2003, 9th Annual Awards

Best Movie

Best Director

Best Actress

Best Actor

Best Supporting Actress - It's a Tie!

Best Supporting Actor

Best Original Screenplay

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Cinematography

Best Cast - It's a Tie!

Best Documentary

Buried Treasure - It's a Tie!

waydowntown - Gary Burns' intelligent and insightful film is a funny and thought-provoking examination on the dehumanization of corporate culture using a true-life model in downtown Calgary. Four co-workers bet to see who can avoid going outdoors the longest in their work/apartment complex. A smart, taut screenplay, inventive camerawork and strong performances blend to make a surprisingly funny and intriguing film. Don McKellar is superb as a suicidal misfit. --mrc

Wendigo - Larry Fessenden's chilling tale of a family from the city encountering supernatural forces in the wilderness is also a deft character and class study that utilizes a lot of low-budget tricks in an excellent way. The cast is led by wonderfully subtle performances from the marvelous Patricia Clarkson and Jake Weber. "Malcolm in the Middle's" Erik Per Sullivan is outstanding as young Miles, who provides the film's youthful point-of-view. It is an impressive feat at how quickly the viewer gets to know these characters, without the usual resorting to cliche and stereotype. Wendigo is a great example of using good storytelling rather than a padded budget to tell an effective and entertaining story. --mrc

also nominated: All or Nothing, Baran, Happiness of the Katakuris, Swimming, Yana's Friends

Best Short Film

Just Like Golf by E.S. Wochensky (USA - 26 minutes) – Just Like Golf documents a school bus demolition derby. It takes a rare kind of individual to smash a school bus. In rural Little Valley, New York, we find quite a few characters craving to crash their way to glory. Just Like Golf weaves images of the county fair, mechanics' shops, and interviews bus drivers, culminating in a jaw-dropping view of what a school bus demo is all about.

E.S. Wochensky has studies at the Liason of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Chicago Filmmakers, and SUNY Fredonia. TECHNOLOGY, a short experimental, has been shown at several festivals including the United States Super 8mm Festival at Rutgers University and the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. He is currently producing a feature length documentary, chronicling people and change in his hometown of Springville, New York.

Just Like Golf is 2001's 1st place Chlotrudis Award winner AND 1st place Audience Award Winner! Congratulations, E.S.!

Tunanooda by David Zackin ( USA - 10 min.) – An animated story of lifeguarding and lunchmaking.

David Zackin was raised in Newton, MA, attended the Rhode Island School of Design, studied animation, and has recently moved to Chicago.

Tunanooda is 2002's 2nd place Chlotrudis Award winner. Congratulations, David!

Hannah Can't Swim by Randall Good (USA - 20 minutes) – Hannah, infatuated with a stranger on a train, writes anonymous letters arranging a rendezvous on her isolated island.

Randall Good just graduated with a BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology School of Film and Animation in Rochester, NY. His previous work, Shower (2001), has been screened at festivals across the USA.

Hannah Can't Swim is 2002's 2nd place Audience Award winner. Congratulations, Randall!

also nominated:

Earthquake by James Brett (UK - 2 minutes) – "Earthquake! Run for the hills you fools, run for the hills! Aaaaaaaargh!"

Trained as an actor, James Brett is an award-winning filmmaker working in the UK and USA. After early success as a recording artist, James directed videos for Sleeper, REM/The Troggs and members of the Chemical Brothers. James moved to Los Angeles with his screenplay, Charles Bukowski's The Buried Life. He graduated from the prestigious American Film Institute with Welcome and Deadtime, two short films which won prizes and acclaim at festivals worldwide. Deadtime won 3rd prize in the First Annual Chlotrudis Awards Short Film Festival. After helming Roland Joffe's cult TV comedy-drama, MTV'S UNDRESSED, James returned to the United Kingdom to set up Makefilm, his feature film development/production company. As a director, James is known for his offbeat sense of humour, comedic timing and immaculate photography. He currently directs commercials and TV and is developing his first feature.

Faithful by Marzena Grzegorczyk (USA - 15 minutes) - A mysterious letter implicating Robert in a lengthy extramarital affair sparks a conflict among three women: his wife, her sister and his alleged lover. Soon his unfaithfulness becomes marginal as the three women confront the limits of their own honesty while trying to uncover the truth.

Marzena Grzegorczyk received her MFA in 2001 from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, specializing in directing and cinematography. Faithful, which she wrote, directed and co-produced, is her MFA thesis. She shot and/or written and directed over a dozen of shorts which were screened at film festivals in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Switzerland (e.g. English is for Optimists, The Island at the End of the World, Slovenka). She was the cinematographer on Desertopia, a Student Emmy Award winning documentary about the Salton Sea, California (dir. Meri Pritchett) which is currently airing on various PBS stations across the USA. A Warsaw (Poland) native, she resides in Los Angeles and is working on her first feature.

Girl 24 by Meredith Root (USA - 12 minutes) - Girl 24 tells the story of a strange desert laboratory where three robots are engaged in the process of creating life. The film unfolds mysteriously, with the motivation of the robots and the purpose of their lab work unclear. Slowly their design is revealed: a girl is born. As she explores her surroundings, the robots are seen monitoring her actions. Her self-education culminates when she maps the constellations of the night sky. Meanwhile, the robots are making preparations for their next creation; there is only room for one.

Meredith Root is a Milwaukee based animator whose previous work has show nationally at such venues as The Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley, CA, and The Knitting Factory in NYC. She is an Assistant Professor of Film at The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, where she delights in teaching animation.

Nine by Jennifer Campbell (USA - 26 min.) – In this uplifting documentary, nine breast cancer survivors prepare for the world's largest two-day rowing event. The film follows the women's stories as they bond and share hope from their first meeting through the race. Holly Metcalf, an Olympic Gold Medalist, instructs the women. This film shows us an amazing strength and hope that is not usually part of the stereotypical cancer survivor portrayal.

Campbell made her first documentary at age fourteen. Entitled A Tribute to Pop, the video chronicled the achievements of her late grandfather, a local sports hero. Since then, she has been making films about ordinary people who do extraordinary things. In addition ot being a filmmaker, Campbell is also a high school teacher and rowing coach.

The Offering by Paul Lee (Canada - 10 min.) – Inspired by The Young Man and His Death, a ballet choreography written by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963). The Offering is based on the filmmaker's personal grief over the premature passing of beloved friends - people who have left this world at the prime of their lives, before their full potentials were realized. "Their departure from my life also brought me face to face with my own mortality. As I entered middle age during the making of this film, I find myself questioning my own faith in life and confronting the ephemeral transience of youth and beauty, in this elegiac meditation on the nature of the passing of life and of love."

Paul Lee was born in Hong Kong in 1963, and moved to Toronto in 1976. Since 1991 he has organized and curated film festivals in Canada, U.S.A., Japan and Thailand. In addition to his programming activities, Paul also specializes in producing films for first-time filmmakers and in international co-productions. In 1994 he made his first short film Thick Lips Thin Lips, which has won eight awards, and was screened at over 100 film festivals worldwide after its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. In 1995 he made his second film These Shoes Weren’t Made For Walking, which has won six awards, and was screened at over 50 film festivals after its premiere at the Sydney Film Festival. The Offering is his third film.

Saving Human Lives by Joe Pickett (USA - 5 min.) – Taking place in desolate rural Minnesota, this film, a strong argument against the dangers of hitchhiking, aims to annoy. Saving Human Lives is a test of will, challenging the audience's tolerance of an uncomfortable and irritating situation. It's also kind of funny. Shot on 16mm reversal, Saving Human Lives was filmed on various roadsides and ditches between St. Paul and St. Cloud in some of the coldest weather ever.

Saving Human Lives features the acting of Joe and Mark (who also co-wrote). It was photographed by Matt, who with Joe's help, edited. A team effort indeed! Matt, Joe, and Mark belong to local filmmaker's collective, Cine-Magic Pictures, an up-and-coming company. "Up-and-coming" refers to the fact that they have a website: www.cine-magic.com.

Survival of the Fittest by Tricia Ward (USA - 7 min.) – A comic tale on the potential application of current genetic research. In the not-so-distant future, a yuppie couple visits a fertility clinic with a difference where they're shown how their potential offspring will turn out.

Tricia Ward hails form Dublin, Ireland where she studied Microbiology at Trinity College. While working at Harvard Medical School, she took screenwriting at the Harvard Extension School. Tricia abandoned her career as a medical journalist to complete a Certificate in Film Production from the New School University in New York. Her first short film, Raging Nuns, won the New School Award, 2000 and was shown at the Galway Film Fleadh. Survival of the Fittest is her second short.

Target Audience by David Kittredge (USA - 12 min.) – His parents are away, the beer is gone, his best friend just passed out, and he's about to find out that the most dangerous part of a Saturday night could be a late-night infomercial...

David Kittredge lives and works in New York City. His previous short film Fairy Tale screened at over twenty festivals worldwide and was distributed on DVD by Picture This Entertainment. He is also the executive producer of Triple Fire Productions, which specializes in smart, edgy, independently-oriented films and videos.

A Touch of Tutelage by Thea St. Omer (USA - 14 min.) – "One student. One professor. The desk between them." An ode to the special relationship that sometimes develops between a student and a professor.

Born in New Jersey and raised in California, Thea St. Omer attended UC Berkeley as an undergraduate student. In 1996, she enrolled in New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she is currently an MFA candidate in Film Directing. She is the recipient of the Helena Rubenstein Scholarship, the Benjamin J. Hooks Scholarship, the Steven J. Ross Scholarship and the New York Women in Film and Television Scholarship. Thea is currently raising finishing funds for her latest project, a 35 mm, B&W documentary film about the faces and places of New York City.

Special Awards

Chloe Award

Gertrudis Award

"2002's recipient of the Gertrudis Award is Glenn Fitzgerald. I hadn't yet seen Tully last fall when Chlotrudis Board member Laura Clifford suggested Glenn Fitzgerald as the recipient of this year's Gertrudis Award. I was familiar with Glenn's terrific performance as Jeffrey Norman in Series 7: The Contenders, so I quickly caught Tully and understood Laura's enthusiasm. But what else had he done? My next step was look up Glenn's filmography, and that's when I realized that he was the perfect candidate. Glenn's career was filled with memorable roles in independent films that had been Chlotrudis favorites over the years.

Look back on Glenn's career and you'll find a rich tapestry of independent film work. The Brooklyn native got his start in television appeareances, including "Law and Order" and "Homicide," before making his big screen debut with a supporting role in Manny & Lo alongside last year's Gertrudis Award recipient, Scarlett Johanssen. That same year he caught people's attention as Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin's LSD proferring son, Lonnie in Flirting with Disaster. You've also probably seen Glenn in The Ice Storm, The Sixth Sense, Finding Forrester, or possibly in his starring role in A Price Above Rubies. He appeared in the multiple-Chlotrudis nominated Judy Berlin and recently as a neo-nazi in The Believer. Today many more have seen him in his recurring role in HBO's smash series, "Six Feet Under."

Glenn has also made waves in New York's theatre scene. In 2000 he garnered heaps of critical praise and a Lucille Lortel Oustanding Lead Actor nomination for his sensitive turn as a security guard in Kenneth Longergan's hit Lobby Hero at Playwrights Horizons. Most recently he co-starred in Blue/Orange, winner of London's Olivier Award for Best New Play.

Yet it's 2002's Tully that has put Glenn on the map for Chlotrudis Awards. Tully, directed by Hilary Birmingham, tells the story of a father and two sons struggling to hold onto their farm in modern day Nebraska. Elder son Tully is handsome and popular with the ladies. Younger son Earl is more introspective, while dad, Earl Sr., is somber and solitary... ever since his wife died when the kids were young. As Earl, Glenn shows us a young man who is slightly awkward with his family, and less experienced with the ladies than his older brother, but more perceptive and worldwise than Tully with is blustering brashness. As with all of his characters, both extreme and simple, Glenn sinks into his roles with a naturalness that hides the actor and brings the character to the fore. Perhaps that's why you recognize his face, but can't quite place where you've seen him before. We'll certainly be watching Glenn, and you can bet we'll remember his name." --mrc

"I didn't begin to recognize Glenn Fitzgerald until about the fourth time I went out of my way to check credits for an actor's name. Fitzgerald is the type of actor who disappears into his roles, equally believable as an intense neo-Nazi assassin, a cancer stricken goth, a yuppie dot-commer or a sensitive midwestern farm boy. This actor has built a strong body of work making memorable contributions to each film he's been in. Now when I see the name Glenn Fitzgerald listed in the cast of an upcoming film, not only do I know who he is, but look forward to yet another fine performance." --lc

Taskforce Award