The Slamdance Film Festival, which takes place in Park City, Utah at the same time as the Sundance Film Festival, takes low budget American indies to its heart. It tends to show the more experimental, scruffy work that clock in at less than a $1 Million budget (some far less than that). They tend to be the kinds of films that are passed over by their glitzier festival cousin. However, over the past 17 years, the Festival has discovered true gems that have long careers. More of these potential treasures have just been unearthed with the announcement of the winners of this year's Festival competitions.

At its Thursday night awards ceremony, typically a very relaxed affair, top winners included Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal’s STRANGER THINGS, which nabbed the Best Narrative Film prize, and BHOPALI, a documentary film by Van Maximillian Carlson that won both the documentary and audience prizes in the non-fiction competition category.  The narrative film SILVER TONGUES by Simon Arthur won the audience award in the narrative features section.

There are three competitive divisions at Slamdance: Grand Jury, Audience Awards and Special Sponsored Awards provided by Kodak, Panasonic, Dos Equis and Good Health. In addition this year Slamdance adds a theatrical distribution award to best feature and short film, with theatrical showings at several specialty theatrical venues throughout the year, including the IFC Center in New York and 14 Pews in Houston.

“Not every filmmaker is going home with a prize, but like never before it seems everyone is a winner at Slamdance,” commented Peter Baxter, Co-founder and President of Slamdance in a statement. “By coming together as a community, each of our filmmakers has been empowered by what Slamdance has created this week and in the long run I think this experience will be most useful and rewarding.”

For more information on other award winners and the full roster of films that have premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival, visit: www.slamdance.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Circuit Editor