Kanbar Announces Winners of 67th First Run Film Festival

      The winners of NYU’s 67th annual First Run Film Festival, which premieres the work of some of the country’s top student films from the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA), were announced in late March. In all, this year’s festival screened over 130 films, videos, multimedia, and animation projects. Six outstanding student films were singled out for top film prizes and over $50,000 in cash awards.
      The winners of the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation Awards for Excellence in Filmmaking are: 1st prize ($10,000) – Kim Spurlock (Graduate Division) for Down in Number 5 and Stephen Neary (Undergraduate Division) for Chicken Cowboy; 2nd prize ($7,000) – Rashaad Ernesto Green (Graduate Division) for Premature and Andrew Simkiss (Undergraduate Division) for Sane Jules Blaine; 3rd prize ($5,000) – Carlo Mirabella-Davis (Graduate Division) for Knife Point and Razan Ghalayini (Undergraduate Division) for Noor.
      Winners of the King Award for Best Screenwriting ($3,000) are: Rashaad Ernesto Green (Graduate) for Premature and Stephen Neary (Undergraduate) for Chicken Cowboy. The winners of the Wasserman Award for Best Directing ($2,000) are: Kim Spurlock (Graduate) for Down in Number 5 and Stephen Neary (Undergraduate) for Chicken Cowboy.
      This year’s winners join past recipients Spike Lee, Ang Lee, and Nancy Savoca, among many others. A panel of industry professionals selected the winning films from a group of 14 finalists.
      —Richard Pierce