Alison Crowther

Legacy Award honoree Craig Barron: Launching the Niagara Falls International Film Festival – A lot of heart but at times it also felt like going over the Falls in a barrel

The combination of the films’ subjects, as well as the attendance of Welles’ mom and dad, Alison and Jeff, made for an emotional, but uplifting evening. Following the screenings at the historic Riviera Theatre the filmmaker awards were announced and a check for $1000 went to charities benefitting Firefighters and First Responders. During the awards ceremony, upon receiving the award for Best Narrative Film, WATERLILY JAGUAR producer Jonathan Piumelli announced that he and art director Shannon Lee got engaged the night before. It was a sweetly uplifting way to end the inaugural NFIFF.

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: Melora Walters’s WATERLILY JAGUAR leads awards at 1st Niagara Falls International Film Festival Announces Filmmaker Awards

Following the Closing Night presentation of Matthew J Weiss’s MAN IN RED BANDANA at the historic Riviera Theater (67 Webster Street) on Saturday, September 29, the Niagara Falls International Film Festival (NFIFF) announced the award winners for the 1st edition of the film festival.

Melora Walters’s WATERLILY JAGUAR took home the award for Best Narrative Film, Nanni Zedda’s BLIND VISION was given the nod for Best Documentary, Javier Zevallos and Francisco D’ Eufemia’s ESCAPE FROM PATAGONIA was named Best Foreign Film, and Weiss’s MAN IN RED BANDANA took the People’s Choice Prize.