The narrative films “Keep the Change” and “Son of Sofia” and the documentary “Bobbi Jene” have won the top jury awards at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, TFF announced at an awards ceremony in New York City on Thursday night.
Rachel Israel’s “Keep the Change,” a romance about two young adults with autism that was made with non-professional actors who are themselves autistic, won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, while Israel won a separate award as Best New Narrative Director.
Narrative acting awards went to Alessando Nivola for “One Percent More Humid” and Nadia Alexander for “Blame.”
In the International Narrative Feature categories, Elina Psykou’s “Son of Sofia” took the top prize, with acting awards going to Guillermo Pfening in “Nobody’s Watching” and Marie Leuenberger in “The Divine Order.”
Elvira Lind’s “Bobbi Jene,” a film about ballet dancer Bobbi Jene Smith, dominated the documentary awards. It won the Best Documentary Feature prize and also taking awards for its cinematography and editing.
The full list of winners:
U.S. Narrative Feature Competition Categories
(Jurors: Josh Lucas, Melanie Lynskey, Denis O’Hare, Alex Orlovsky, and Stephanie Zacharek.
Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – “Keep the Change,” Rachel Israel.
Best Actor in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Alessandro Nivola, “One Percent More Humid”
Best Actress in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Nadia Alexander, “Blame”
Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Chris Teague, “Love After Love”
Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – “Abundant Acreage Available,” Angus MacLachlan
International Narrative Feature Competition Categories
(Jurors: Willem Dafoe, Peter Fonda, Tavi Gevinson, Alessandro Nivola, and Ruth Wilson)
Best International Narrative Feature – “Son of Sofia,” Elina Psykou
Best Actor in an International Narrative Feature Film – Guillermo Pfening in “Nobody’s Watching” (“Nadie Nos Mira”)
Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature Film – Marie Leuenberger in “The Divine Order”
Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature Film – Mart Taniel, “November”
Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature Film – “Ice Mother” (“Bába z ledu”) Bohdan Sláma
Documentary Competition Categories
(Jurors: R.J. Cutler, Alma Har’el, Barbara Kopple, Anne Thompson, and David Wilson)
Best Documentary Feature – Bobbi Jene, Elvira Lind
Best Documentary Cinematography — Elvira Lind for “Bobbi Jene”
Best Documentary Editing – Adam Nielson, “Bobbi Jene”
Special Jury Mention – “True Conviction”
Best New Narrative Director Competition
(Jurors: Bryan Buckley, Clea Duvall, and Michael Pitt)
Best New Narrative Director – Rachel Israel, “Keep the Change”
Best New Documentary Director Competition:
(Jurors: Amy Berg, Alice Eve, Marilyn Ness, Zachary Quinto, and Shaul Schwarz)
Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award – Sarita Khurana andSmriti Mundhra for “A Suitable Girl”
Special Jury Mention – “Hondros”
The Nora Ephron Prize
(Jurors: Dianna Agron, Joy Bryant, Diane Lane, Zoe Lister-Jones, and Christina Ricci)
The Nora Ephron Prize: Petra Volpe, writer/director of “The Divine Order”
Special Jury Mention: “Keep the Change”
Short Film Competition Categories:
Best Narrative Short – “Retouch,” directed by Kaveh Mazaheri
Best Animated Short – “Odd is an Egg,” directed by Kristin Ulseth
Best Documentary Short – “The Good Fight,” directed by Ben Holman
Special Jury Mention – “Resurface”
Student Visionary Award – “Fry Day,” directed by Laura Moss
Special Jury Mention – “Dive”
Storyscapes Award: “TREEHUGGER: WAWONA” created by Barnaby Steel