Blood Brother a 93-minute film by Steve Hoover about a young man who set aside his comfortable life to help children at an AIDS orphanage in India won the top prize at the 2013 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival which was held last month in Missoula Montana. “This is one of those films that makes you feel bigger and more inspired after you watch it — which is a measure of any great piece of art ” said Travis Morss director of programming at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. “Every second is a privilege to watch. There’s not a wasted minute. We feel fortunate that we had the opportunity to share this film with audiences and are happy to recognize it with this year’s Feature Documentary award.” Not Yet Begun to Fight” by Sabrina Lee and Shasta Grenier won the 2013 Big Sky Award given each year to the best documentary film about the American West. The 60-minute film tells the story of a retired Marine colonel who brings five traumatically wounded military veterans to Montana to learn to fly fish. Notably that film’s director of photography Justin Lubke himself won the Big Sky Award in 2008 for his film Class C. Amar a 9-minute film by UK filmmaker Andrew Hinton about a 14-year old boy’s difficult daily life won the Best Mini Documentary award. Slomo Joshua Izenberg’s film about a neurologist who decides to give up his job in search of greater meaning won Best Short Documentary. The Thick Dark Fog a film by Randy Vasquez about a Lakota man’s efforts to reclaim his heritage was honored with a Big Sky Artistic Vision citation. The Words in the Margins a 15-minute film by Sara Mott about a unique friendship forged between an illiterate American man and his Kenyan reading tutor received a Mini Documentary Artistic Vision citation. Do Not Duplicate a film by Jonathan Mann and Sean McGing about a safecracker and artist in New York City received a Short Documentary Artistic Vision citation. Morss said this year’s 10th annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival surpassed last year’s record-setting attendance of 20 000. “Pretty much every day we had at least one sold-out screening this year ” said Morss. “We’ve seen a significant increase in attendance by people coming from out of state who aren’t filmmakers or professionals — people who are coming simply because they heard this is a great festival. That feels like a great validation and really helps add to the buzz and excitement at every screening.” More than 100 filmmakers and dozens of industry professionals attended this year’s festival which featured 10 straight days of screenings at the historic Wilma Theatre and the Crystal Theatre in downtown Missoula. Big Sky Documentary Film Festival www.BigSkyFilmFest.org
