2004 Winners

BEST FILM

1st Place: "Bucharest Express" -- Chuck Portz' story of an American journalist, a mysterious Gypsy woman and a bookkeeper with an inside angle trying to stay one step ahead of a gang of ruthless killers as they uncover the horrors of the human trafficking of sex slaves in the Balkans.

2nd Place: "Intervention" -- In this screenplay by Anton Evangelista from a story by James Morricone, we have the the story of a young Italian-American marriage in 1968, when family values were everything... until one fateful night, when an unexplained twist challenges the love they share with the love they knew.

3rd Place: "King of Iron Town" -- Ironton, Ohio, filmmaker Mickey Fisher who wrote and directed the fictional brother-against-brother boxing movie, inspired by events he saw at the Tri-State Original Toughman Contest a few years, watching a couple brothers boxing at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

"Containment: Life after Three Mile Island" -- Filmmakers Chris Boebel and Nick Poppy began working on this documentary in early 1998. examines the legacy of the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant (TMI) from the perspective of the nearby community of Middletown, Pennsylvania. Containment explores the accident´s long-term effects on local residents, including the rise of anti-nuclear activism, psychological consequences and the debate over health effects.

BEST SCREENPLAY

"Containment" by Brad Campbell. In this Asheville, North Carolina, writer's script, a hooker stumbles upon the outlines of a chilling plot by our country's elected leaders to force the end times prophesied in Revelations. It's up to a small town sheriff to stop them -- and save her.

BEST SHORT FILM

"Fault" by director Justin Swibel's poignant, disturbing, and darkly funny short film about a rich American boy who attacks his tennis instructor.

SLAPPY AWARD

Space Command 2000

IN ADDITION...

Thirteen movies were selected for the festival, including the world premier showing of "Lithium Springs" and a special screening of "America's Heart and Soul" by Disney.

PHOTOS!

To see pictures from the 2004 awards banquet, please click here.