# Crested Butte Film Festival

The Crested Butte Film Festival is a celebration of international films, held annually over four days in the last weekend of September, in Crested Butte, Colorado.

## History

Michael and Jennifer Brody established the Crested Butte Film Festival in 2011, looking for creative work together following careers in filmmaking and education. Crested Butte previously had Reel Fest, a shorts film festival that lasted ten years, but which was discontinued in 2010. The first installment of the Crested Butte Film Festival had an audience of 1,500 or about the population of the town; two years later attendance doubled. The festival is held just as the aspens turn into their imperial gold.

## Program

Crested Butte Film Festival programs artful, moving, creative and provocative films. Preference is given to creativity, daring, great storytelling, and bravery. The top selections are awarded to ACTNow, to the best narrative and documentary features, best documentary short, children's films, and to those chosen by the audience.

## Awards
### Action and Change Together (ACTNow)

Awarded to a nonprofit organization linked to a call-to-action documentary.
ACTNow :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2012 | Bidder 70 | Beth Cage; George Cage | United States |
| 2013 | Blood Brother | Steve Hoover | United States |
| 2014 | Virunga | Orlando von Einsiedel | United Kingdom |
| 2015 | Racing Extinction | Louie Psihoyos | United States |
| 2016 | Newtown | Kim Snyder | United States |
| 2017 | Bending the Arc | Kief Davidson; Pedro Kos | United States |
| 2017 | A Plastic Ocean | Craig Leeson | United Kingdom |
| 2019 | Santuario | Pilar Timpane; Christine Delp | United States |
| 2020 | Mossville: When Great Trees Fall | Alexander Glustrom | United States |

### Juried Awards

Best Narrative Feature :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2013 | De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) | Jacques Audiard | France |
| 2014 | The One I Love | Charlie McDowell | United States |
| 2015 | Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter | Nathan Zellner; David Zellner | United States |
| 2016 | The Lobster | Yorgos Lanthimos | Greece/ Ireland |
| 2017 | A Ghost Story | David Lowery | United States |
| 2019 | Parasite | Bong Joon-ho | Republic of Korea |
| 2020 | Bait | Mark Jenkin | United Kingdom |
Best Documentary Feature :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2012 | Bidder 70 | Beth Cage; George Cage | United States |
| 2013 | Chasing Ice | Jeff Orlowski | United States |
| 2014 | The Overnighters | Jesse Moss | United States |
| 2015 | Almost Holy (Crocodile Gennadiy) | Steve Hoover | United States |
| 2016 | LoveTrue | Alma Har'el | United States/ Israel |
| 2017 | Whose Streets? | Sabaah Folayan; Damon Davis | United States |
| 2019 | Storm the Gates | Daniele Anastasion; Catherine Yrisarri; Josie Swantek | United States |
| 2020 | Us Kids | Kim Snyder | United States |
Best Short (2012-2014) :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2012 | A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me | David Holechek | United States |
| 2013 | Arena | Martin Rath | Poland |
| 2014 | Into the Silent Sea | Andrej Landin | Sweden |
Best Comedy Short :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2017 | Immaculate Misconception | Michael Geoghegan | United Kingdom |
| 2019 | Hot Dog | Alma Buddecke; Marleen Valin | Germany |
| 2020 | Olla | Ariane Labed | United States |
Best Documentary Short :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2015 | Our Curse | Tomasz Śliwiński | Poland |
| 2016 | We All We Got | Carlos Javier Ortiz | United States |
| 2017 | Woody's Order | Ann Talman | United States |
| 2019 | All Inclusive | Corina Schwingruber-Ilić | Switzerland |
| 2020 | Huntsville Station | Jamie Meltzer and Chris Filippone | United States |
Best Narrative Short :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2015 | La Hija | Jazmín Rada | Spain |
| 2016 | Situational | Scott Simonsen; Alyssa Skoller | United States |
| 2016 | Stutterer | Benjamin Cleary | Ireland |
| 2017 | American Paradise | Joe Talbot | United States |
| 2019 | Moon and the Night | Erin Lau | United States |
| 2020 | Monstruo Dios (Monster God) | Agustina San Martín | Argentina |

### Audience Choice

Audience Choice :
| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 2012 | Kumaré | Vikram Gandhi | United States |
| 2013 | Blood Brother | Steve Hoover | United States |
| 2014 | About Alex | Jessie Zwick | United States |
| 2015 | Unbranded | Phillip Baribeau | United States |
| 2016 | Jim: The James Foley Story | Brian Oakes | United States |
| 2017 | Band Aid | Zoe Lister Jones | United States |
| 2019 | Peanut Butter Falcon | Tyler Nilson; Michael Schwartz | United States |
| 2020 | High Country | Conor Hagen | United States |

## Other awards
### Special Jury Prize

* 2012 – Alexander Gaeta, "Outstanding achievement, directorial debut"; Shoot the Moon
* 2014 – Martin Rath, "Outstanding achievement, breakthrough filmmaker"; Written in Ink and Arena
* 2015 – Yana Novikova (Яна Новикова), "Outstanding achievement, debut performance in a feature film"; The Tribe (Плем'я)
* 2016 – Leonor Caraballo, Mattero Norzi, Abou Farman, and Adella Ladjevardi, "Artistic accomplishment"; Icaros: A Vision
* 2016 – Ashley Valenzuela, "Filmmaker to watch"; Warm Waves
* 2017 – David Byars, "Excellence in filmmaking"; No Man's Land
* 2017 – Nancy Liu, "Filmmaker to watch"; Angeltown
* 2017 – Dana Romanoff, "Embodying the spirit of activism in the arts"; Storytelling and the Spirit of Activism in Cinema
* 2019 – Nancy Dionne, "Achievement in social impact and activism"; All I See is the Future
* 2019 – Zack Gottsagen, "Outstanding debut performance"
* 2020 – Mohammad Rasoulof, "Courage in filmmaking"
* 2020 – Ashley Williams, "Outstanding achievement, directorial debut"

### Spirit of the Festival

* 2013 – Jack Hanley
* 2014 – Scott Aigner and Marcelo Mitnik
* 2015 – Jennifer Brody
* 2016 – Jeramiah Friesen
* 2017 – Stacey Donaldson and Kat Cooke