The Envelope, Please...Denver festival award winners

Even before the curtains rose on the red carpet crowd-pleaser Last Chance Harvey, Closing Night audiences got a thrill via the announcement of this year's festival award winners: the Fox 31 Emerging Filmmaker Award presented by Spout, went to Nina Paley for Sita Sings the Blues; Another Planet's Ferenc Moldoványi is taking home the Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary; Christophe van Rompaey won the Krzyszstof Kieslowski Award for Best Feature with Moscow, Belgium; and Robert Cosnahan garnered the first-ever Spike Lee Student Filmmaker Award for Multiple Choice, while Premature's Rashaad Ernesto Green got a special mention from the jury of the First Look Student Film Section.

Meanwhile, plenty of filmmakers pushed envelopes of their own yesterday. According to programming manager Keith Garcia, "a sold-out crowd was enraptured by" cult animator Don Hertzfeldt - "a passionate, hilarious, and amazing young man;" meanwhile, Danny Ledonne, the man behind both Playing Columbine and the RPG (role-playing game) his documentary explores, deeply impressed attendees of the discussion panel Deadly Games: Echoes of Columbine as he spoke with moderator Robert Denerstein about the impact his game has had.

And now the final envelope is in your hands. What will the filmgoers of SDFF 31 choose for the Audience Award? Stay tuned...

- Ruth Tobias