BRIGHTSIDE TAVERN FILM FESTIVAL
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  • Past Award Winners and Nominees
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Award Nominations
Awards held on Sunday March 4th following Red Carpet Event

Best Actor Drama
Michael Ray for Collar
WINNER Randall Rodriguez for Last to Fall
Dan Berkey for The Last Visit
Moses Massena for Shadowstar Returns
Sebastian Beacon for The Villager
Michael Boston for The Guitar
Drew Maniscalco for Divided

Best Actress Drama
Amanda Bear for Like Me
Alexis Lariviere for The Last Visit
WINNER Jennifer Jiles for The Choice
Anne-Marie Mueschke for Death of Love
Jessica Ryan for Green Shoes
Laura Dowling Shea for The Spilling
Emma Orelove for The Hour Glass

Best Actor Comedy
Ryan O’Regan for Healing Heroes
WINNER Dante Giannetta for Punchline
David Weinheimer for The Loving Dead
Brett Eidman for Taken in the Night
Rob Cantrell for Headspace 
David J. Marzon for Fruit Bat 11
Seton Brown for The Tragedy of Sal

Best Actress Comedy
WINNER Kathrina Miccio for St. Joseph
Nina Cudic for Garbaggio
Suzanne Schmidt for Hey You, It’s Me
Brooke Hoover for Shyft
Gillian Goll for The Vigilantes
Sarah Jun for the Loving Dead
Jessica Green for Mindfull

Best Actor Horror
WINNER Jim Thalman for 16 Minutes
Flood Reed for Balloon
Dan Gregory for In the Blood
Derek Chariton for Dead Color
Tim Parrish for Dead Color

Best Actress Horror/Thriller
Erin Kiniry for Balloon
Christiane Seidel for 16 Minutes
Jamie Miller for Dead Color
Alyssa Booth for Beneath
Sam Garland for The Closet
WINNER Heather B O’Scanlon for the Gift
Yvonne Szumski for Ding Dong

Best Supporting Actor-Short Film
WINNER Artie Pasquale for Santino
Nick Sakai for Uneffable
Thomas Randolph for Bad Romance
Jared Rinaldi for Death of Love
Jonathan Pessin for Hey You It’s Me
Ciaran Sheehan for The Choice
Tom Bentey for Last Call

Best Supporting Actress-Short Film
WINNER Lindsay Brice for Hearts that Cross Borders
Samantha Scaffidi for Santino
Ameara Wahhab for the Villager
Pamela Bowen Stanley for Reckoning
Rebecca Kush for Last to Fall
Angelita Esperanza for The Pleasure of Being Served
Samantha Herrera for The Hour Glass

​Best Director Drama
Linda Yellen for The Spilling
WINNER Debra Markowitz for The Choice
Paul Mendoza for Last to Fall
Maurice Paramore for Bad Romance
James McKenzie for Shadowstar Returns
Renee Stork for Hearts that Crossed Borders
Jennifer Marie for Please Read

Best Director Comedy
DJ Higgins for Santino
WINNER Chris Caccioppoli for the Loving Dead
Michael Irgang for Garbaggio
Courtni Saizon for Uneffable
Joseph Redl for Punchline
Christopher Orango for Healing Heroes 
Derek Frey for Kill the Engine

Best Director Horror
Larry Rosen for Until the End
Stephane Verzi for 16 Minutes
Mitchell Slan for Balloon
WINNER Lindsay Serrano for Beneath
Zach Griffin for The Closet
Tom Ryan for The Gift

Best Comedy
Santino
WINNER Garbaggio
RUNNER UP Hey You, Its Me

Kill the Engine
Uneffiable 
St. Joseph
Fruit Bat 2

Best Horror/Thriller
Until the End
16 Minutes
WINNER Balloon
The Closet
Beneath
RUNNER UP The Gift

​Best Short Drama
WINNER The Spilling
The Choice
RUNNER UP Hearts that Crossed Borders
Last to Fall
The Villager
The Last Visit
The Guitar

Best Short Short
The Smiling Phantasm
WINNER Smack
Ding Dong
Reckoning
Kit
RUNNER UP Shyft
One in 175 Million
All About Rita

Best NJ Short Comedy
St. Joseph
RUNNER UP Healing Heroes
The Tragedy of Sal
Punchline
WINNER Uneffable
Aria
Taken in the Night

Best NJ Short Drama
Death of Love
RUNNER UP Bad Romance
WINNER The Last Visit

The Interrogator
Green Shoes
Secrets, a coming of age story
Last Call

Best Cinematography
RUNNER UP Shadowstar Returns
WINNER The Long Wet Grass

16 Minutes
The Guitar
Finding Water
Green Shoes
Through the Window

Best Concept
Smack
WINNER Mindful
The Other Place
The Dinner Scene
The Good Hand
Secrets, A Coming of Age Selfie Film
We are Friends
Thumb Wrestler
A Perfect Day

Best Experimental
WINNER Secrets, A Coming of Age, Selfie Film
We are Friends
Devour Me
RUNNER UP Ma Belle Ami
Lonely Girl 
Ms. Fortune
Distance

Best Ensemble
WINNER Santino
The Choice
The Spilling
Mindfull
Uneffable
The Other Place
RUNNER UP Death of Love

Best Screenplay
WINNER Jennifer Marie for Please Read
Séamus Scanlon for The Long Wet Grass
Gillian Goll for The Spilling
Tom Bragg for Divided
Amanda Bear for Like Me
Michael Manese for The Pleasure of Being Served
Troy Gabaldon for Collar

Top Scripts
Ruth’s (Chen Drachman)
Grifters, Drifters and Hipsters (Greg Taylor)
Brier Hill (Jonathan D. Stiffy)
The High Dive (Brian Patterson)
First Prize (Carl B. Clark)
After Credits (Jonathon Benoy)
WINNER Staying Ahead (Lee Kolinsky)
Vat Number 3 (Debra Johnson)
Cherry Glazed (Christine Sherwood)
Paradigm Shift (Katherine Fitzgerald)

Best Animation We Are Friends
Best One Minute Short You're Not Alone
Rising Star Award Jessica Ryan
Audience Award St. Joseph

​STUDENT NOMINATIONS
Awards to be held Saturday, March 3rd, following Red Carpet Event

​Best Actress in a Student Film
WINNER Julia Sims for Prude
Brooke Barker for Through the Window
Chloe Parayre for Spaced Out
Georgi Schnappauf for HM
Maddie Brand for Test Drive 
Kayla Killian for Summer of Dreams
Abi Karl for Doors to the New Vocabulary

Best Actor in a Student Film
Lane Brunson for In Between
Connor Daniels for Tick Tock
Jack O Connell for Boy And
WINNER Jake Edelstein for Almost Free
Zulfi Khan for Stop Bullying!
Jonathan Slovak for HM
TJ Rumer for Summer of Dreams


Best Director-College
Summer of Dreams
Nien Means No
WINNER A Perfect Day
Prude
The Shelving
In Between

Best Director-High School
WINNER Julia Picozzi for Wine
Keegan Tindall for Tick Tok
Ebbie Shim for A Little Bit of Respect
Abigail Karl for Voicemail
Carly Drabeck for Doors to the New Vocabulary
John Tuohy for Parallax Dreams
Keeley Giblin for Snip
Sage Levine for Un-Reality

Best Short-College
WINNER Prude
A Perfect Day
Summer of Dreams
The Shelving
NightGuard
Swallow

Best Experimental-College
Little Death
Grief
Wings
WINNER Boy And
Swallow

Best Short Drama-High School
WINNER Snip
A Little Bit of Respect
Wine
Un-Reality
Doors to a New Vocabulary
HM
Dark Red

Best Comedy-High School
Go Elf Yourself
Tick-Tok
Jerry Thinks He’s Funny
Pooh 
What He Did
WINNER Kebabbed

Best Experimental-High School
Saturn Returns 
That Little Voice
Dreamer
Note to Future Self
Un-Reality
Voicemail
WINNER Dark Red
Parallax Dream

Best Concept
In Between
Tick-Tok
Run
Snip
Test Drive
WINNER Doors to the New Vocabulary
Stop Bullying 
Technical Difficulties

Best Animation/Stop Motion
Muscle Memory
The Orange Crayon
Conversations
Kebabbed
All Dolls Fall in Love
WINNER Day Dream Journal

​Best Cinematography
Almost Free
Nightguard
Saturn Returns
Spaced Out
A Perfect Day
WINNER Swallow
Parallax Dreams 
Dark Red

​Best Ensemble
WINNER Nien Means No
Summer of Dreams
The Shelving
Prude
Almost Free
Through the Window

​Best Screenplay
Through the Window
Almost Free
The Shelving
WINNER Summer of Dreams
Nien Means No
Spaced Out

Best Comedy Nien Means No
Best Editing A Little Bit of Respect
Rising Star Award John Tuohy
March 2018 FESTIVAL ACHIEVMENT AWARDS

NJ Achievement in The Art of Acting "The Tom Parisi" Award: Jennifer Jiles
NJ Achievement in The Art of Filmmaking Award: D.J. Higgins
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