"Ferryman" Wins Best Picture Award At New Hope Film Festival

NEW HOPE, PA — "The Ferryman," a British production about an alluring, but reckless young woman who runs with an underground club while her military boyfriend tries to intervene, won Best Picture at the 2022 New Hope Film Festival.

"This year's festival combined physical and virtual events for the second year running," said New Hope Film Festival President Doug Whipple. "Strong filmmaker turnout, live audience Q&As and online networking opportunities created an energetic atmosphere for all attendees."

Best Documentary went to "Frank Bey: All My Dues Are Paid," a biographical film about the eponymous American soul-blues artist. Co-directors Tom Dwyer and Lisa Palattella followed Bey for two years to make the film. The Best Director Award went to Turkish-born helmer Sevgi Hirschhauser for Toprak, an atmospheric family drama set in rural Turkey.

Hollywood veteran Christopher M. Allport picked up Best Narrative Feature honors for his romantic comedy, "Emily or Oscar?" and a 19th century period piece by Brussels filmmaker Patricia Delso Lucas, "For I Am Dead," took Best Short Film.

Other short film award winners included Best Alternative Film, "Break Any Spell" (Anton Josef, Canada), a contemporary drama about a teenage girl who uses Live Action Role Playing (LARPing) to cope with her mother’s dementia and Best Action Thriller, "Something in the Clouds."

"Local 1196: A Steelworkers Strike (Samuel George, USA) landed the Cultural Spirit Award for its raw portrayal of rural, blue-collar workers. Tap dancing skill entertained the New Hope Arts Center audience during "Identity: The Andrew Nemr Story" (Jonathan Cipiti, USA), a film that waltzed away with Best Biographical Film honors.

New Hope native Xan Rayne Poulsen won Best Animated Film for her wryly satirical Savannah College of Art and Design student project, "The Softest Blanket In All of Dingledorf."

A close examination of a couple’s struggle to find decent medical care for their autistic son, "Love and Communication" (James Christy, USA), took home the Audience Choice Best Narrative Feature and Indie Spirit awards after playing to a sold out theater.

"Grafton" (Bryan Santiago, USA) won Audience Choice Best TV Pilot for a story about a woman who wanders into a mysterious town where she finds herself married to a man she never met. The Female Eye Filmmaking Award went to Shiyue Xu of Tianjin, "China for YuanYuan," a spunky short film about a girl who awkwardly tries to keep her family intact.

Audience Choice awards, which are determined solely by audience ballots, included Best Documentary "Breaking the Silence" (Dara Sanandaji, Freddie Bell, USA), Best Short Documentary
"Mountains We Climb" (Ryan Canney, USA), and Best Short Film "Aghast!" (Andreas Quiroga, USA). Director Ryan Canney is a CB East High School graduate and a Doylestown native.

In the commingled New Hope Film Festival Script Competition, the Best Script Award went to "G.O.D. O.S." (David Christopher Loya, USA), a sci-fi thriller about a quantum technology that brings the dead back to life in virtual reality, wreaking havoc on the world.

With a related supernatural theme, "Preacher’s Daughter: Giant Slayer" (Gregory Bonds, USA) won Best Narrative Feature Script for a fantasy thriller about the U.S. military’s discovery of Nephilim-like giants in the mountains of Afghanistan. Best Streaming/Premium TV Script winner
"Transformed" (Shannon TL Kearns, USA) explores transgender experiences in New York City. Best Period Script, "Wake of the Quasimodo" (Lorna Norrise and Lauren Rosson, USA) and Best Short Screenplay, "A Package of Dreams" (Bradley M. Look, USA) rounded off the list of award winners.

The full list of winners and nominees is available on the event’s official blog at
http://newhopefilmfest.blogspot.com More information about the New Hope Film Festival is available at www.newhopefilmfestival.com