May 22, 2006

Damah Film Festival Awards Winners; Showcases Hollywood Heavyweights

Dollface, Wood Diary, God's Goodness Win In Time Categories; Cabin 6 Wins Best Of Show

( Culver City , CA )-The Damah Film Festival, showcasing the best in spiritual filmmaking, capped off an exciting weekend of workshops and audience interaction with Hollywood heavyweights with an awards ceremony that lauded five films for excellence in filmmaking.

Winners at the gala awards ceremony at the Culver Mann Theater were Andrew Huang in the five minute category for his film "Dollface," David Meyers in the 15-minute category for Wood Diary," and Mark Betsworth in the 30-minute category for "God's Goodness." Mike McCaffrey's "Cabin 6" won best of show while the Damah Audience Favorite Award went to Samantha Davidson Green's film "Dead End Job."

Continuing a trend toward an increasingly international presence, 31 of the 311 films submitted to the festival this year were from outside of the United States , including submissions from Scotland , Australia , Iran , Austria , France , Spain , South Africa , Japan , Finland and Singapore .

After winnowing the list of films down to 79, the remaining films were judged by a celebrity panel of judges including director Scott Derrickson, producers Hunt Lowry, Howard Kazanjian, and Kanjiro Sakura, Simon Swart, Executive Vice President of 20th Century Fox Home Video,  and Senior writer Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly   to name a few .  
 
In addition to the gala, celebrity workshops featured sessions with a noted cast of  Hollywood hotshots including Swart, Willman, Derrickson as well as producer Todd Komarnicki, executives Chris Lockhart, Clifton Tibbets, DeVon Franklin, Donovan Jacobs, authors Craig Detweiler and Michael Levine.

"This was a great year for us," commented Katherine Makinney, Damah's executive director. "We have successfully completed the transition from Seattle to L.A .  We really felt the warmth of our host city of Culver City and  plan   to be back at this same location next year."

Held at the world famous Culver Studios , Damah filmmakers and guests enjoyed after parties at local restaurants as well as both a Filmmakers Reception and an Awards Gala afterparty at the Culver Hotel where they mingled with fellow filmmakers and celebrity jurors.

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For more information about the Damah Film Festival, or to schedule an interview, please contact Laura Kobzeff: (916) 425-8820;
info@damah.com