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CCI:IFF Announces 2006 Festival Winners

Winners were announced on Sunday, July 23, at the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival, held at Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center. Awards were given in all 7 categories:

Best Action Adventure Film: Der Ostwind (Kohl Glass, director). In despair of finding a worthy opponent, Wolfgang von Kellermann, the German World War I ace known as Der Ostwind, is attacked by a seemingly invulnerable American. As Kellerman becomes increasingly obsessed with seeing his deadly opponent's face, he finds himself in the duel of his life and discovers at what price he will hold to his honor.

Best Animated Film: Gorgonas (Salvador Sanz, director). This lushly animated film from Argentina updates the mythological Gorgons to the pop music world of today, with horrifying results, as pop music changes the world!

Best Comics-oriented Film: Zombie Prom (Vince Marcello, writer/director). A 1950s horror comic book brought to life as a musical comedy film, Zombie Prom is the Atomic Age tale of Toffee and her "rebel" boyfriend, Jonny. The two fall in love, but their school principal intervenes, persuading Toffee to break up with him. In despair, Jonny races to the local power plant and flings himself into a nuclear reactor. Toffee mourns the loss of her love until the day when Jonny returns, risen from the dead-as a teenage nuclear zombie!

Best Documentary: Drakmar (Lowell Frank and Destin Cretton, co-directors). A coming-of-age saga about a 14-year-old boy whose life alternates between the medieval fantasy kingdom of Adria and the real-world trials of a challenging adolescence.

Best Horror/Suspense Film: Post-Mortem (Jennifer Soemantri, director). During a mysterious epidemic, an intern and a security guard at an emergency morgue must survive the night as they watch over the dead.

Best Humor/Parody Film: The Vinyl Battle (Owen Hammer writer/director), An evil drive-time radio DJ tries to wipe out a race of microscopic people living in his records, but one tiny resident fights back.

Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Film: Outside (Jenn Kao, writer/director). After the apocalypse, in a society where people are isolated in sealed bunkers, a young woman confronts her fears of the unknown when she makes contact with an outsider.

In addition, a special Judges' Choice Award was given to Zombie Prom (Vince Marcello, writer/director), as the best of the festival award for 2006.