Steve Wolf, 2. A two part Kodak Cinematography workshop presented by Christopher Pearson a 12-year veteran cinematographer, 3. Distribution for the Indie Film presented by Stuart Strutin of Panorama Entertainment. 4. Script Analysis by IFP & DGA member, director/producer Jon Scheide and 5. The Indie Directors/Producers Panel that had directors John Schwert (Among Brothers), John Ta (Balls Deep), Bill Kern (Top of the World), Roger Aronoff (Confronting Iraq) Jack Serino (The Connecticut Kid) Twan Woods (Endangered Species) and Evgeny Afineevsky (The Return from India) moderated by prolific Canadian filmmaker and WorldFest multiple award winner, David Winning (Andromeda, Stargate:Atlantis).

Click here for the complete 2005 Remi Award Winners List:

Other Grand Awards presented that evening were:
Other Grand Awards presented that evening were: BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE to Tetsuya Matsushima, Frontier Dream, IPS Co, Ltd. Japan; BEST FILM & VIDEO to Brian J. Stillwell for, The Biology of Prenatal Development, THE ENDOWMENT FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, INC. USA; BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION, The Question of God: Sigmund Freud & C.S. Lewis, TATGE / LASSEUR PRODUCTIONS USA; BEST NEW MEDIA to Never Let Them Walk Alone: Police Week Memorial DVD 2004 by Cardinal Media, USA; BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO to Of Burning Hills by Jason White, Canada: BEST UNPRODUCED SCREENPLAY to Kathleen Behun for The Seer, USA; BEST MUSIC VIDEO to IAMBIC PRODUCTIONS for Super Troupers - Thirty Years of ABBA, UK; BEST SHORT SUBJECT to I Spy With My Little Eye , KEY ENTERTAINMENT, INC, USA; BEST TV COMMERCIAL, to Grey WorldWide, NY for Napkin, USA; BEST PRINT AD to Grey Worldwide, NY for Guitar, Motorcycle, Surf, USA and BEST STUDENT FILM Natural Selection to Monte Zajicek, USA.