Top Films at SI DocFest 2010 Win $29,000 in Awards

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Third Annual Bay Area Social Issues Documentary Film Contest (SI DocFest) was held at the Camera 12 Cinemas on Saturday, February 6, 2010. Awards totaling $29,000, provided by sponsor and organizer Do Good Docs Corporation, were shared by the top films, the high schools they represented, and their designated nonprofit organizations.

A panel of independent judges ranked the ten semifinalist films and their combined scores yielded the winners. These judges were Blanche Araj-Shaheen, TV production professional and host of KTEH's "Video I;" Dr. Felix Gutierrez, Professor of Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School and a Bay Area resident; Jan Krawitz, a distinguished documentary filmmaker and Director of the M.F.A. Program in Documentary Film and Video at Stanford University; Ray Telles, a three-time Emmy Award-winning, Berkeley-based documentary and television producer; and Michael Whalen, Assistant Professor of Communication at Santa Clara University and independent television and film producer.

First place was awarded to "Art Works," a film by Emily Munoz and Natalie Hon, which features an organization that makes art education accessible to children. The $10,000 award was shared with the Freestyle Academy of the Mountain View/Los Altos High Schools and The Imagine Bus Project (imaginebusproject.org).

Second place winner was "Sacey/Spa," a film by Melody C. Miller that deals with alleviating and preventing the sexual exploitation of children in the Bay Area. The $6,000 award was shared with San Leandro High School and Misssey (misssey.org).

Third place winner was "Beating the Unbeatable: Joe Wise," a film by Michael Hoff and Tim Jacob that covers the overcoming of a debilitating illness by Joe Wise, a world-class Paralympic swimmer. The $4,000 award was shared with Bellarmine College Preparatory and the Joe Wise Foundation.

Additionally, the organizing committee awarded $1,500 to Christina Marie Star Riders (cmstarriders.com), which offers horse-riding therapy to handicapped children and is profiled in "Star Riders" by fourth place winner Tom MacVicar of Carmel High School. Two films tied for fifth place, and $1,000 was awarded to each of the nonprofits they represented.  Reading Partners (readingpartners.org) was the beneficiary of Castilleja High School's Tayo Amos' film, "The Victory over Illiteracy," which features local author Anthony Hamilton. Sacred Heart Community Service (shcstheheart.org), a local agency that fights poverty, was the subject of Presentation High School's Brittany Ricketts and Jessica Scarborough's film, entitled "Unite to Fight."

In recognition of their outstanding accomplishments, the other five semifinalists were awarded $500 each for their featured nonprofits (visit sidocfest.com for details).

Dereck Hoekstra of Valley Christian High School won a special organizer's award for Creativity and Technical Excellence for his film "Fault Point," which included a $1,500 scholarship.

The Terry McElhatton Memorial Award recognizes the dedication of an educator to the teaching of documentary filmmaking, as represented by the number of films submitted to the SI DocFest. It is named after its original winner and friend of the SI DocFest, the late Terry McElhatton. The winner this year was Nate Marshall of Valley Christian High School, and a $1,500 award was presented to Valley Christian's video production program in Nate's honor.

The event was hosted by SI DocFest organizers and co-founders, sisters Monica Alba and Loreli Alba, a graduate from and current student at the University of Southern California, respectively. Camera Cinemas, the leading independent movie theater company in the South Bay, was an official sponsor and the host of the SI DocFest 2010.

Do Good Docs is a non-profit organization located in San Jose, California. Its first project has been the sponsoring and organizing of the Bay Area Social Issues Documentary Film Contest (SI DocFest), while two more initiatives focused on socially responsible filmmaking are in their early stages.

For nearly 35 years, Camera Cinemas has been presenting a wide variety of well-made, intelligent films, from re-released classics to independents, international to mainstream. With four distinct locations - Camera 7 Cinemas, the state-of-the-art multiplex in Campbell's Pruneyard Shopping Center; the Art Deco neighborhood theater, Los Gatos Cinemas in downtown Los Gatos; the three-level Camera 12 Cinemas, and the newly re-opened Camera 3 Entertainment in downtown San Jose - Camera Cinemas has become an important institution in the local film community, making vital contributions to the cultural life of the San Jose area and representing the best of what the South Bay has to offer.

SOURCE Do Good Docs Corporation