PORT TOWNSEND — A bright, near-full moon and a power outage that darkened downtown were among the features at the Port Townsend Film Festival, which this year brought movies from India, Iraq, the Yukon’s Mount Kennedy and Harlem, N.Y., among many other places.
“Film festivals are all about discovery,” executive director Janette Force said Sunday evening at the Rose Theatre, one of seven cinemas where more than 90 film screened last weekend.
Audiences discovered, laughed and wept with filmmakers from 15 nations this year, Force added. Viewers voted for feature films and documentaries, choosing movies that mix comedy with tragedy.
“Return to Mount Kennedy” won the Audience Choice award for best documentary. The 78-minute film takes moviegoers up the 13,944-foot Canadian peak named after assassinated President John F. Kennedy; in 1965 his brother Bobby, and Bobby’s good friend Jim Whittaker, climbed it.
In the documentary, director Eric Becker also tells the unlikely and often humorous story of Bobby Whittaker — no climber before this trip — ascending the mountain 50 years later. He did it with his much younger brother Leif Whittaker, who’s from Port Townsend, and Chris Kennedy, RFK’s son.
The audience choice Best Narrative Feature prize went to “The Last Suit,” director Pablo Solarz’ story of Abraham Burzstein, an 88-year-old tailor who leaves his Buenos Aires home for Poland. There, he hopes to find his childhood friend Piotrek, who saved him from certain death after surviving the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Among the festival’s short films, “Stag,” about a man whose fiancée leaves him, was a winner. Our man decided to go ahead and rock his swing-dance class anyway, and his story took the Audience Choice prize for Best Short Narrative. Then came “The Coffin Club,” a comic tale of New Zealand retirees who rebel against drab funerals, winning Audience Choice for best documentary short.
Force and the festival jury also presented $6,000 in cash prizes — plus one bronze statuette — to the people who work behind the scenes.
The Spirit of the Port Townsend Film Festival award went to graphic designer Terry Tennesen. His work appears on the galaxy of festival materials, online and in real life. Tennesen isn’t a big talker, so Force simply said: “You make this festival so beautiful.”
His trophy is an Oscar-size figure of Galatea, the bronze woman presiding over downtown’s Haller Fountain, cast by another local artist, the sculptor Sara Mall Johani.
The Best Documentary Feature prize winner is “On Her Shoulders,” the story of Nadia Murad. A woman from Iraq’s Yazidi community, she lived through genocide and has traveled the world bringing attention to her people’s plight. Filmmaker Alexandria Bombach told the festival she’ll donate her $2,500 prize to Nadia’s Action Fund; more information is found at Nadiasinitiative.org.
The Persistence of Vision Award for documentaries went to “Satan and Adam,” V. Scott Balcerek’s film about the bond between a young white harmonica player and a black street musician in Harlem.
Balcerek, who did question-and-answer sessions at his screenings, said he got a lot of love afterward.
“I don’t know how many times people stopped me on the street,” he said. The filmmaker premiered his work at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival, and there, “you don’t get that.”
Another New York story landed a prize for its director Max Powers: the $1,000 Jim Ewing Young Director Award, named for the late cofounder of the film festival. Powers’ documentary “Don’t Be Nice” took moviegoers inside the Bowery Poetry Club, where a scrappy crew of 20-something artists dig deep, seeking to write from their vulnerable, honest hearts.
“Open Your Eyes,” an Israeli film, received the Best Narrative Short prize. In it, a woman named Ilana needs her monthly eye treatment, but when an Arab doctor appears, she refuses him. Her son Yohai, knowing she’s losing her eyesight, won’t let her leave the clinic.
Also in the shorts category, “Good People,” Gregory Kohn’s film about a woman hoping to reconnect with her husband after an affair, received an honorable mention.
“Two Balloons,” a 10-minute animated trip across the world with a couple of lemurs, won a special jury prize.
“In Reality,” written, directed and starring Ann Lupo, received the $2,500 Best Narrative Feature juried award. It’s the story of Ann, a so-called “average brunette” looking for love through a whirl of music, dancing, animation and imaginary game-show bits.
An honorable mention went to the feature film “Beside Me,” from Romania. Director Tedy Necula takes us onto a stranded subway car in Bucharest, where the collection of strangers begin to interact; their world changes before our eyes.
The Best Documentary Short prize went to “Period. End of Sentence,” about a village in India where a sanitary-pad-making machine changes lives and futures. De-stigmatizing menstruation and providing access to pads, director Rayka Zehtabshi shows, makes it possible for girls to stay in school. More information awaits at ThePadProject.org.
Also among the documentary shorts was “A New View of the Moon,” a four-minute film jurors said gave them chills. It received a special commendation.
The Port Townsend Film Festival will mark its 20th anniversary Sept. 20-22, 2019. Information is found at PTFilmfest.com and by calling 360-379-1333.
“Make sure you go to the movies,” said Force.
“Take care of the artists in your family, in your community. Without art, we are nothing.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz, a former features editor for the Peninsula Daily News, is a freelance writer living in Port Townsend.
Then-U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy climbed the Canadian peak named for his brother John in 1965.
