The 2003 Slamdance film festival ended with a spark, the Sparky Awards.

From the Snow Park Lodge in Park City, the winners were announced to a packed room with beers in hand and Tarantula Tequila shooters laying in wait.

The Grand Jury Sparky Award sponsored by JVC Professional went to Assisted Living and a completely shocked Elliot Greenebaum, the film's writer and director, took the stage admiting humbly that he had never even been to a film festival before.

Later he told me he was "very honored." Greenebaum looked blown away. He said that he hoped to finish film school at NYU and teach. Assisted Living was shot in Greenebaum's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

"Everyone involved in the film signed releases." Greenebaum told me. The film makes use of real residents in both assistant living and nursing home facilities. "Those residents that were incapable of signing releases or may not have been competent are not recognizable in the film. I think that the concealment amplifies the universality, you see an old hand, a foot and you identify with it. The hand or foot is a symbol rather than a specific person."

The Best Documentary Sparky Award went to Long Gone. Directed by David Eberhardt and Jack Cahill this film follows four intertwining stories of six train riders over a period of seven years. David Eberhardt gave credit to his cinematographer, Greg Yolen.

"Greg suffered like a drunk animal for this film, often eating out of dumpsters. Long Gone is truly a Slamdance film and we had to beg borrow and steal to get here." Eberhardt said.

Yolen's work on Long Gone was also rewarded with the Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography. Yolen was given a $5,000.00 gift certificate toward Kodak film processing as part of the victory.

"This was a group effort, but still you are gonna have to fight me for the $5,000.00." Yolen joked.

Juror David Alan Grier announced the Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Short. Joking playfully with the crowd, Grier said, "I didn't see half the films I voted for but voted anyway." The crowd laughed.

The Snell Show was given the Best Short Sparky. Snell was an 8-minute short concentrating on a community that gathers at Old Man Snell's house every year for the "greatest show on earth."

Director Andrew Black credited the film to "a talented group of people who are also my close friends."

The Audience Sparky Award for Best Feature sponsored by the Maryland Film Office went to Missing Peace, a very personal and important film regarding the kidnapping of a Columbian Presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, who to this day still remains in captivity.

The wonderful short about pre-teen confusion Little Hearts took the Audience Sparky Award for Best Short. Little Hearts was directed by Stephen T. Maing and ran 26 minutes.

The Spirit of Slamdance Sparky chosen from the Gallery Shorts went to Tom Hits His Head. Director Tom Putnam received a $5,000.00 credit toward film processing for winning the award.

The party that followed was quite a bash. I managed to weave my way around and take a few pictures of filmmakers enjoying the festivities.

Editor John Gramaglia who co-edited the Ramones documentary End of the Century, told me that "Slamdance was great, every screening [for our film] was sold out. People are saying the film makes them want to go out and buy Ramones albums which is the greatest compliment. People are starting to reevaluate their perception of the Ramones."

Gramaglia stood with filmmaker Josh Moise (Supermax Wisconsin) talking about Slamdance.

"We did not even submit to Sundance, we submitted to Slamdance only and were very pleased with the result." Gramaglia said.

So ends my brief visit to Slamdance. As the beers are consumed and the band belts out heavy rhythms, I'm already looking forward to next year's festival.

Jonathan W. Hickman