2013 INDIE GRITS AWARDS WINNERS

Top Grit - Miracle Boy

$1,000 prize  

Best overall film as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

People’s Grit - Get Better

$500 prize 

Best overall film, as selected by you, the audience!

Big Grit - Euphonia

$500 prize 

Best feature length film as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

Short Grit - April

$500 prize 

Best short film as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

Young Grit - Moira Angela Darling

$500 prize 

Exemplary film by a student filmmaker as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

Experimental Grit - Two Seconds After Laughter

$500 prize 

Exemplary experimental film as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

Helen Hill Award - Dusty Stacks of Mom

$500 prize 

Exemplary film by a female filmmaker as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

Local Grit - Twenty-One Questions

$250 prize 

Exemplary local film as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

Animated Grit - Dusty Stacks of Mom

$250 prize  

Exemplary animated film as selected by the Indie Grits Jurors.

Sponsored by Deborah Yerkes

Thanks to our jurors Mark Lotto, Katey Rich, and Daniele Anastasion, for all of their hard work watching every single film!

SCREENING SCHEDULE FOR  SUNDAY APRIL 21

2pm - Miracle Boy, Two Seconds After Laughter, Euphonia

2pm - April, Moira Angela Darling, Twenty One Questions, Dusty Stacks of Mom

6pm - Get Better

It’s the last day of Indie Grits competition, and boy, do we have a lot going on. There should be something today for everyone, so don’t miss you chance to be a part of the 2013 Indie Grits Film Festival! It’s been a wonderful success so far.

The last installment of Kindie Grits is today, with Frank Baker teaching about the art of storytelling through film. Young people, ages 8-14, are invited to this workshop that sheds light on some of the mysteries of how movies get made. Nickelodeon Theatre; 10AM-1PM.

The University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe dates back to 1801. It is the most famous and beautiful part of campus, and also one of the most intact landscapes of slavery in the United States. The bricks and buildings forming the perimeter of the area were molded, built and maintained by slaves until Emancipation. Ghosts of the Horseshoe is a mobile augmented reality application that brings into view this largely unknown history. Come see a demonstration this afternoon. USC Horseshoe; 2PM.

Nicole Triche uncovers some of the mystique surrounding taxidermy as she documents a pair of competitors in the World Taxidermy Championships in Taxidermists, part of our Documentary Shorts program. Plays along with Light Plate, Yucca Mtn. Tally, Shoestrings, and See the Dirt. Tapp’s; 3PM.

In STEGO-SAUR, a young girl, convinced she is a stegosaurus, arrives at her elementary school only to find it deserted. She then embarks on a magical adventure. This lovely short is a apart of Through the Eyes of a Child, a program of shorts starring children. Also screening are April, Pretty Monsters, Jesus Fish, and Miracle Boy. Nickelodeon Theatre; 3:30PM.

I Have Always Been a Dreamer is a documentary that compares two contrasting cities, Dubai and Detroit. It explores ideology, landscape, and community. Preceding it is As I Am. Nickelodeon Theatre; 5:30PM.  

Georg Koszulinski is known as the Cal Ripken, Jr. of Indie Grits, having had something in every festival since the first. This is a truly impressive streak. His latest, Frankenstein Revisited, stitched together images of the original Frankenstein series with found footage from science films, newsreels and more to tell the story of a World War 1 veteran killed in action only to be brought back… again. A live score will be performed by the filmmaker. Part of our Experimental program, which also includes Sci-Fly, The White Coat Phenomenon, the Outside Comes Inside, Upstate, 588, and Sick. Tapp’s; 6PM.

Red Flag, by Alex Karpovsky (Girls, Sleepwalk with Me), represents an indie filmmaker named Alex Karpovsky, who tours college campuses and independent cinemas in the South screening his new movie. As you can imagine, this intriguing film teases the line between fact and fiction. Nickelodeon Theatre; 8PM.

Finally, we’re wrapping up the festival with our Southern Abroad program. This will include the following shorts: Antarctica, So Far Above Humans They Are, 21 Chikaroot, Two Seconds After Laughter, Nile Perch, and Por Dinero. Tapp’s; 8PM.

Oh, and don’t forget, we’ve got a closing party. 1734 Main Street. Last year’s abandoned bank party was an absolute blast, and this one will also be great. This closing celebration will be featuring VJ Patrick Nugent, and DJ’s from WUSC. Most importantly we will also have drinks from the Whig on hand, and food available from Al Amir. Come relax, hang with filmmakers, fest goers, and all the great people that have made this year’s fest a success. 1734 Main Street; 10:30PM. Let us know you’re coming… the password is “grits.” https://www.facebook.com/events/108622722671750/

Photo by Jonathan Sharpe

I had honest intentions last night, Indie Grits lovers. I was going to take extensive notes on all three bands and create a beautiful piece of writing that paid appropriate tribute to the magical night of music the festival brought to town last night at the Columbia Museum of Art. 

Instead, I danced.

I did take one note, that I stored in my faithful phone, and am looking at right now. Here’s what it says:

“Do things your own way.”

The line, which echoed across all four walls of the museum last night as Dent May played one of their final songs in a set that inspired an all out dance party complete with slow dancing strangers, is the only note I wrote down last night. 

In a lot of ways, I think it’s the only one that matters. It sums up what Dent May is about: creating joyous musical lessons on how to live a good life on your own terms. The dreamy, well-crafted pop songs were filled with timeless melodies and by the set’s end, not a soul in the house stood on still feet. Even when the band slowed it down, the dancing did not stop. The crowd slow danced their way through those three minutes like it was the most natural progression in the world.  By the set’s end, no strangers existed at the museum. We were all a part of this Dent May-created collective, having experienced the reprieve from life’s stressful messes as presented through a series of gorgeous pop songs reminding us to do things our own way. 

-Ashley Solesbee

PS: The band’s record, “Do Things,” is available for purchase from their website, www.dentmay.com. Every track is gold.

The festival has been in no short supply of outstanding documentaries this year, and Joe York’s “Pride and Joy,” which screens tonight at the Nickelodeon Theater, is no exception to that trend.

We Cause Scenes, in case you missed the last two screenings, will be playing for a third time this afternoon. It’s a really remarkable documentary about a remarkable organization. Nickelodeon Theatre; 3:30 PM.  

It wouldn’t be Indie Grits without a documentary about the unique foodways of the South, the gastrointestinal cradle of America. Pride and Joy follows some of the bearers of the South’s culinary traditions, providing an intimate portrait of people and places. Nickelodeon Theatre; 6 PM.  

This year’s crop of Student Shorts are outstanding. One of them is Kosmonauts, a mystical buddy-cop movie where three Avant-Garde Investigators pursue an absurd cult dedicated to the Third Eye Man. Deconstruction, ahoy! Other shorts are Ditching School to Whistle, Passing Through Traveling Down, Die Like An Egyptian, Infinite, Barr-Price Funeral Home, and Moira Angela Darling. Tapp’s; 6 PM.

In Euphonia, stale sounds of the suburbs send a teenager out with a sound recorder in search of better ones. Listening with this device he begins to build his own soundscape and drift away from his surroundings. Plays with Holy God Holy Mighty Holy Immortal Have Mercy On Us and Reed. Nickelodeon Theatre; 8:30 PM.

With a program name like Masters of Puppets, you know there has to be a metalhead on staff. Too bad we couldn’t find a program to name after Megadeth (Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying? might work for some anti-war films, but I digress.) Anyways, all of these films, in some way, involve puppetry. Program includes …78 Years Past the Happiness Bomb”, BeeSting, Apocalypse Meow, Supine: A Dream, and The Mystery in Old Bathbath. Tapp’s; 8:30 PM.

Finally, we have even more music planned tonight. Burnt Books and Happiness Bomb are going to be rocking Hunter-Gatherer. HG; 11 PM.

One last weekend of Indie Grits, y’all. We have so much crammed into these last couple of days, it’ll make your head spin. It’s such good lineup of films and other entertainments that you simply can’t go wrong.

We Cause Scenes, in case you missed the last two screenings, will be playing for a third time this afternoon. It’s a really remarkable documentary about a remarkable organization. Nickelodeon Theatre; 3:30 PM.  

It wouldn’t be Indie Grits without a documentary about the unique foodways of the South, the gastrointestinal cradle of America. Pride and Joy follows some of the bearers of the South’s culinary traditions, providing an intimate portrait of people and places. Nickelodeon Theatre; 6 PM.  

This year’s crop of Student Shorts are outstanding. One of them is Kosmonauts, a mystical buddy-cop movie where three Avant-Garde Investigators pursue an absurd cult dedicated to the Third Eye Man. Deconstruction, ahoy! Other shorts are Ditching School to Whistle, Passing Through Traveling Down, Die Like An Egyptian, Infinite, Barr-Price Funeral Home, and Moira Angela Darling. Tapp’s; 6 PM.

In Euphonia, stale sounds of the suburbs send a teenager out with a sound recorder in search of better ones. Listening with this device he begins to build his own soundscape and drift away from his surroundings. Plays with Holy God Holy Mighty Holy Immortal Have Mercy On Us and Reed. Nickelodeon Theatre; 8:30 PM.

With a program name like Masters of Puppets, you know there has to be a metalhead on staff. Too bad we couldn’t find a program to name after Megadeth (Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying? might work for some anti-war films, but I digress.) Anyways, all of these films, in some way, involve puppetry. Program includes …78 Years Past the Happiness Bomb”, BeeSting, Apocalypse Meow, Supine: A Dream, and The Mystery in Old Bathbath. Tapp’s; 8:30 PM.

Finally, we have even more music planned tonight. Burnt Books and Happiness Bomb are going to be rocking Hunter-Gatherer. HG; 11 PM.