“Dim the Fluorescents,” “Strad Style” win Slamdance Film Fest awards

January 27, 2017 - 11:10 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Daniel Warth’s “Dim the Fluorescents” and Stefan Avalos’ documentary “Strad Style” have won the Sparky Awards for grand jury prizes at the 23rd Slamdance Film Festival, Variety reports.

“Strad Style” also won audience award for documentaries while Bill Watterson’s “Dave Made a Maze” took the audience trophy for narrative features. The winners were announced Thursday night at the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, Utah.

“Independent film is made beautiful not by those individual artists that form celebrity culture but by creative collaboration,” said Peter Baxter, Slamdance co-founder and president. “At Slamdance this year we’ve experienced an entire program of beautiful independent film and the promise of great emerging artists continuing the legacy of what we set out to do. With our awards we honor several filmmakers yet we know and must acknowledge Slamdance has just been made stronger by everyone of them who has taken part.”

“Dim the Fluroescents,” directed by Warth from a script he co-wrote with Miles Barstead, focuses on an actress (Claire Armstrong) and a playwright (Naomi Skwarna) as they support themselves by starring in corporate role-playing demonstrations.

“It’s empathetic, weird and insanely funny,” said the Slamdance jurors. “This film delivers its crazy script with guts and panache. It’s a delight — beautifully executed and smart as a whip.”

“Strad Style” centers on Danny Houck, who is obsessed with constructing violins. The jury honored the film “for capturing a journey of passion and commitment, honesty and the triumph of one vision against all odds.”

“Dave Made a Maze,” starring Nick Thune, focuses on a man who builds a complex cardboard maze in his living room.

The feature competition films in the Documentary and Narrative Programs are limited to first-time filmmakers working with production budgets of less than $1 million. The Slamdance Festival was founded as an alternative to the larger Sundance film festival.